Credit: Statec
On Friday 22 December 2023, Luxembourg's national statistics agency, Statec, published details of a report in Internet use among 16-24 year-olds.
Respondents to a survey were asked what benefits they gained from using the Internet. Among 16 – 24 year olds, as for other age groups, firstly the possibility offered by the Internet to stay in touch or increase contact with family or friends then better monitoring of local and international information.
A striking fact was that, young people cited in 2nd place, tied with the best information, the fight against boredom offered by the Internet. In other age groups, saving time is cited in 3rd place and “avoiding boredom” comes only far behind, in 7th – 10th place.
The perception of the advantages of the Internet varies greatly depending on the status of the young person. Thus, contact with friends or family does not even appear in the top 5 of unemployed young people; “avoiding boredom” is cited by 100% of unemployed young people compared to 68% of those in studies and 64% of those employed.
The 5 favourite activities of young people on the Internet are instant messaging, social networks, telephone calls/online videos, music and video content from sharing services such as Youtube.
In fact, many more young men use online play or download games (63% versus 40%), listen to or download podcasts (35% versus 21%), use online learning materials (60% versus 48%) and watch streaming TV (34% versus 34%) than young women. They look for health-related information more often than them (49% versus 41%).
