Reading the Data
B2 · Reading · Society and Social Change
How have our students’ lives changed? (school surveys, 2005 and 2025)
The student council compared two surveys of students aged 15–17 at our school, carried out twenty years apart.
Time spent online outside school rose dramatically, from about one hour a day in 2005 to just over four hours in 2025. Over the same period, the proportion of students who said they met friends in person at least three times a week fell from 72% to 41%.
Participation in volunteering, by contrast, increased slightly, from 18% to 26%. Most volunteers in 2025 said they had found their opportunity online.
The evidence suggests that young people’s social lives have moved partly online. However, it would be a mistake to conclude that students are simply more isolated: the rise in volunteering indicates that online tools can also connect young people to their communities.
Vocabulary
- proportion
- dramatically
- by contrast
- participation
- conclude
Sample questions (6 questions)
- How much did daily time online change?
- from about one hour to just over four hours
- from four hours to one hour
- it stayed the same
- Which trend went in the opposite direction to time online?
- meeting friends in person
- volunteering
- number of students
- Drag the words into the data commentary.
Time online ___ dramatically. ___, in-person meetings ___ sharply. ___, volunteering increased ___.
Answers and hints from Migo appear when you do it online.