Data starting from: July 10, 2022 | Data until: July 14, 2022
This page presents up-to-date data on the use of screens (computer, television, smart devices) by youth and their attitudes to it while comparing these to the views of their parents. It also provides options for examining the review results in focused cross-sections according to a variety of demographics.
The data is based on a survey conducted for the Israel Internet Association in July 2022 by the Maagar Mochot Research Institution under the leadership of Prof. Yitzhak Katz, among representative samples of 500 youths between the ages of 13-18 and 500 respondents who are parents to at least one child in this age group.
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Screen time of youth in Israel
The following data has been collected regarding the estimates of youth in relation to the number of their daily screen hours (not including work or studies), and with regard to the increase in screen time during the summer vacation. The respondents were asked to estimate how much additional screen time they have during the summer, as well as how many hours they usually spend in in front of a screen daily.
The majority of the youth group (53%) spends between 2-6 hours per day in front of screens. About one quarter of them spend between 6-8 hours in front of screens and 11% dedicate more than 8 hours a day to screen time.
- 67% of the youth in Arab society revealed that they spend between 4-8 hours per day in front of screens, compared with 54% of youth in the secular Jewish population, 51% of the traditional Jewish population and 41% of the national-religious Jewish population. In comparison, 18% of the youth in the secular Jewish population reported more than 8 hours of daily screen time, compared with 15% of the traditional Jewish population, 12% of the Arab population and 5.5% of the national-religious Jewish population.
- The youth in the Greater Tel Aviv area and southern Israel provided more reports of heavy usage exceeding 8 hours screen time per day (16.4% of them, compared with 11% in the Shfela (central lowlands) and the Sharon coastal plain, 9.7% in Judea and Samaria, 8% in the Haifa region and northern Israel and only 2% in the Jerusalem area).
45.5% of the youth believed that during the summer vacation the amount of screen usage increased by more than two hours, especially among the more mature ages (15-18). About one quarter of the youth believed that the increase in screen time would not be more than one hour.
In contrast, about one half of the parents (53.5%) believed that their children spend up to 4 hours a day in front of screens and the majority of the parents (60.4%) believed that more than two hours would be added to their children’s screen time during the vacation. Parents of five or more children believed that their children’s screen time would experience a more moderate increase during the summer vacation.
Comparison between screen usage by youth and parents
The respondents were asked what their most common uses of screens are. According to the youth, their most common uses of screens are social media and the consumption of music and movies. This is followed by studies and games, and at the bottom of the list: consumption of news and information or uploading photos and video clips. Within the younger age group (13-14) the extent of game use is double that of the 15-18 age bracket. The extent of screen use for listening to music and social media increases with age.
The most popular use of screens for parents is for work/studies followed by social media.
In response to the question, “Which social media or app would you not agree to give up?”, the youth ranked WhatsApp and Instagram at the top of the list, this was followed by YouTube and TikTok, with Facebook, Twitter and Telegram remaining at the bottom of the list. Members of the 13-16 age group are more associated with TikTok than the older youth age brackets. More boys than girls stated that they would not be prepared to give up on TikTok.
The online services most important to the parents’ group are mainly: WhatsApp and Facebook, followed by YouTube and Instagram, with Twitter, TikTok and Telegram at the bottom of the list.
- Young parents (23-39 age group) stated that Twitter was important for them, compared with the other age groups.
- Parents with more than five children are much more prepared to give up on WhatsApp and Facebook.
- Single-parents find it more difficult to do without Instagram and Twitter in comparison to others.
- Parents with no more than a high-school education are more associated with Facebook in comparison to others.
- No significant differences were noted between men and women, with women having a slight preference for Facebook and Instagram, compared to Twitter and Telegram among men.
What is the gravest danger on the web?
The following data presents the breakdown of answers of youth to the question of what they believe to be the gravest danger on the internet.
The youth regard sexual violence or sexual extortion as the gravest online danger (39%) followed by phishing/virus/economic damage (16%), verbal violence (13%), peer rejection or social exclusion (12%) and grooming (ongoing sexual enticement while masquerading as someone else) (11%).
Compared with youth, as far as the parents’ group is concerned, the gravest danger on the web is sexual violence or sexual extortion (43.2%); verbal violence (16.7%); grooming (ongoing sexual enticement while masquerading as someone else) (20%). This is followed by: phishing / virus / economic damage (8.4%) and peer rejection or social exclusion (7.4%).
Methods of preventing online dangers and damage: Disparities between parents and youth
The following data presents a comparison between the answers of the youth and those of the parents as to the methods of preventing or contending with online dangers.
The respondents were asked how often parents discuss the use and dangers of social media and the internet with their children, as well as how often they check their children’s smartphones and social media accounts.
- More than one quarter of the parents (28%) check their children’s smartphone on a regular or very regular basis (while the youth claimed that only 16% of their parents do so), and 44% do so only infrequently or extremely infrequently. 20% said that they would not carry out such a check while 57% of the youth said that their parents never check their phones.
- Mothers stated that they check their children’s phone more than fathers.
- Most of the parents affirmed that they talk with their children about the use and dangers of the internet frequently or very frequently (65%), while only 28% of the youth claimed this to be the case. Only 13% of the parents decline from doing so or do so extremely infrequently, while according to the youth 47% of their parents decline from doing so or do so extremely infrequently.
- The vast majority of the parents (81%) stated that they talk with their children about respectful behavior or harming others.
- Young parents (23-39 age group) and parents with more than five children tend to do so less than the other parents.
- Only 48% of the parents in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector do so, compared with 84% of the parents in the other sectors.