TÜİK: Nine out of every 10 children use the internet, with video watching being the most popular activity

TÜİK has published the results of its 'Survey on Information Technology Usage by Children.' The research shows that children's internet usage has increased compared to previous years.

According to the survey:

Internet usage among children was 82.7 percent in 2021, rising to 91.3 percent in 2024. 92.2 percent of boys and 90.3 percent of girls use the internet. These rates were 83.9 percent and 81.5 percent, respectively, in 2021.

97.4 percent of children who use the internet stated that they use it regularly. This figure was 98.6 percent in 2021.

It was observed that 42.9 percent of children who use the internet regularly spend approximately two hours or more online on weekdays, while 53.6 percent do so on weekends.

Regarding internet usage of approximately two hours or more per day by age group, the rate for the 6-10 age group is 30.6 percent on weekdays, and 54.4 percent for the 11-15 age group. For weekends, these rates are 43.2 percent and 63.5 percent, respectively.

WATCHING VIDEOS IS THE MOST POPULAR ACTIVITY

The most common activities performed by children who use the internet regularly were watching videos at 83.9 percent, doing homework, learning, or participating in online classes at 75 percent, and playing or downloading games at 72.7 percent. Children used email the least, at 13.2 percent.

The social media platform most used by children was YouTube at 96.3 percent. This was followed by Instagram at 41.5 percent, TikTok at 26.2 percent, Snapchat at 21.4 percent, Pinterest at 13.6 percent, Facebook at 9.5 percent, and X at 4.9 percent.

YOUTUBE IS NUMBER ONE

YouTube was the most used application in both the 6-10 and 11-15 age groups. The second place was taken by TikTok in the 6-10 age group with 11.7 percent, and by Instagram in the 11-15 age group with 63 percent.

The proportion of children who stated that they regularly use a mobile phone/smartphone is 98.2 percent.

When examining the purposes for which children use mobile phones/smartphones, the most common were browsing the internet at 77.9 percent, making video or voice calls at 77.3 percent, watching movies, series, TV broadcasts, or videos at 75 percent, and social media usage at 73.6 percent.

34.4 percent of children stated that they read fewer books because they spend more time in front of a screen. This was followed by studying less at 33.3 percent, spending less time with their family at 25.5 percent, meeting friends face-to-face and playing games less at 18.6 percent, and sleeping less at 17.2 percent.