Google first call for upset youth: survey

Google now beats talking to friends for young Kiwis with emotional or health problems, a survey has found.

The Colmar Brunton national survey of 403 people aged 16 to 24 found that 64 per cent of young people said Google or other websites were the most common places their peers would go to “access information about sex, drugs, alcohol, depression, stress, health, etc”.

Talking to friends came a distant second on 46 per cent.

“Our generation believes that the internet has all the answers,” said 19-year-old Stevie Davis-Tana, an AUT student who serves on Waitemata District Health Board’s youth advisory group.

“We believe that Google has all the answers to our beings, to everything that we need, and I think, as hard as it is to believe that young people would ask questions that you should be asking of a human being, they don’t.”

The ‘State of the Generation’ survey was commissioned by Youthline to prepare for its launch in July of a new Youthonline website called ‘Yo!’ The site will offer counselling by web chat or video and provide a social media space for young people to help each other from their own experiences.

Ms Davis-Tana said young people preferred to use the web because it was anonymous. Continue reading

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