A study on children’s video viewing habits found that the youngest generation far prefers YouTube over other forms of media, including social sites.
The survey, which asked thousands of kids between the ages of 2 and 12 (also known as Generation Alpha) about their daily media consumption, surprisingly revealed that young people are moving away from social media platforms in general and focusing purely on video content.
When asked how they’ve been consuming content recently, 81% of respondents said they’ve used YouTube, with subscription video-on-demand being the second most popular option at 62%.
Mobile games were the third most common answer, with 55% of those surveyed saying they had played one recently.
“Hollywood propaganda is like postal mail; social and user-generated content is like email.”
These figures were significantly higher than those for traditional social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat were at the bottom of Gen Alpha’s list of ways to watch video.
However, Giraffe Insight, Precise TV, and variety — We found that kids in this age group are consuming more content.
Of the 3,000 respondents, there was a 9% increase in those who reported recent use of YouTube in 2024 compared to 2023.
TikTok saw the strongest growth, increasing by 11 percentage points year-over-year from 33% to 44%.
Of the media listed, only Snapchat saw a decline in usage (2%), while the “other” category also saw a decline in usage (2%).
“User-generated content is the most weaponized and enhanced propaganda that exists today, so it’s no surprise that it’s most appealing to younger generations,” film director Cody Clark told Blaze News.
“Other forms of entertainment, while still propagandistic, are puny or dinosaurs in comparison. Hollywood propaganda is like postal mail, and social media and user-generated content is like email,” Clark continued.
The data suggests that streaming platforms are more popular among young people than social media in general, with 50% of respondents saying they watch popular video game streaming site Twitch for two to three hours a day, the highest response to date for that category.
Clark said while the amount of video children were watching was concerning in itself, their “instinctive” avoidance of the dangers of social media was arguably a positive overall.
“The fact that children instinctively avoid machines in their most obvious form says something.”
“We need to educate young people about the fact that what they see on social media is often an imitation of the individual, but the fact that they instinctively crave shared human experiences is a bit of a delayed victory,” he added.
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