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Nearly half of US teens are online 'constantly,' Pew report finds
US WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY UNPLUGGED. THREE. TWO. ONE. OH MY GOSH, IT’S ASKING FOR A PASSWORD. NO IT’S NOT. DESPAIR SETS IN FOR FOR DELCAMPO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS STABBED ME IN THE HEART WHEN THE REALITY OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIMENT RULES ARE REVEALED. NO INSTAGRAM, NO TIKTOK, NO SNAPCHAT, NO YOUTUBE. WHEN I SAW THE FOOD AND NETFLIX AND STUFF GOING LIKE CRAZY. THE TEENS ADMIT THEY SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR PHONES. LET’S PULL OUT YOUR PHONES AND LET’S CHECK YOUR SCREEN TIME. LAST WEEK, MINE WAS SEVEN HOURS AND 27 MINUTES A DAY. YEAH. DAILY AVERAGE? YEAH. SEVEN HOURS AND 30 MINUTES. MINE WAS ABOUT FOUR HOURS AND 20 MINUTES. SIX HOURS AND 30 MINUTES. DAILY AVERAGE. BUT THE 17 YEAR OLDS ARE READY TO FIND OUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THEY UNPLUG. I DON’T MEAN TO SOUND ARROGANT, BUT I THINK I CAN DO IT TO TAKE AWAY THE TEMPTATION. SALLY KIDD KELLY DELETED ALL OF HER SOCIAL MEDIA, INCLUDING HER TIKTOK ACCOUNT WITH 41,000 FOLLOWERS. SOCIAL MEDIA KIND OF GIVES ME ANXIETY. I FEEL THE CONSTANT NEED TO POST, POST, POST. I THINK I NEED TO LIKE, STEP BACK AND LIKE ENJOY LIFE OUTSIDE OF MY PHONE IF I CAN MAKE IT THROUGH THIS, MAYBE I’LL JUST KEEP GOING AFTER IT’S AFTER IT’S DONE. JUST BEING ABLE TO JUST GO THROUGH SCHOOL AND GO THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT RELYING ON THIS. THEY KNOW THAT SCROLLING THROUGH INSTAGRAM OR WATCHING VIDEOS ON TIKTOK MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST USE OF THEIR TIME, BUT THEY FEEL COMPELLED. DOCTOR SHAUNA MELVIN REDDING IS A COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSOR AT SACRAMENTO STATE STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION. IT CAN BE REALLY DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY WITH SOCIAL PRESSURE, WHERE YOU KNOW YOUR FRIENDS ARE ONLINE AND YOU KNOW STUFF’S HAPPENING. SO THE FEAR OF MISSING OUT PHENOMENON, OKAY, DAY ONE NO SOCIAL MEDIA. I WAS A LITTLE SAD. I WASN’T I WOULDN’T SAY I’M DEPRESSED OVER IT, BUT LIKE, I’M OKAY. I’M JUST OKAY. I TOOK A BATH LIKE A COUPLE MINUTES AGO, AND I USUALLY GO ON MY PHONE. THEN WITH BORED OUT OF MY MIND. BUT I THINK I’M GONNA BE FINE. SO I ONLY HAVE TWO MORE DAYS. SO BEING PUSHED INTO SELF-CARE BY NOT SPENDING TIME ONLINE LIKE HAVING A BATH AND HAVING A NAP. THIS EXPERIMENT IN HELPING THEM SEE JUST HOW MUCH TIME IS SPENT CHECKING OR THINKING ABOUT CHECKING LIKE IT’S REMARKABLE HOW MUCH YOU CAN GET DONE IN A DAY. YOU’RE NOT SCROLLING. ANY TAKEAWAYS I GOT FROM THIS IS THAT I’M ACTUALLY SO ADDICTED TO MY PHONE THAT I CHECK IT. I LITERALLY WOKE UP, PICKED UP MY PHONE, WENT TO GO ON TIKTOK, AND THEN REALIZED I DON’T HAVE TIKTOK. IT WAS ACTUALLY SO BAD DAY THREE I’M GOING A LITTLE BIT, SO IT WAS REALLY HARD TO NOT DO TODAY. BUT I NONETHELESS PREVAILED. HOW ARE YOU GUYS DOING? HOW