A first-of-its-kind survey reveals just how glued kids are to their phones
The latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast” is out today, part two of my conversation with Dr. Justin Martin from the University of South Florida. It’s a fascinating, first-of-its-kind survey about kids and their use of smartphones and social media, as well as news consumption.
Martin, the Eleanor Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics & Press Policy and associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication at USF, led the Life in Media Survey, a must-read in-depth study that looks into the minds of kids and, Martin hopes, reveals well into the future how social media and technology impact a person.
In our conversation, we talk about exactly what kind of social media younger people use. While older people tend to gravitate towards Facebook and X, kids (we’re talking as young as preteens) tend to spend most of their time on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram — in that order. Then comes Roblox and Snapchat.
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