Corona causes boom in video calls

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The far-reaching contact restrictions to contain the corona pandemic have led to a boom in the use of video calls in Germany . More than 4 in 10 internet users (43 percent) say they have been using video calls more frequently since then to communicate with family and friends.

Services such as WhatsApp, Skype or Facetime are being used more and more across all age groups: 52 percent of 16- to 29-year-old online users have been increasingly using video calls since contact restrictions began, as have 43 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds and 43 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds. Seniors over 65 are also active users: 27 percent of online users in this group say they are now making more video calls.

This is the result of a representative survey rich people database conducted by the digital association Bitkom among 1,003 people in Germany aged 16 and over in April 2020. According to the survey, the Corona crisis has also ensured that many people have tried a video call for the first time ever: This applies to 17 percent of all Internet users - among those over 65, it is almost one in five (19 percent).

"The Corona crisis is forcing people to keep their distance. This can be particularly painful for families when children cannot visit their parents and grandchildren cannot visit their grandparents. This can be compensated for to some extent by video calls," says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder. "Even after the crisis, video calls will remain the preferred method of communication for many people , especially if they cannot visit each other regularly due to great distances."