In Germany, there is growing concern about the effects of companies such as TikTok, Instagram and the gradual digitisation of all aspects of life.

According to the Centre for the Economics of Education (ifo, for its acronym in German), “90 per cent of adults and 96 per cent of young people state that they use social media privately daily during the week”.

The data is from 2025 and was collected after surveying more than 4,000 people across the country.

Eight in ten young people use social media for more than an hour a day for private (non-professional) use, and the figure rises even higher when it comes to weekends.

47% of adults say they “would prefer to live in a world without social media”, while 40% prefer that social media does exist. Among teenagers (aged 14 to 17), a large majority of 68% are in favour of social media.

When asked about the effects of social media on health, adults and minors agree. “Both adults and adolescents perceive clear negative effects of social media use on children and young people: 77 percent of adults and 61 percent of young people believe that social media has a negative impact on mental health”, explains the ifo report.

Adults and adolescents also agree that social media is detrimental to attention, academic performance, personal social skills, self-identity and the formation of political opinions. The only positive aspect is its function as a source of information (about half in favour).

85% of adults and 47% of young people surveyed believe that it should only be legal to create a social media account from the age of 16.

More than half of those surveyed (both adults and teenagers) agree that mobile phones should be banned in primary schools.

The danger of feeling accompanied by a machine

Experts such as computer scientist Charlie Catlett, a world expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI), warn of the effect that growing trends such as ‘chatbots’, applications that generate a feeling of companionship for people suffering from unwanted loneliness, can have.

In an interview with Evangelical Focus, Catlett explains that “the most popular AI apps are ‘companion chats’, you can go to these online services and pick out the kind of ‘chat buddy’ that you want”.

Catlett added: “Over the past ten years or so, I don't think people have really fully realised the influence that your social media feed and the associated advertisements have over you”.

Christian initiatives

In Europe, Christians have launched projects to reinforce training and the proper use of social media in several countries.

Christian ‘influencers’ meet regularly in countries such as Germany and France to share their experiences and seek healthy use of technological tools.