Does technology make teenagers more lonely?

TODAY’S modern household is more dependent on the internet than ever before. Given that the average home now has several devices connected at any one time, it may not be a surprise that internet usage shot up among TalkTalk customers by 40 per cent last year.  

At TalkTalk, we have a long history of leading industry efforts to ensure the internet is a safer place for young people, and recently investigated the relationship between loneliness and technology in teenagers.

The research found that although half of British teenagers think that using social media and the internet makes them feel less lonely, only a quarter of their parents agree. According to TalkTalk’s Teenage Loneliness and Technology Report, there is a stark divide within families over the role technology can play in either improving, or worsening, feelings of loneliness in teenagers.

Startlingly, across the UK, parents felt lonelier than their teenage children – which may be impacting on how they advise and talk to their children about the issue.

The top four causes of youth loneliness were more traditional issues relating to money, trust, friendships, and shyness, rather than technology-led factors. Despite this, 41 per cent of parents have never discussed loneliness with their teenagers, so, at TalkTalk, we have partnered with Internet Matters to develop advice on this topic, as it rolls out York’s UFO full fibre across the city.

York’s UFO allows residents and businesses to enjoy lightning fast speeds averaging more than 900Mb. It’s 20 times faster and more reliable that the UK’s average fibre broadband for both uploads and downloads.

With a full fibre connection, you can download a two-hour HD film in several seconds, or 100 songs in three seconds, tasks that currently take more than 25 minutes and eight minutes on a standard broadband connection.

York’s UFO from TalkTalk costs £27.50 per month for 24 months (offer ends June 13, 2019) and is available in Dringhouses, Woodthorpe, Foxwood, Chapelfields, Poppleton, Huntington, New Earswick, Rawcliffe, Clifton and parts of Holgate and The Groves. It will be available to 55,000 homes and businesses across the city by 2020. To find out if you can connect to York’s UFO visit talktalk.co.uk/ufo and enter your postcode.