Will Germany impose an age limit for social media?
Key takeaways
- A quarter of German youth spend too much time on social media, with 350,000 considered to have an addiction problem.
- She seldom left her room to chat with her parents, stopped going out on weekends and found she would sometimes spend 10 hours a day on TikTok and YouTube.
- "I noticed that I had really neglected school and did not study nearly as much as I used to," the now 18-year-old told DW.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A quarter of German youth spend too much time on social media, with 350,000 considered to have an addiction problem. Education Minister Karin Prien is advocating for a legal minimum age of 13.
https://p.dw.com/p/5G7AEGermany's education minister has called for effective age verification and phased safeguards for youth until the age of 18Image: Ilja Enger-Tsizikov/Zoonar/picture alliance Advertisement Leni realized two years ago that she was on her smartphone far too much. She seldom left her room to chat with her parents, stopped going out on weekends and found she would sometimes spend 10 hours a day on TikTok and YouTube.
"I noticed that I had really neglected school and did not study nearly as much as I used to," the now 18-year-old told DW. "I began monitoring the time I spent consuming media on my phone, putting my device away more often and no longer canceling plans to meet up with my friends in favor of just staying on my phone. Now, on average, I spend about five hours a day consuming media."