Almost half of young people between the ages of 16 and 21 would prefer to live in a world where the Internet does not exist, according to a new survey.
Many young people would prefer a world without internet photo shutterstock
The study shows that almost 70% of young people feel worse about their own person after spending time on social networks. Half of them (50%) would support the introduction of a “digital extinguishing hour” to restrict their access to certain applications and sites after 10:00 pm, while 46% say they would prefer to be young in a world without the Internet, writes The Guardian.
A quarter of the respondents spend four or more hours daily on social networks, and 42% have acknowledged that they hide their parents or tutors.
In the online environment, 42% of young people said they lied about age, 40% have false or secondary accounts, and 27% claimed to be a completely different person.
The results come in the context in which the British Minister for Technology, Peter Kyle, suggested that the Government takes into account the imposition of mandatory hours for applications such as Tiktok and Instagram.
Rani Govender, children’s safety manager in the online environment within the NSPCC organization, said that, although a digital restriction may be useful, it is not sufficient to protect children from online content without other complementary measures.
“We must be clear: a digital restriction, alone, will not protect the children from the dangers they encounter online. They can see those risks at any time of the day and will have the same impact,” she said.
Govender added that the priority for companies and government should be the creation of platforms “Much safer and less addictive” For children.
The survey, conducted by the British Standards Institution, included 1,293 young people and showed that 27% of them shared their location with strangers in the online environment.
In the same study, three quarters of the respondents said they spent more time online after the pandemic, and 68% said the time spent online affected their mental health.
Andy Burrows, Executive Director of the Molly Rose Foundation Surgery Foundation, said that “It is clear that young people are aware of the risks from online and, moreover, they want tech companies to protect them.”.
He added that algorithms can generate content that “They amplify quickly and can attract young people in spiral, to harmful and disturbing materials, without them having any guilt.” Burrows stressed that they are “New laws necessary to impose a regulation designed from the beginning for safety, to put the needs of children and society before the interests of the big TECH companies.”
