The Internet is the number one information source on the current political events for young people. TV occupies the second place. This data is included in the research entitled “Independence generation: youth study 2016 – Armenia”. 

For 50.5% of the respondents, the Internet is the main source of information on political events. Out of those, 33.4% receives information from online media, while 17,1% from social networks. 

31.3% of respondents indicate that they receive information on political events from TV. 

Radio and newspapers are rarely viewed as a source of information on political events. The radio is mentioned as a source of information by 1.1%, and the daily newspapers by 0.9% of the survey participants.

1,200 young people from different regions (urban and rural areas) of Armenia participated in the survey.  The study included young people born in 1987 or later. It was conducted by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FEH) in collaboration with the Faculty of Sociology of Yerevan State University.

The Internet generation

According to the survey, 96.1% of the respondents use the Internet. Out of those, 55.9% is online on the average for at least 3 hours.

Most often (20%) young people use the Internet to connect to social media networks.

17.3 of the respondents use the Internet “to connect with their friends and family”.

14.1% of the respondents watch movies online, while 13.7% watch videos and listen to music. 

Only 3.4% of the respondents uses email.

On the average, the youth spends 4,700 drams monthly for the Internet and mobile communications. 

Who watches TV?

According to the survey results, mostly people from rural areas, elderly, married couples and people with less income or expenses watch TV. 

Out of those, 13.9% watch TV for at least 3-4 hours a day on the average, while 26.5% watch TV on the average for 2-3 hours daily.

7.2% of the youth say they do not watch TV at all.

What do they watch?

45.1 of the respondents watch the news on TV every day, while 9.3% watch political debates.

Armenian TV series are viewed by 21.5% of the respondents, foreign TV series by 12.2% of the survey participants. 

72.9% of the respondents say they never watch religious programs. 

The research found out that among young people, those older, watch less Armenian and foreign TV series. Instead, they watch more news and Armenian movies.

Urban residents, as opposed to rural residents, watch more foreign movies and less Armenian national music programs, Armenian movies, Armenian TV series or news.

Married youth are increasingly watching Armenian national music programs, Armenian TV series, news and rarely foreign music programs, or sports programs.

Anahit Danielyan