Majority says internet has worsened way of discussing politics – 06/29/2023 – Tech

That massive access to the internet generates considerable changes in people’s behavior is nothing new to anyone. Datafolha went into the field to find out how the web has changed Brazilians’ habits and how they evaluate the network.

Respondents see the internet’s positive impact on almost everything, with the exception of political debate. Almost half (48%) of respondents say that the network has worsened the way people discuss the topic; 33% think it has improved.

The survey, carried out more than six months after the 2022 election campaign, had very different results from those obtained in a similar study in March last year, when 45% thought that the internet had improved debates on the subject and 38% said that the change was for the worse.

In personal relationships, 61% believe that the web has improved the way people relate to their friends and 48% believe that the network has the same effect on families. Most also say that the network has improved the way they do business (78%), the way people get informed (76%), learn (76%) and have fun (57%). In all cases, though, the rate of optimists has fallen from the 2022 survey.

Some survey results also show that what happens on the internet, in many cases, goes to the offline world. The survey points out, for example, that practically half (49%) of Brazilians have already personally met someone they had met on the internet, and 28% of those interviewed even started dating their former virtual friend.

And the percentage should increase in the coming years, since Datafolha heard people aged 16 or over and, in the younger age group (16 to 24), the proportion of those who answered “yes” grows to 74% in the first case and 45 % in the second.

The level remains high in the range between 25 and 34 years old, with 65% and 45%, respectively, and drops among those over 60 years old: 21% have already met someone they met online and 8% have dated.

But Brazilians also have their criticisms regarding the use of the network. The majority (81%) agree that people expose more of their lives than they should. And 78% say that the web and social media are the main causes of mental health problems among children and adolescents.

Another topic that concerns most of the population (74%) is the possibility of companies and social networks listening to conversations and accessing personal messages to find out what people want to buy, and more than half (57%) are concerned with how companies use your Internet preferences and habits to send you personalized advertisements. Worry rates are highest among the most educated and the oldest.

The survey is based on 2,010 interviews with people aged 16 or over and was carried out in person between May 8th and 13th. For some questions, only respondents who access the internet (1,908) were considered. The margin of error is two percentage points.