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Technology is a moving target, with new environments such as VR, AI, and AR leading to new consumer behavior, especially when it comes to how we consume content and engage with others.
These interaction shifts will most likely have the biggest impact on younger generations. They’ll be the ones defining unwritten parameters and what the next stage of social media and communication apps will look like.
To gain a better understanding of this cohort Qustodio released a new report that documents valuable metrics on children’s digital behavior. “Born connected: The rise of the AI generation” is Qustodio’s 5th annual report in which they reveal the tech and app habits of kids between the ages of 4 to 18.
The report details important trends in social media, gaming, entertainment, screen time, and even AI tools such as ChatGPT. Let’s take a look.
How The Youngest Generations See The Digital World
About Qustodio
Qustodio was founded by cybersecurity experts Josep Gaspar, Edurardo Cruz, and Josh Gabel in 2012. They are one of the leading companies in online safety for families and children globally.
In 2022, the company transitioned into becoming part of the Qoria group, with a keen focus on protecting children’s digital interactions and footprints through a state-of-the-art collaboration between parents, educators, and schools. Their mission is to better serve and support schools and families across the globe by spreading awareness on ways to navigate the digital world safely.
“Together, we help millions of families and educators across the globe protect children from online harm while promoting healthy digital habits and awareness.”
Methodology
The methodology undertaken for this report involved over 400,000 schools and families. They analyzed children’s opinions from around the globe on the popularity of platforms and apps, taking key metrics from leading world markets such as Spain, France, the UK, Australia, and the US.
In addition to studying the popularity ranking of platforms, they further analyzed children’s average screen time on apps such as YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Roblox. This data was collated over the space of a year.
Lastly, the team also undertook interviews and surveys with families who had already displayed an interest in managing or surveilling their kid’s digital footprint, allowing for key insight into how parents and guardians are adapting to a connected world, what tools they are implementing for their children’s safety, and their opinions on the internet and artificial intelligence.
Key Takeaways
Some of the key findings from“Born Connected: The Rise of the AI Generation” report include:
- TikTok continued to reign supreme with children across the globe spending an average of 112 minutes per day scrolling the app. This metric has grown since 2022 when it stood at 107 minutes of use daily. Children in the United Kingdom showed a keen preference toward the app with an average of 127 minutes per day of doom-scrolling TikTok.
- YouTube may still be the top streaming app, however, the report found that children between the ages of 4-18 spent 60% more time on TikTok.
- In 2023, children consumed 27% more video content when compared to previous years. This metric equates to a staggering 57 per day.
- Even with all the behind-the-scenes drama that 2023 brought for the bird app, Twitter/X saw an impressive 27% boost in younger users.
- The online gaming sphere took a dip in popularity among younger cohorts in 2023 with metrics suggesting that children spent 8% less time gaming online. Nevertheless, this is not the case for Roblox which is the app where kids spend the most time, with an average daily use time of 130 minutes.
- Although WhatsApp is the leading communications application for older generations such as Millenials and Gen Zer’s, the report found that children showed a preference toward Snapchat as a communication tool, with an average global daily use of 74 minutes.
- Lastly, 24% of the Australian children’s cohort stated that they’ve experimented with AI tools such as ChatGPT. This is quite the jump from the overall global average of 19.6%.
The “Born Connected: The Rise of the AI Generation” report also details and analyzes parental supervision, tools for parental supervision and cyber security, trends, and online learning, among other metrics.
Future Trends and Predictions
The report details three key predictions and trends that parents, educators, and schools should be mindful of moving forward.
The connectivity between social media and communication apps becomes ever more streamlined as years go on, with platforms such as X promising to be an “everything app”. Most people, adults and children alike use these applications to keep in touch with friends, family, and even their anon-followers. In the future, Qustodio predicts that social media apps and communication applications will fully be integrated, they note that this is especially true in cases where both fall under the same holding company. For example, Meta owns both Instagram and WhatsApp.
They mention that 2023 was the year open-source artificial technology tools exploded. Many companies such as Snap have already shown a keen interest in rolling out AI for their messaging features, yet these integrations still have a way to go. The report highlights the concern of how these AI communication features will affect in-app safety, security, and privacy, hypothetically stating that a toggle setting should be built into these updates to help parents and guardians keep children’s private chat logs safe.
The concerns presented in Qustodio’s future predictions aren’t unmerited, with recent cases in Spain showing how children used popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram to share pornographic content and far-right propaganda. There is also growing criticism toward features where messages disappear or can be edited, as it presents an opportunity for manipulation and misuse.
Lastly, the report predicts that we will see a rise in parental control features, mental health social check-ins, and screen time limit settings, some of which are already being rolled out and tested.
Conclusion
The main goal of these reports according to Qustodio is to better understand the data, which in turn allows them to inform educators, guardians, and parents on the evolving trends of children’s online behavior. This can empower adults with an understanding of how to find and create a balanced routine with technology.
Although the report focuses on important issues such as privacy, safety, and security of children online, they close by leaving readers with a poignant statement. One that removes the heavy-hearted concern and shares a beacon of hope, urging others to explore, innovate, collaborate, and discover ways to do great things in the digital world.
“In the next few years, we will need to learn how to reach a middle ground, understanding the power of technology and how to reap its benefits, while safeguarding from its risks. Through a community of parents, guardians, educators, and many more looking out for our children, their future in the digital world is not bleak, but bright. It allows us to collaborate, innovate, explore and discover, and above all, do great things – together.”
If you’re interested in reading the full report you can find it here:
Born connected: The rise of the AI generation
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Courtesy : https://www.netinfluencer.com/how-young-generation-see-the-digital-world/