JIMplus Study: Nearly Half of Young People Envy Previous Generations Without Social Media

High Usage, Critical Assessment

More than three-quarters of young people say they use social media regularly. According to the findings, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are the most widespread leisure activities among young people. Most children receive their first own phone at the age of ten or eleven — often when they transition to secondary school.

However, young people themselves evaluate their own usage predominantly critically. Only 19 percent of respondents count "being on social media" among their three feel-good activities. The study asked about leisure activities, naming twelve offline and twelve online pursuits. The most frequent pastimes without a smartphone and the internet are "spending time with friends" and "spending time with family."

Yvonne Gerigk, research officer at the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation and co-author of the study, explained that for 82 percent, the platforms also offer an important gateway to knowledge. "Der größte Nutzen, den Jugendliche in Sozialen Medien sehen, ist der Zugang zu Wissen." At the same time, the researchers observed significant downsides.

Knowledge as the Greatest Added Value

"Wir beobachten in der Social-Media-Nutzung von Jugendlichen positive Aspekte und Schattenseiten gleichermaßen," Gerigk said. The authors describe the experiences of young people as "ständiges Wechselspiel zwischen positiven Erlebnissen und belastenden Erfahrungen."

72 percent of respondents report that social media distracts them from things they should actually be doing. More than every second 14- to 17-year-old (55 percent) says it costs them time for rest and leisure activities. According to the study, the most common side effect of endless scrolling is a noticeable reduction in the ability to concentrate (40 percent).

71 percent of young people have already encountered fake news. They report encountering such targeted misinformation particularly frequently on YouTube. Around half of respondents feel understood within the platforms.

TikTok and the Consequences for Well-Being

"Dass Jugendliche häufig genutzte Plattformen negativ bewerten, erscheint wie ein Widerspruch, hat aber einen Grund: Fesselnde Algorithmen lassen die Jugendlichen die Zeit vergessen und länger am Smartphone hängen, als sie sich vorgenommen hatten," Gerigk explained. One girl described in the individual interview that she would lie in bed watching TikTok and rot. 13 percent of respondents said they use the app for more than three hours a day. That is the highest figure in comparison to the other platforms.

TikTok has the most negative impact on the well-being of young people. 17 percent say the platform is not good for them. Girls have received unwanted nude images almost twice as often as boys (19 percent compared to 11 percent). 52 percent of respondents who have experienced this rate it as "sehr belastend."

Young people perceive unwanted nude images, bullying, and drastic depictions of violence as particularly distressing. But content that trivializes eating disorders or self-harming behavior also causes uncertainty, according to the findings. "Ein Mädchen berichtete von einem Aufklärungsvideo zu übergriffigem Verhalten gegenüber Frauen. Auf der einen Seite fühlte sie sich durch den Inhalt vorbereitet, war danach aber auch besorgt," Gerigk reported.

Attitudes Toward Bans and Minimum Age

43 percent of respondents are of the opinion that social media should be banned for everyone below a certain age. The majority of platform users, looking back, at least recommend a higher minimum age for starting than the age at which they themselves first used it. More than half are skeptical of a ban, as they doubt its effectiveness. In the current debate over bans, fewer than ten percent feel that the perspective of young people is being sufficiently taken into account.

The study name JIM stands for Jugend, Information und Medien. The representative JIMplus study is conceived as a supplement to the established JIM series and addresses in-depth questions about the relationship of young people to digital platforms.