The study shows that juveniles spend the equivalent of two months of the year clinging to a screen.

Minors spend about four hours a day, equivalent to two months a year, “tethered” to screens outside the classroom, preferring social media like TikTok to chatting apps like WhatsApp.

This data was taken from research conducted by Qustodio, a platform focused on security and digital control for families, which has more than four million users worldwide.

Each year, this platform analyzes how minors use the Internet: how many hours they spend in front of screens, the apps and networks they use most often, or the consequences that hyperconnectivity can cause.

The study analyzed trends and screen use by minors aged 4 to 18 in four countries – Spain, the US, the UK and Australia – with an anonymous participation of about 400,000 families, according to data provided by the platform and cited. Efe agency.

Eduardo Cruz, who is in charge of this platform, stressed this Wednesday during the presentation of the study to the press the importance of adopting a “digital diet” in order to take advantage of the Internet and screens and try to avoid their risks and threats. .

Among the main recommendations and advice for minors on responsible and non-violent use of screens, Cruz mentioned the importance of setting a “technology schedule”, discussing the digital environment, preventing children from locking themselves in their rooms to use screens, sharing digital content. with family, offering attractive alternatives in the physical or “real” world, and encouraging older people to lead by example.

Eduardo Cruz also stressed the importance of offline scheduling and ensuring screens don’t take time or space away from other activities such as sleeping, studying or relaxing.

He warned that hyperconnectivity, or being constantly connected, becomes a serious problem in many cases and breeds addiction problems for countless minors who end up understanding the “physical” or real world as “a hindrance” in their lives.

Among the most recent data, 15.6% of the families participating in the study admit that the abuse of screens causes problems in their daily life at home, and that these conflicts occur once or twice a week in 34% of families. dwellings.

Social media is once again the top digital attraction for minors in 2022, a feat that recurs in the four countries where the study was conducted.

Tik Tok is clearly superior to the smallest social networks such as Instagram, which is increasingly used by people over 30 and 40, Snapchap, Facebook or Twitter.

On the other hand, in Spain, the use of messaging and communication apps such as WhatsApp declined last year, and the time that minors spend in these environments fell from an average of 30 minutes in 2021 to 24 minutes last year.

Among video games, Roblox continues to be the most popular in the four countries, with over two hours of daily time spent playing the game by minors, according to data collected during the study.

After the covid-19 pandemic, the use of online educational tools continued to decline, with only one of these platforms, Smartick, continuing to increase usage time among minors, reaching an average of 29 minutes per day.

Among “online” video platforms, Prime Video leads the way among minors, although it still lags behind Netflix and YouTube, which remains the favorite among young people to watch videos in four countries.

Twitch, which grew by 150% in 2020, the year of its imprisonment, again recorded a slight decline last year.