Discover our other sites:

You might be looking for...

Annonse

Girls and boys live different digital lives, according to researchers

Researchers wonder how boys and girls even meet anymore.

Two teens in puffer jackets look at their phones on a snowy pavement in a city.

Filippa Owesen (on the right) and Ida Amundsen Bjørkli follow young influencers.

(Photo: Marte Dæhlen)

Marte Dæhlen Marte Dæhlen Marte Dæhlen Journalist

Published 29 January 2026 - 00:01

Girls and boys are becoming increasingly different.

The differences in what they spend their time on and what they think are growing.

This worries the researchers.

How can young women and men meet when they live in such completely different worlds?

They seek out different kinds of content

Annonse

“We don't really like to talk about gender differences in our society. But there's little doubt that there are differences between boys and girls on the internet,” says Halla Bjørk Holmarsdottir, a professor at OsloMet.

There are more young men and boys who play video games. And there are more young women and girls who use social media exclusively. A larger proportion of boys use YouTube daily, and a larger proportion of girls use Instagram and TikTok daily.

But the differences don't stop there.

On social media, they also follow different influencers, TikTokers, media outlets, and brands.

“The differences are more about what kind of content girls and boys seek out than about them spending time on different platforms,” says Marika Lüders, a media researcher at the University of Oslo.

Like to follow relevant people

“I think maybe boys follow more fitness influencers. Like football and that kind of stuff. And that girls follow influencers who are interested in beauty,” says Ida Amundsen Bjørkli.

She and her friend Filippa Owesen study sports at Ringerike Upper Secondary School and are both 17.

“The boys probably follow Norwegian TikToker Oskar Westerlin and that crowd. Many more boys do that than girls,” says Bjørkli.

Owesen and Bjørkli follow young Norwegian influencers like Tale Torp Torjussen, Leah Behn, Julie Fiala, and Trygve Bennetsen.

“We like to follow relevant people,” she says.

Both Tale Torjussen and Trygve Bennetsen are taking part in this year's Skal vi danse?, a Norwegian TV show based on Strictly Come Dancing. The girls get updates about the show and also follow them on social media.

“The fact that girls and boys follow different influencers doesn’t mean that we don’t meet up with each other. It’s more about having different interests,” says Owesen.

Two young women in winter coats talking outside on a snowy street. — Filippa Owesen (on the right) and Ida Amundsen Bjørkli are studying sports at Ringerike Upper Secondary School.

The feed is important

Annonse

Marika Lüders and colleagues at the University of Oslo have been studying teenagers in an ongoing research project. Young people participating in the project say that they customise their own feed according to what they are interested in and what their preferences are.

They want a specific type of content and they know how to get it.

“The algorithms are a challenge,” says Holmarsdottir.

If they follow certain influencers, they also get tips and news from similar influencers with the same attitudes, whether it's about politics, beauty products, or money.

“Young people know that algorithms are in control,” the researcher says.

But it is possible to override them. Holmarsdottir suggests following people or media outlets you usually disagree with to make your feed more balanced.

“But young people probably don't do that. They follow the ones they follow, “says Holmarsdottir.

Not looking for goals or meaning on social media

“I don't think boys are necessarily looking for meaning or have any goals when they're on social media. I'm there to be entertained,” says Mads Nicolay Moe-Gaukstad.

He is 17 and attends Fyrstikkalleen School in Oslo.

He believes that girls tend to follow their role models and people they look up to more.

For Kasper Aleksander Oftedal, it's all quite simple:

“I basically follow everyone who posts funny videos,” he says.

He follows a total of 4,517 users on TikTok.

Four male students in winter coats standing outside on the snow between brick buildings. — From left to right: Kasper Aleksander Melbye Oftedal, Leon Andreas Killerud Aiello, Mads Nicolay Moe-Gaukstad, and Storm Myklebyst all attend Fyrstikkalleen school.

Follows Tottenham football players

Several of the boys have accounts on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and X. But not on Facebook.

