Overview
- Use is sharply higher among youth, with about 90% of 16–19-year-olds consulting digital tools and roughly 42% of seniors aged 65–75 doing so.
- Nearly 42% of adolescents and young adults choose search engines, influencers or AI as their first step instead of visiting a clinician.
- Half of people diagnosed with anxiety or depression query symptoms online almost daily, a pattern linked to escalating distress rather than relief.
- Availability, immediacy and perceived privacy drive the behavior, with women and young people often citing not feeling judged as a key motive.
- Frequent use is most common in Catalonia, Murcia, the Canary and Balearic Islands and Madrid, and lowest in Galicia, Cantabria and Castilla y León, according to the Línea Directa–UCJC report released today.