More than one in three Germans (35 percent) said they would rather watch short internet videos than meet up with their friends, according to a new survey commissioned by consulting firm EY and reported on by the newspapers of the Funke media group.
One in two (51 percent) said they prescribe themselves internet breaks.
According to the international survey, this figure is only higher in Canada (54 percent) and the USA (53 percent) – the international average is 43 percent.
But Germans remain less worried about their internet usage than other countries: The global average is 38 percent, with only users in Sweden (28 percent) more carefree about how much they go online than those surveyed in Germany.
In Italy (44 percent), Spain and Canada (both 42 percent), more residents question their online usage behaviour with regard to the impact on their health.
Users are more conscious about using the internet than they were a few years ago, Olaf Riedel, Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications at EY-Parthenon, told the Funke newspapers.
"But we are currently clearly at a tipping point where many users feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options - or are not satisfied with themselves and the time they have used after using the internet," said Riedel. "The flood of offers is therefore increasingly perceived as a burden."
According to Funke newspapers, 20,000 people worldwide were surveyed, 1,000 of them in Germany. The results were weighted accordingly.
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