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Mobile connections - adolescents and their smartphones
Published on: 21.11.13
Source: mpfs. Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest
A smartphone combines a variety of functions and offers diverse opportunities of research, communication or entertainment in a unique way. Within the last years, the spreading of this tool increased enormously under youths. Nearly three quarters of all adolescents at the age of twelve to nineteen own a smartphone. In particular, the permanent option to have access to the Internet is especially popular. More than three fifths go online repeatedly within a week, or use the mobile access to their community. These are the first results of the JIM study 2013 (Youth, Information, [Multi-]Media) by the Media Educational Research Association South West, which will be published publicly on November the 29th 2013.
Regarding to the usage frequency, the main mobile phone functions are nevertheless to make phone calls and to write text messages. Three quarters of the users communicate via their mobile phone at least several times a week. To use mobile phones as an MP3 player is also commonplace for seventy one percent. In sum, the mobile phone is mostly a multi-functional platform that can be adjusted to one’s own needs.
Beside facts about the topic of smartphones and mobile Internet usage, the study presents basic facts about the youths' leisure behaviour, and media usage data about television, radio, the Internet, books and computer games.The series of studies JIM (Youth, Information, [Multi-] Media) are yearly undertaken in cooperation with the Südwestrundfunk since 1998. The representative study depicts the media behaviour of youths in Germany. For this research, 1200 adolescents between twelve and nineteen have been telephonically interviewed in 2013.
The full and original press release (in German language) can be read here: www.mpfs.de.
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