Facebook Used More By Parents Than Non-Parents

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Facebook usage globally has been found to be higher among parents compared to non-parents. A new study concluded that parents spend 1.3 times more than non-parents on the platform to keep tabs on teens and share achievements and the key milestones of their kids.Facebook Used More By Parents Than Non-Parents

Parents like sharing kids’ achievements on Facebook

Facebook’s consumer research program called Facebook IQ conducted a multi-phased research study comprised of parents in the age group of 25-65 having infants, toddlers, adolescents and teens as their kids. The study took Facebook and Instagram data across eight markets and gathered feedback from 8,300 parents and five parenting experts.

In a blog post, Facebook IQ said that everything changes for people when they become parents, including the relationship they have with their mobile phone. Mothers and fathers make too much use of their mobile phone for several tasks related to their children, such as managing schedules.

The study found that usage of mobile devices tends to be higher among Millennial parents (ages 18-34) than Boomer parents (ages 50-65). Almost 76% of Baby Boomers said they gained access to Internet and mobile devices only in the later stages of their life.

“By observing behavior on Facebook, we see that parents over-index on mobile usage. In fact, parents globally spend 1.3 times more time on Facebook mobile than non-parents,” the blog said.

More informed parents

Both young and old parents agreed that modern technologies keep them better informed. Of all the surveyed parents, 83% said they have access to a lot more information that their parents did, while 70% said they feel being more informed than their parents. Such an influx of information does have a few negatives associated with it for parents as well.

“On one end, technology allows parents to gather support from friends, family and other sources, while on the other, parents are also at risk of feeling more confused than confident,” Facebook said.

An interesting fact that came up from this study was that children play a very important role in purchasing decisions at home. More than 50% of parents agreed to this and added that they did not have so much impact on purchasing decisions while growing up. The study also revealed that along with sharing more decisions with their children, parents are also learning to give priority to their own needs as well, as this will equip them to better tend to their family.

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