JIM Study 2021: Increase in disinformation and insults online

The JIM Study 2021 on media use by young people was published today. The results make clear how important it is to promote a safe and competent approach to aggressive and hateful behavior online. For the representative study, 1,200 young people aged twelve to 19 in Germany were surveyed by telephone or online from June 1 to July 11, 2021. In the article you will find the most important results of the JIM study. We have linked suitable information from klicksafe on awareness-raising work with young people below.

JIM Study 2021: Increase in disinformation and insults online
www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/JIM/2021/JIM-Studie_2021_barrierefrei.pdf

The search for information and news has played a major role not only since the Corona pandemic, but has moved further into the foreground in the discussion about fake news and the credibility of news sources. When young people are asked about relevant current issues, climate change and the Corona situation are the main focus. When asked about their three most important news sources, one-third of 12- to 19-year-olds name television (32%), and one in five young people each name radio (22%) and the Internet (21%). These are results of the JIM study 2021 (youth, information, media) of the medium-educational research group southwest, which was published today. For the representative study, 1,200 young people aged twelve to 19 in Germany were surveyed by telephone or online from June 1 to July 11, 2021.

WhatsApp remains the most important service for communication among twelve to 19-year-olds. 92 percent of young people use it at least several times a week. Instagram
follows in second place with 58 percent, but is losing relevance compared to the previous year. TikTok(46%) has gained further importance among young people, displacing
Snapchat (42%) from third place. Young people are not very sensitive when it comes to data protection on these platforms. Only one-third of young people have concerns about the security of personal data at
.

The use of moving images remains diverse and takes place on different devices, with stationary TV sets continuing to dominate by a wide margin. In the purely
Internet-based use of series, shows and movies, YouTube and Netflix in particular are relevant for young people. Overall, video streaming services reach a good eight out of
ten young people on a regular basis.

Less encouraging is that 58 percent of young people were confronted with hate messages on the Internet in the month before the survey alone, 56 percent with extreme political views , and around half with conspiracy theories and offensive comments. Fake news is at 42 percent. Only 23 percent of young people could say they had not been confronted with any of these phenomena in the last month. The results clearly show how important it is to promote a safe and competent approach to
aggressive and hateful behavior online.

The JIM (Jugend, Information, Medien - Youth, Information, Media) study series has been conducted annually since 1998 by the Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest in cooperation with Südwestrundfunk (SWR). The representative study maps the media behavior of young people in Germany. All editions of the JIM study from 1998 to 2021 are available as PDFs at www.mpfs.de.

The Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest is a cooperation of the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK) and the Medienanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz. The study was conducted in cooperation with Südwestrundfunk (SWR).

klicksafe topic areas with appropriate materials, info and tips on how to deal with it:

Hate speech, fake news, conspiracy theories, disinformation, right-wing extremism, Salafism, data protection