Pew survey: YouTube tops teens' social-media diet, with roughly a sixth using it almost constantly

SAN FRANCISCO– Social media use among teens has not dropped much despite growing concerns about its effects on adolescent mental health, according to a Pew Research Institute study.

But the data also showed that about one in six teens describe their use of two platforms – YouTube and TikTok – as “almost constant.”

Seventy-one percent of teens said they visit YouTube at least daily; 16% described their use as “almost constant,” according to the survey. A slightly larger group – 17% – said they used TikTok almost constantly. Those figures for Snapchat and Instagram came to 14% and 8% respectively.

YouTube remains by far the most popular social platform among teens, with 93% reporting using the service. That number was down two percentage points from 2022. In second place were TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, although all three trailed YouTube in this regard by 30 percentage points or more. According to the research, three of these four platforms showed a slight decline in usage over the past year. The exception, Snapchat, rose one percentage point.

Facebook, whose overall teen usage has fallen from 71% in 2014-2015 to 33% in 2023, is getting the respect from teens you'd expect. Only 19% of teens reported checking Facebook daily or more often. Only 3% describe their use as almost constant.

Social media is increasingly taking heat over the algorithmic techniques platforms use to attract and retain younger users. In October, a coalition of 33 states, including New York and California, sued Meta Platforms for contributing to the youth mental health crisis, alleging the company knowingly designed features on Instagram and Facebook that addicted children to its platforms . Meta has denied the accusations.

The Pew survey, released Monday, was conducted from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23 among 1,453 teens ages 13 to 17.