India Is Addicted To WhatsApp More Than Any Other Social Media, And Knows It Can Be Dangerous

We spend a lot of time everyday on your smartphones, a lot of which might be across various social networks. Particularly WhatsApp.

These come with their own problems of addiction, fake news, and online harassment, and India is no exception when it comes to dealing with these issues.

That's why public opinion data analytics firm YouGov conducted a survey of Indian smartphone users, to see how we deal with everything we're exposed to on social media platforms daily. And the results are pretty interesting to say the least.

For one thing WhatsApp emerged as the most popular social network for Indians, followed by Facebook, though that may not surprise you. Three in every five Indians actively use WhatsApp. What's intriguing though is that, where Facebook is concerned, it seems men are more likely to have the app on their phone than women (90 percent vs 82 percent).

Addicted to WhatsApp

Additionally, the study found that people over 30 are much more likely to use WhatsApp than under 30-year-olds. And in this case, women prefer to chat much more than men do (62 percent to 56 percent).

Also Read:?Indian Govt Wants To Spy On Your WhatsApp & Social Media, By Trying To Tweak The IT Act Of 2000

That's also why, when asked what tech addiction they might develop in future, most people answered it would be to WhatsApp. Close behind was a general addiction to their phone, with Facebook running a close third despite everything that's happened with Cambridge Analytica this past year.

In fact those over 30 were more likely to think they'd become addicted to just WhatsApp, while the under-30s figured they could live without the app but not their phones.

At the very least though, when asked what better online habits they'd develop in the new year, the respondents had definitive answers regarding their social media use. More than a third said they plan to be more selective with adding new online friends. Meanwhile close to 30 percent said they intend to start verifying information they come across online before sharing.

That's still a disturbingly low number, but at least it's a start, and it shows Indians are aware of the real problem fake news poses. In fact, when asked which social media app they're most likely to deactivate in 2019, Facebook topped the list with a fifth of the votes.

Now let's hope those people are verifying WhatsAp forwards, too.