Social media in Greece: 2 out of 3 users aged 18 to 64 are “mindlessly on their phones”

A recent study has shown that “aimless” use of social media is on the rise in Greece. It is common knowledge that the internet has completely changed our lives over the last fifteen years.

A new study found that Greeks spend more than 4 hours every day on social media like TikTok without even realizing it. Nearly two in three (63%) people aged 18 to 64 admit to being “unnecessarily on social media”, with this figure reaching 69% of women (compared to 56% of men) and 66% of 25 -34 year olds.

The second age group for “mindless internet use” is 18-24 years old (65%), followed by 35-44 years old (64%). In fact it turned out that they spend an average of more than three and a half hours online on their mobile phoneV. In any case, this is almost 50% of the total time we spend on the Internet.

One of the most interesting findings from the latest edition of Focus on Tech Life (Focus Bari research since 1995) regarding how Greek consumers use the Internet and its applications is that over a three-year period, these percentages have shown significant year-on-year growth. It has been proven that:

• Almost all Greeks (96%) are Internet users, and 79% of those aged 65-74 use the World Wide Web daily, including from their mobile phone.
• In Greece, smartphone ownership has reached 95%.
• Using social media is the number one reason for connecting to the internet.
• 7 out of 10 Greeks have made at least one purchase online in the last six months.

Another interesting fact: 92% say they use their mobile phone to access the Internet and only 5% said they do not have a smartphone. In addition, Thessaloniki leads in terms of the percentage of mobile phone use for “surfing” compared to Attica. Another interesting finding of the study is the increase in Internet penetration among older people, especially among 65-74 years old:

• 100% aged 18-44
• 99% in the age group 45-54 years
• 95% aged 55-64 years.

And what's even more interesting: 84% of Greeks aged 65-74 say they use the Internet. In addition, 79% say they are daily Internet users.

Which social networks do Greeks prefer? New social networks are increasingly penetrating the Greek population, with the popularity of TikTok constantly growing, and the number of active Greek user accounts across all social networks is 7.4 million. According to a previous study of this kind conducted by Focus Bari, in the second half of 2023 it was recorded that:

• 78% of citizens have a Facebook account, with the percentage increasing as they age as younger generations prefer other media.
• 68% of Greek users have an Instagram account, and this percentage reaches 83% in the 16-24 age group and decreases as age increases.
• 40% of Greek internet users have access to TikTok, and its penetration is very high. It is characteristic that in the second half of 2020 only 16% of Greeks had an account.
• It should be noted that women are more “fans” of TikTok, since the percentage of users with a profile on this medium reaches 44%, compared to 36% for men.

In any case, YouTube is considered the most popular social network, the number of accounts there reaches 7.4 million, which means that all Greek users have seen videos on this platform. Which seems quite likely.

On the hot topic of artificial intelligence, the latest poll shows that just over half of respondents (55%) support that artificial intelligence is simply the next step in evolution, while nearly 7 in 10 (69%) say that we must be careful that the development of artificial intelligence does not get out of our control.

The ChatGPT app appears to be followed by 25% of Greeks, who quickly connected to generative AI services and the now famous OpenAI service. At the same time, 28% answered that their friends and acquaintances use it, and 22% claim that they have heard about it, but do not know what exactly, and only 25% answered that they do not use it (have not heard about it at all). High popularity of ChatGPT — another example of the importance that digital technologies, and especially the Internet, have acquired in the daily lives of Greek citizens.

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