Nearly half of American teens say they are “constantly” online despite this worry about the consequences of social media and smartphones on their mental health, according to a new report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center.
As in years past, YouTube was the most popular platform teens used, with 90% saying they watched videos on the site, up from just under 95% in 2022. Nearly three-quarters said they visit YouTube every day.
There was a slight downward trend in several popular apps that teens used. For example, 63% of teens said they used TikTok, up from 67%, and Snapchat dropped from 59% to 55%. This small decline could be due to the easing of restrictions during the pandemic and children having more time to see friends in person, but it is not enough to be truly meaningful.
X saw the biggest decline among teen users. Only 17% of teens said they use X, down from 23% in 2022, the year Elon Musk bought the platform. Reddit remained stable at 14%. About 6% of teens said they use Threads, Meta’s answer to X that launched in 2023.
The report comes at a time when countries around the world are grappling with how to deal with the effects of social media on the well-being of young people. Australia recently passed a law prohibit children under 16 years of age of social networks, although it is unclear how it will be able to enforce the age limit – and whether this will have unintended consequences, such as isolating vulnerable children from their peers.
Meta’s messaging service WhatsApp was a rare exception, as its teen users increased from 17% in 2022 to 23%.
Pew also asked kids how often they use different online platforms. Small but significant numbers said they were on them ‘almost constantly’. For YouTube, 15% reported constant use, for TikTok 16%, and for Snapchat 13%.
As in previous studies, girls were more likely to use TikTok almost constantly, while boys turned more to YouTube. There was no meaningful gender difference in the use of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
About a quarter of Black and Hispanic teens say they visit TikTok almost constantly, compared to just 8% of white teens.
The report is based on a survey of 1,391 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted between September 18 and October 10, 2024.