More than a quarter of young Portuguese admit to being afraid of what others will think when they post or share something on social media, and around 18% admit to being upset by what they write in comments.
The findings are the result of a survey of 1,500 young people (a representative sample of the Portuguese population aged 18 to 30) included in the research project MyGender – a mediated practice of young adults, of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra (FLUC).
According to results accessed by Lusa, while more than half of young people feel confident in what they post on social media (58.6%) and are not worried about what others think of their posts (50.5 %), only nearly a third say they are confident their followers like what they post.
In addition to fearing what others might think of them on social media, almost a fifth (18.4%) of respondents admit that they are uncomfortable seeing what they write in comments on their social networks, and more than a quarter (26.6 %) %) ) admits that he gets irritated by reading what other people post on social media.
Despite this, a significant proportion (19.7%) admit to insulting people on social media, and 14.3% say that when they don’t like what they read or see, they leave critical comments.
According to the study, around 28% of young Portuguese say they spend “many hours watching what other people have to say about their lives”, with almost a third (32.5%) saying they feel anxious when they don’t have a mobile phone. phone.
A survey conducted by the MyGender Project shows that the cell phone is by far the main means of access (92.8%), followed by the computer (84.1%) and television (78.5%).
The mobile phone is also the one that young people use most often (90.2% every day).
In terms of usage, young people mainly access social networks (more than 80% every day), watch TV series (more than 70% daily or several times a week) and music playlists (more than 60% every day or several times). once a week).
More than half of users (59.9%) spend between two and five hours a day on mobile apps, with social media being the most frequently used (although they rate it as only the sixth most important app), followed by email and messaging. all above 60% daily use.
When the majority of young people use apps to create or share online content, it is primarily photos (62.3%), with video making up 12.7% and text making up only 8.2% of content created.
Young people are a kind of “digital guinea pigs” who live “totally immersed in technology” as it develops, with digital and physical reality belonging to the same “continuum,” Ines told agency Lusa Amaral, who coordinates the project. with Rita Basilio Simões.
According to the survey, 66% play on mobile apps, 42.4% use apps to monitor their health data and 36% plan their physical workouts on the same media.
Of the survey sample conducted at the end of 2021, the majority said they were heterosexual (83.5%), single (76.3%), had no children (83.5%) and lived with parents or family (63.5 %).
More than half have a university degree (53.1%), about half are employed and just over a quarter (28.3%) are students.
In addition to the survey, the project included interviews, focus groups, diaries and analysis of the applications themselves.
MyGender says this is the first study in Portugal to examine how young people interact with the technical features and ideas of mobile apps.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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