They were born after 2010; they have access to social networks even though they are not all of them at the minimum age established in Italy for access (between 13 and 14 years old depending on the social networks); They mostly use Youtube and WhatsApp and among the activities they carry out most frequently is that of looking at photos and videos, experimenting with a purely passive way of experiencing social media.
More than 10% of them are addicted to social networks, especially among girls, who are also those who suffer most from the thin body ideal and the desire to be attractive: the increase in social media use is in fact accompanied by an increase in body dissatisfaction. This is the picture taken by research on Generation Alpha and collected in the research report Imagining Another Self – Exploring the Online Habits of Generation Alphaconducted by the Department of Human, Social and Health Sciences of theUniversity of Cassino and Southern Lazio and coordinated by Simone Digennaro – PhD, Associate Professor in Pedagogy and Professional Educator.
959 boys and girls aged between 10 and 14 years – with an average age of 12 years – of which 50% are female – participated in a 12 month study. Of the total, 99% use instant messaging apps while 88% use social networks. Which are the most used social networks? What kind of parental control is there on Generation Alpha kids, the first to be online since birth? But also social addiction, emotional intelligence and body perception are the themes at the center of the new report from the University of Cassino.
WhatsApp, YouTube and TikTok on the podium
There are 5 platforms used on average, with a value that tends to increase with age. TikTok turns out to be the most used social network, with 76.74% of respondents, followed by Instagram with 69.86% and Pinterest with 43.37%. But if we include in the list YouTubeGoogle’s platform rises to the top of the ranking, with a usage percentage of 86%. Among messaging apps, WhatsApp is the most used, with 95.72% of respondents using it, followed by Telegram (25.23%). Other social networks used, but to a lesser extent, are Twitch (30.03%), Snapchat (29.92%), BeReal (29.61%), Discord (19.7%), X (12.09%), Facebook (11.15%). The main social networks used by Gen Alpha are the same as those used by Gen Z, with one important difference: the massive use of YouTube among young people aged 10 to 14 shows that Generation Alpha makes predominantly passive use of social networks: among the most performed activities, that is, there is that of looking at photos and videos of friends, streamers and influencers.
Social network: how much and when
TikTok e YouTube are among the social media with the highest usage times, with a significant percentage of respondents (18% and 10% respectively) declaring that they use them for more than 4 hours a day. Among instant messaging apps, however, WhatsApp has very high usage times. In fact, 14.77% of respondents use it for more than 4 hours, 17.6% between 2 and 4 hours, 21% between 1 and 2 hours. Not only that: the use of each social media varies significantly during the course of the day. If Instagram, TikTok, YouTube e Whatsapp They are used frequently throughout the day, including at night, Facebook, Pinterest and Snapchat – according to the report – are most used in the morning, while in the evening Discord and Twitch record higher usage. TikTok, WhatsApp e Twitch These are the social networks that are used more than others at night.
Parental Control
Parental control over their children’s online activities is found to be partial, according to the report. As for general Internet activities, the43.5% of the pre-teens interviewed said they were not controlled. In particular, 32.92% of students who attend the first year of middle school declare that they are not monitored by their parents. A percentage that rises to 39.11% for second year students and 57% for third year students. As regards social profiles specifically, however, there seems to be greater attention: 68.7% of respondents, in fact, declare that their parents are aware of all their social profiles, 23.7% admit that their parents are aware of only some profiles and 6.57% that they are not aware of any of their profiles.
“Compared to the past – he explains in the note Simone DigennaroPhD, Associate Professor in Education and Professional Educator – parents are more aware and able to better control their children’s online activities, but there are still many areas that remain unattended, especially due to the constant increase in social networks and connection opportunities”.
Social and addiction
11.78% of the kids show values above the threshold of social addiction, measured by the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)a tool that detects the degree of dependence on social media through a rating scale. Although the majority reports an average value of 12.42, several points below the dependence threshold, equal to 19, over 10% have a state of dependence and girls show values closer to the threshold than boys, who record a score lower by 0.91 on the scale. In detail, 16.07% of girls have a value between 16 and 19, compared to 13.05% of boys. Among the participants who exceeded the dependency threshold, 58% were girls.
Social and emotional intelligence
With respect to the use of social networks, an inverse relationship emerges between the time spent on social networks and the emotional intelligence index (i.e. the ability to recognize, understand and manage one’s own emotions and those of others), measured according to the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Child parameter. It follows that as the time of use increases, beyond a value that can be identified with 2 hours, there is a decrease in the emotional intelligence index.
“In itself, that is, the use of social media does not negatively interfere with the development of emotional intelligence,” explains Digennaro. “It is rather the prolonged use that has negative effects.”
Social and body dissatisfaction
For the girlsthe use of BeReal, but also of Instagram and TikTok, is associated with higher values of internalization of the thin body ideal. Pinterest also has a strong impact on the thin body ideal and the desire to be attractive: those who use it have on average higher values than those who do not use it. For the boyshowever, the use of BeReal, Instagram and TikTok does not have a decisive influence, even if those who use these social networks have higher average values than those who do not use them. Always in relation to the relationship with their body on social networks, the majority of the boys and girls interviewed do not publish photos or videos in which they are portrayed (less than 20% say they do it often or always) and do not post stories and/or live broadcasts in which they are present (49% never do it and 26% say they rarely do it).
“This new study shows that we are facing an evolution, not an involution,” continues Simone Digennaro. “To understand it, we must embrace technological development and learn to guide the new generations, especially by accepting the fact that they are developing new ways of communicating, relating, and socializing. It is obvious that we must be aware of the negative effects that an incorrect, excessive, and inappropriate use of technology can have on the growth and education of the new generations. But it is necessary to take into account that Generation Alpha has had a forced acceleration in the use of technology and social media due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that these kids are children of Millennials, accustomed to using technology, sharing photos, videos, and stories of their children. This means that Generation Alpha is the first to be online since birth. It is a new phenomenon that must be studied and understood, not demonized and problematized.”
And on the decision taken by Minister Valditara on the ban on the use of telephones even for educational purposesDigennaro adds: “A potentially wrong approach, it is the ban that does not solve the problem. Schools (and educators) must adapt their teaching to the prerogatives of Gen Alpha and among these is the use of technology also for study and learning. We must ask ourselves not how to ban but how to encourage a use that is healthy, adequate, able to support harmonious personal development”.