The new Youth Internet Monitor revealed surprising results: Social media use among 11 to 17 year olds decreased significantly year-on-year. There are several possible explanations – but most of them have to do with artificial intelligence.
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The EU initiative Saferinternet.at has been surveying the social media usage of Austria’s young people for eleven years. And over the past ten years, a similar picture has emerged: It changes which platforms 11 to 17 year olds use and how much, and some of the portals have repeatedly struggled with a loss. But there was no major break-in recorded. Things will be different for the first time in 2026: In the study published on Monday, not a single one of the 14 most used platforms was able to increase year-on-year. What’s more: 12 of the 14 platforms have a loss, and in four cases – Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook – it’s almost double-digit. “Only the messenger service Signal and the Internet forum Reddit did not have to accept any losses (and exited with the same number of users, note),” explains Saferinternet. By the way, the top 5 portals are the same as last year: WhatsApp followed by YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram; only TikTok and Instagram swapped places.
