A recent report from the Pew Research Center reveals that about 50% of American teenagers identify as being online “constantly,” even amidst widespread worries regarding the impact of social media and smartphones on their mental well-being. The findings were published Thursday, highlighting ongoing trends in teenage internet usage.
Continuing its dominance, YouTube remains the most widely used platform, with 90% of teens indicating they watch videos on the site, a slight decrease from the 95% recorded in 2022. Approximately 75% of teenagers access YouTube daily, demonstrating its strong presence in their daily lives.
Some popular applications are witnessing a modest decline in usage among teens. For example, TikTok saw a reduction from 67% to 63%, and Snapchat’s popularity dropped from 59% to 55%. This potential decrease may be linked to the easing of pandemic restrictions, providing teenagers with more opportunities for in-person social interactions, although the decline is relatively minor.
Interestingly, X experienced a notable drop in teenage users, with only 17% reporting usage, down from 23% in 2022, the year when Elon Musk acquired the platform. Conversely, Reddit maintained a consistent 14% usage among teens, while only 6% reported using Threads, Meta’s response to X, which launched in 2023.
The implications of social media on youth well-being are being addressed globally, with Australia recently enacting a law that prohibits children under 16 from participating in social networks. However, it remains uncertain how the enforcement of this age restriction will unfold and whether it might inadvertently isolate vulnerable youths from their peers.
In a notable exception, Meta’s messaging app WhatsApp experienced an uptick in teenage users, increasing to 23% from the previous year’s 17%.
Pew also inquired about the frequency of online platform usage, revealing that some teenagers engage with these apps “almost constantly.” Specifically, 15% of respondents reported constant use of YouTube, 16% for TikTok, and 13% for Snapchat.
As observed in earlier studies, girls demonstrated a greater inclination to use TikTok nearly all the time, while boys showed a preference for YouTube. There were no significant differences between genders regarding the usage of Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook.
Among racial demographics, around 25% of Black and Hispanic teens indicated they visit TikTok almost constantly, highlighting a contrast with just 8% of white teenagers.
The conclusions presented in this report stem from a survey consisting of 1,391 U.S. teenagers aged 13 to 17, conducted from September 18 to October 10, 2024.