Filipinos aged 15 to 24 years old represent the biggest consumers of information technology in the past few years, a survey on media use and youth lifestyle showed.
Dr. Grace Cruz, author of the study, said media consumption of young adults have shifted over the years with traditional media like newspapers on the low end last year.
“This however doesn’t mean they are reading less. It could be that they are getting their news online now,” Dr. Cruz said.
She said six out of 10 young people aged 15 to 24 years old are regular Internet users and more than half have social network and email accounts.
About 78 percent of them have mobile phones, Dr. Cruz said.
On average they spend six hours a week online, some logging in as much as 35 hours of Internet use.
Dr. Cruz said females, teenagers and those from economically affluent regions have higher social media consumption than males, older youths and those from poorer regions.
This pattern of Internet and information technology use translates on how they build relationships, Dr. Cruz said.
“One in three young people said they have friends whom they only met online while 25 percent have friends whom they met through text and have not seen personally,” she said.