Control your smart phone usage.
National youth charity OnSide’s Generation Isolation report, the largest study of its type into the way 11–18-year-olds spend their free time, today reveals that young people want to reduce the amount of time they spend on their phones – but simply don’t know how to break the habit.
The new report, based on a survey of 5,213 11-18-year-olds in England in partnership with YouGov shows that smartphone use is one of the most dominant free time activities for young people in London, with 24% spending most of their free time when not in school on their phone.
When asked about why they spend time on their smartphone, 49% of young people in London said they are worried about feeling left out from friends if they don’t use their devices; 30% said they have more friends to talk to on their smartphones than they do in real life and 3% said being on their phone is better than real-life. Worryingly, asked for the first time about levels of loneliness, 51% of young people in London said they’d experienced high or very high levels of loneliness. Feelings of loneliness almost match sustained anxiety in this age group as 56% of those polled in London stated they’ve experienced high or very high levels of anxiety.
Young people in London are clear about what is needed. Asked what one thing would improve their lives outside 23% opted for more affordable leisure activities, 23% wanted more safe and fun places to socialise and 26% want more opportunities to learn skills outside of school.
Generation Isolation has been released to coincide with National Youth Work Week, an initiative to raise awareness of youth work and youth workers.
The report shows that the solution to many of the problems young people face today lies in youth clubs, which play a vital role in enabling them to build face-to-face connections and develop skills and resilience. The vast majority, 95% of young people who attend a youth club in London say it has made a positive difference to their lives with ‘making friends and social interaction’ being the most popular reason for this, and 96% say their youth club has helped them to develop new skills.
Onside Chief Executive, Jamie Masraff, said:
“The message from young people is overwhelmingly clear – they want to ditch smartphone dependency and socialise in person, but feel trapped in a habit that is leaving them lonely, isolated and anxious. We are letting young people down by treating time outside of school as an afterthought and not creating enough opportunities in real life that are better than life on screens.
“Without the provision of affordable, safe places to flourish outside of school, we risk a generation becoming adults who struggle to exist in a real-word environment, riddled with social anxiety and lacking in social skills. “Evidence shows that youth clubs offer rich and vibrant environments where young people, supported by dedicated youth workers, have fun, build confidence, develop life skills and become happy, healthy, thriving adults.
Youth provision is the untapped solution to the challenges outlined in Generation Isolation. – it must become a right and reality for all young people.”
