Almost 8 out of 10 children accessing social media at school, says survey

A recent survey has found that 79% of students have admitted accessing social media at school, with 44% of students accessing it between one and five times in every school day.

More than 1,000 individuals between the ages of 13 and 18 participated in the BT Young Scientist survey.

When asked about the duration of the average single visit to social media sites, 26% claim to spend between two and five minutes on social media per visit.

One third of respondents admitted staying online between six and 10 minutes per visit with 38% spending more than 10 minutes on social media sites per individual visit.

Further results found that 59% of students depend on social media and the internet to help with schoolwork, while 71% of students said they feel that social media has helped them to identify and connect with friends with similar interests.

Mari Cahalane, head of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition commented: "Over the past number of years there has been a significant increase in increase in social media related projects at the exhibition.

"Students from across Ireland have submitted projects on a wide range of related topics such as mobile application development, psychometric testing through social media and even ways to determine if you’re being lied to on Facebook.

"This is what the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is all about – helping students to engage in the spheres of science, technology, engineering and maths through channels that really interest them and are relevant to their lives.

"Almost any interest could be a potential project, so I would encourage students to get thinking and submit their one page entry before October 1."

BT released details of the survey as students and teachers were reminded to submit their one page entry to the 51st BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition as the closing date of October 1 approaches.

The 2015 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition will take place in the RDS, Dublin from January 7 -10, 2015.

There are over 120 awards to be won including the prestigious BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year which was won by Paul Clarke of St. Paul’s College, Raheny in January this year.