“I only have Facebook to keep in touch with my family,” says Oftedal.

Leon Andreas Killerud Aiello uses X to get football news. But that's all he does there.

“I follow all the Tottenham players and all the Norwegian players,” he says.

Don't spend much time with girls

Boys and girls meet primarily at school, they say. Sometimes at parties.

“I don't really socialise with girls that much, other than family and my girlfriend,” says Moe-Gaukstad.

"Why not?"

“I don't know. It just happens naturally. Every time I start at a new school, I've had more chemistry with the boys. It’s basically been sort of separate,” he says.

Storm Myklebust, on the other hand, believes that his group of friends is now quite mixed and that they hang out with both boys and girls. At least to a certain extent.

“But there are more boys, of course,” he says.

Controlled by algorithms

Myklebust thinks it's the algorithms that are in control, and that girls and boys end up somewhat distanced because of that.

“Before, there used to be just one channel everyone followed, and so we all had the same points of reference. Now everyone ends up in different places,” he says.

"Do you watch the evening news?"

“Yes!” the boys say in unison.

Moe-Gaukstad watches the evening news because he recently deleted TikTok. And Myklebust streams it every day.

Four male students in winter clothing stand in the snow looking at their phones. — “I follow everyone who’s posted a good video,” says Kasper Oftedal (on the left).

The most popular YouTubers, TikTokers, influencers, and gamers

There are patterns as to which topics are most popular among girls and boys, says Lüders.

Most viewed

In her survey of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19, she observes that more girls than boys seek out content about interior design, inspiration, fashion, shopping, and animals. And that more boys than girls seek out gaming content. Slightly more boys than girls watch fitness content.

The same is shown by the Norwegian Media Authority's 2024 survey, in which researchers also asked which profiles and influencers are popular.

Isabel Raad and Oskar Westerlin

Boys spent the most time on MrSavage, MrBeast, Oskar Westerlin, and Gutta, while girls followed Julie Fiala, Leah Behn, and Isabel Raad.

The Norwegian Media Authority points out that there is great variation in adolescents' responses and that relatively few people identify the same profiles.

Lüders points out that some profiles are popular for everyone, such as the YouTube creators Sidemen, Beta Squad, and MrBeast.

“These YouTubers create content within categories that are popular across genders,” says Lüders.

The fact that girls and boys follow different influencers also means that they get news and facts from completely different sources.

This worries social scientist Johannes Bergh.

Marika Lüders is a professor at the University of Oslo's Department of Media Studies.

Johannes Bergh is an election researcher at the Institute of Social Research.

Receive different news

“The differences in digital media use are happening at the same time that disparities in political attitudes among young women and men are growing,” he says. "So how do they even meet at all?"

Bergh has studied the 2025 general election and whom young people actually voted for. Preliminary findings show that they differ from each other more than before.

For example, the Progress Party (FrP) is the dominant party among young boys, while young women overall have become more progressive and are concerned about climate and gender equality, according to Bergh.

No longer agree on the facts

The researchers are trying to understand the potential consequences of girls and boys living in such different digital worlds.

“The political consequences may be that gender differences in attitudes and voting behaviour continue to grow,” says Bergh.

This could lead to the serious outcome that people no longer agree on the facts – what is true and what is false.

“Such disagreement could potentially be a problem for democracy, which depends on some degree of shared understanding of reality,” says Bergh.

Must get them to meet

Holmarsdottir also believes that we as a people and society are moving towards a more polarised debate.

“We could lose a shared arena for discussing issues, which is a danger to democracy,” she says.

The professor believes we must try to create places where young women and men can meet in person.

“We really just have to ask young people. What do they want? Where would they prefer to meet?” she says.

Halla Bjørk Holmarsdottir is a professor at OsloMet.

Even though they spend a lot of time online, they need to meet in real life, she believes.

“That's why we should work to preserve physical spaces, such as youth centres, libraries, places where students can meet and have discussions,” she says.