Survey: Children and young people gamble for two and a half hours a day
89 percent of children and young people play video or computer games. The difference between boys and girls is not very big.
Almost 90 percent of children and young people in Germany play video and computer games. On average, they spend two hours and 29 minutes a day doing this. At the weekend, the time is even longer. This is the result of a representative survey by Bitkom, the digital association has now announced. On average, younger children spend a little less time playing games and while about as many boys and girls gamble at all, boys play half an hour longer on average every day. “Games are an integral part of the everyday life of many children and young people,” said Bitkom’s managing director, classifying the results.
(Image: Bitkom)
Differences between girls and boys are not great
As Bitkom explains, according to the survey, 89 percent of 10 to 18 year olds play computer or video games. 70 percent spend more than an hour a day, 15 percent 15 to 60 minutes and 5 percent a maximum of 15 minutes. Children between the ages of 10 and 12 who play video games spend an average of 119 minutes of their day with it, young people aged 13 and over spend around 2 hours and 45 minutes. According to the survey, 95 percent of boys in this age group gamble, among girls it is 83 percent. The boys who play, however, average 2 hours and 42 minutes, girls leave it at 2 hours and 8 minutes.
In view of the considerable amount of time that older children and young people spend every day playing games on their smartphone, computer or console, it is important to practice regular use of them, says Rohleder. “Parents should work with their children to agree on a weekly time budget or set a daily limit, especially for young children,” he suggests. The survey will be presented a few days before the start of Gamescom, the world’s largest consumer fair for computer and video games, in Cologne.
According to Bitkom, the survey is representative; 641 children and young people between the ages of 10 and 18 were surveyed. Was asked, “Do you play video or computer games?” and “How much time do you spend on average per day playing video or computer games in your free time?”.
(mho)
