YouTube, Snapchat more popular than Facebook among US teens
San Francisco, June 1: YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular online platforms among US teenagers today, pushing Facebook, which once dominated the social media landscape, to the fourth position, according to a new survey.
Today, roughly half (51 percent) of US teenagers between ages 13 and 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Facebook-owned Instagram or Snapchat, showed the Pew Research Center survey results released on Thursday.
While 85 per cent teenagers use YouTube, 72 per cent use Instagram and 69 per cent use Snapchat, showed the survey conducted between March 7-April 10 this year.
Notably, lower-income teenagers are more likely to gravitate toward Facebook than those from higher-income households.
Seven-in-ten teenagers living in households earning less than $30,000 a year say they use Facebook, compared with 36 per cent whose annual family income is $75,000 or more, the results showed.
Interestingly, girls were more likely than boys to say Snapchat is the site they use most often, while boys were more inclined than girls to identify YouTube as their go-to platform.
This shift in social media use of teenagers is just one example of how the technology landscape for young people has evolved since the Pew Research Center's last survey of teenagers and technology use in 2014-2015.
Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teenage life .
Fully 95 per cent of teenagers in the US have today access to a smartphone, and 45 per cent say they are online "almost constantly", the results showed.
The shares of teenagers who use Twitter and Tumblr are largely comparable to the shares who did so in the 2014-2015 survey.
The survey also found there is no clear consensus among teenagers about the effect that social media has on the lives of young people today.
Minorities of teenagers describe that effect as mostly positive (31 per cent) or mostly negative (24 per cent), but the largest share (45 per cent) says that effect has been neither positive nor negative, the survey showed.
It also revealed that while a majority of both boys and girls play video games, gaming is nearly universal for boys.
Overall, 84 per cent of teenagers say they have or have access to a game console at home, and 90 per cent say they play video games of any kind - whether on a computer, game console or cellphone.
While a substantial majority of girls report having access to a game console at home (75 per cent) or playing video games in general (83 per cent), those shares are even higher among boys.
Roughly nine-in-ten boys (92 per cent) have or have access to a game console at home, and 97 per cent say they play video games in some form or fashion, the results showed.
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Intend to allow feeding of pigeons for 2 hours in morning at Dadar Kabutarkhana: BMC to HC
Mumbai, Aug 13 (PTI): The city civic body on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court it intends to allow controlled feeding of pigeons for two hours each morning at the Dadar Kabutarkhana subject to conditions.
A bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Arif Doctor, however, stated that before granting any such permission, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has to first issue a public notice inviting objections and then take a decision on allowing controlled feeding of the birds at the popular site in Dadar.
Since the BMC's decision to close kabutarkhanas (pigeon feeding spots) in the city and prohibit feeding of pigeons was in larger interest of public health, the sanctity of the same has to be maintained, the court noted, while hearing a bunch of petitions.
Last week, tarpaulin sheets were placed at the Dadar Kabutarkhana, a popular pigeon feeding site, by the BMC to prevent people from offering grains to the birds, a move which had led to protest during which the covers were forcibly removed by agitators.
Pursuant to this, a few individuals submitted an application to the BMC seeking interim arrangements for controlled feeding of the pigeons.
On Wednesday, BMC counsel Ram Apte told the court the civic body intends to permit controlled feeding of the birds from 6 am to 8 am subject to certain conditions.
The bench then questioned if the civic body had first invited objections to the application (seeking nod for controlled pigeon feeding) before taking its decision.
"You (BMC) cannot just allow feeding now once you have already taken a closure decision keeping public health in mind. You will have to take a well considered decision," the HC observed.
Once an application is received, you need to issue a notice and invite objections from people and then take a decision. Once you have taken a decision keeping people's health in mind then you need to maintain that sanctity, the bench affirmed.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday also submitted a list of 11 names to be part of a committee that would carry out a scientific study on the issue of pigeon feeding at public places and its impact on human health.
The court said the government shall notify the committee by August 20.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, said the committee would comprise officials from state public health and town planning departments and medical experts.
The court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by people who regularly feed pigeons at kabutarkhanas. The petitioners have challenged the civic body's decision to ban such feedings and close down kabutarkhanas in the metropolis over potential health hazards from the exercise.
The high court had last month refused to grant any interim relief to the petitioners, but had asked the civic authorities not to demolish any heritage kabutarkhanas. The court had also said the BMC could take action as per law against those feeding pigeons at public places.
The Supreme Court had earlier this week refused to intervene in the HC order.
Senior counsel Anil Sakhare, appearing for the petitioners who have sought permission to offer grains to pigeons at the Dadar Kabutarkhana, said once the BMC takes a decision permitting controlled feeding, then they would move the HC seeking modification of the earlier order refusing interim relief.
