Study shows sharp increase: 14 percent of young people stream more than five hours a day

Children and young people are increasingly turning to streaming platforms such as YouTube or Netflix.

This is shown by a study by the health insurance company DAK Gesundheit in cooperation with the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, which was available to the German Press Agency in advance on Wednesday.

Between November 2020 and May 2021, daily consumption among ten to 17 year olds increased by 45 percent.

The proportion of teenagers who spend five hours or more a day on streaming services during the week increased by 180 percent to 14 percent of adolescents in this age group.

According to the study makers, they are considered “intensive users”.

Streaming before gaming

Streaming means watching videos on the Internet.

For the first special evaluation of this media consumption, 1,200 children and young people were interviewed nationwide.

According to the DAK study, almost 90 percent of those surveyed in May 2021 stated that they had used streaming platforms at least once a week in the past six months, with almost half using them daily.

The average usage time was almost three hours during the week and almost four hours at the weekend.

There are no significant differences between the sexes: While boys stream an average of 175 minutes during the week, it is 171 minutes for girls.

According to the study, the use of streaming services also exceeds the time that ten to 17-year-olds spend playing computer games or in social networks.

39 percent reported daily gaming use (computer games), while 59 percent of those surveyed stated that they use social media on a daily basis.

“Full-coverage enlightenment” required

The Federal Government Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues, Burkhard Blienert, believes that "wide-scale clarification" is necessary.

Earlier surveys had shown a “steep rise” in media use during the corona pandemic, Blienert told the German Press Agency.

However, he assumes that media use will “level off at a high level, but will not increase in the long term”.

Media addiction is a disease that requires treatment and for which Germany needs more counseling centers, according to Blienert.

The phenomenon of streaming is "relatively new" and has a special appeal for many young people - also because it is so convenient.

It is now important to expand existing prevention and education programs to include the handling of streaming offers.