Indian teens addicted to laptops, Facebook and Whatsapp: report

A recent survey by TCS has pointed out that teens in India still prefer laptops and PCs over smartphones.

India is riding on the digital wave of innovation and teenagers top the list when it comes to social networks and gadgets, according to a recent report.

In the past, there have been numerous reports which indicate that teens have a much higher social presence than among all other age groups.

A recent survey by TCS has pointed out that teens in India still prefer laptops and PCs over smartphones for browsing, despite the rising popularity of mobile devices. The survey was mainly targeted students from 8th to 12th standard.

”Technology has transformed young India. The gadgets considered as luxuries earlier have swiftly become necessities making an impact on both their student and personal lives. The survey was undertaken to get a pulse of the digital habits of school students from class 8-12,” the Survey said.

The GenZ Survey revealed that desktops, home PCs and laptops are the most popular methods of accessing the internet (44 per cent), which is just one per cent more than the smartphone count.

Moving on, approximately 26 per cent respondents said they spend at least an hour everyday online, while 27 per cent said they respond to notifications within 5 minutes of receiving them. Social media frenzy

Facebook leads the forefront in terms of usage (86 percent) followed by Google+ (65 percent). The survey found that boys are more active online and on social networking sites as compared to the girls. Another 49 percent said their online activities are monitored by parents and 48 percent respondents said their parents have access to their online accounts.

The teenagers are also moving away from organised learning environment, towards the online learning space indicating the popularity that do-it-yourself (DIY) and collaborative learning is gaining. About 21 per cent respondents said they used video chat to learn a new hobby, followed by school assignments (20.5 per cent) and educational tutorials (15 per cent).

Not surprisingly, WhatsApp was rated as the most popular instant messaging platform (71 per cent), distantly followed by SMS (12 per cent).

However, face to face communication is still the most preferred way of communication with friends (40 per cent) as compared to phone calls and social media, the survey pointed.

A majority of the teenagers (87 per cent) said they shop online with electronic gadgets (57 per cent) being the most popular buy, followed by books (50 per cent) and clothes (37 per cent).

For their dose of news, Gen Z prefers TV and newspapers (79 per cent) followed by links from friends/family on Facebook (38 per cent) and online sources (34 per cent).