The National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Homes (ENDUTICH) of the INEGI rreveals that, on average during 2023, Young adults between 18 and 24 years old register the highest internet use in the country with 5.9 hours a day; That is, they spend more than 2,100 hours annually in front of the screens of their smartphones or computers.
Second place is occupied by users aged 25 to 34 years and the adolescent population aged 12 to 17 with 5.6 and 4.7 hours per day respectively.
According to the report published on June 13, 2024, more than 97 million Mexicans use a cell phone with internet access, a figure that is equivalent to a percentage of 81.4% of the population aged 6 years or older.
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Likewise, ENDUTIH estimated that at least 43% of families had a desktop computer, laptop or tablet, which is equivalent to more than 16 million homes.
According to data from the national survey, the majority of users use the Internet to communicate, entertain themselves and access social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.
Instead, some of the less common uses were online sales, cloud services, and virtual banking.
Digital dependency affects mental health
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report titled “Digital Economic Outlook 2024” explains that Hyperconnectivity has a detrimental impact on mental health as it generates digital dependency in users.
The number of young people feeling unhappy due to social media use has increased by 49% this year and cyberbullying is also becoming more common, with girls suffering higher rates of bullying than boys on average.
Virtual content, mainly that focused on entertainment such as reels on social networks, disproportionately affects vulnerable populations according to the organization.
In addition, Prolonged phone use and irrational driving in search of fun can lead to direct social isolation; While Internet users communicate with each other through mobile devices, they hinder direct contact with physically close people.
Technological dependence also increases the inability to carry out daily activities without the use of the telephone, strengthens feelings of sadness and irritability and considerably reduces the hours of sleep; Likewise, there is a constant need for interactions and feedback on social networks, as well as discomfort if the expected reactions with other users are not obtained.
EE