ARE YOU FEELING? THREE DAYS LATER, WE CHECK IN WITH OUR SOCIAL MEDIA SUBJECTS. OVERALL, IF YOU COULD GIVE ME ONE ADJECTIVE ON HOW THE PAST THREE DAYS WENT, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? I FEEL REFRESHED WITH ALL WITH CONTROL. KIND OF PEACEFUL. PEACEFUL? YEAH. THE EXPERIMENT WAS EYE OPENING FOR THE ONE OVERLY CONFIDENT PARTICIPANT, ISAIAH GONZALEZ. IT WAS A LOT MORE CHALLENGING THAN I THOUGHT. I DIDN’T SEE HOW MUCH I ACTUALLY USED MY PHONE. ISAIAH WENT FROM 6.5 HOURS OF DAILY SCREEN TIME, MAINLY ON YOUTUBE TO 39. THAT’S CRAZY. DUDE. WHAT? MY AVERAGE IS FIVE HOURS AND 20 MINUTES FOR LIKE ALL. YEAH, NOW THAT SALLY KIDD PASSED THE TEST WILL THE APPS STAY DELETED? OH, YEAH. THEY’RE DOWNLOADING RIGHT NOW. I TRY MY HARDEST TO STAY OFF IT. AND I DID, SO I WAS ACTUALLY PROUD OF MYSELF. DE’ANTHONY CUT HIS PHONE TIME IN HALF, DISCOVERING HOW TO MAKE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS IN PERSON. I TALKED TO MY MOM A LOT. A LOT MORE. THAT WAS DEFINITELY A BETTER WAY TO SPEND MY TIME. THE TEENS ALSO USE THAT EXTRA TIME TO SEE FRIENDS IN PERSON, READ A BOOK, GET SOME SLEEP, AND ACTUALLY FINISH THEIR HOMEWORK. NOW THEY PLAN TO SET THEIR OWN BOUNDARIES AND LIMIT SCREEN TIME. I WANT TO ENCOURAGE EVERY TEENAGER TO TRY FOR LIKE FOR LIKE A WEEK. TRY FOR LIKE A WEEK, OR EVEN LIKE A WEEKEND OR LIKE A COUPLE DAYS. I’M PROUD OF YOU GUYS. YEAH, I’M PROUD OF Y’ALL. IT’S BEEN REAL. Y’ALL. MICHELLE BANDUR KCRA THREE NEWS. WELL, PROFESSOR MELVIN REDDING SAYS THAT PARENTS CAN LEARN SOMETHING FROM THE EXPERIMENT. HER NUMBER ONE TIP PARENTS NEED TO STOP SCROLLING ON THEIR OWN PHONES DURING FAMILY TIME. SHE SAID THANKSGIVING DINNER, OF COURSE, IS A GREAT TIME TO START PUTTING YOUR PHONES DOWN FOR JUST A COUPL
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Nearly half of US teens are online 'constantly,' Pew report finds
Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online "constantly" despite concerns about the effects of social media and smartphones on their mental health, according to a new report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center.As in past years, YouTube was the single most popular platform teenagers used — 90% said they watched videos on the site, down slightly from 95% in 2022. Nearly three-quarters said they visit YouTube every day. There was a slight downward trend in several popular apps teens used. For instance, 63% of teens said they used TikTok, down from 67% and Snapchat slipped to 55% from 59%. This small decline could be due to pandemic-era restrictions easing up and kids having more time to see friends in person, but it's not enough to be truly meaningful.X saw the biggest decline among teenage users. Only 17% of teenagers said they use X, down from 23% in 2022, the year Elon Musk bought the platform. Reddit held steady at 14%. About 6% of teenagers said they use Threads, Meta's answer to X that launched in 2023.Meta's messaging service WhatsApp was a rare exception in that it saw the number of teenage users increase, to 23% from 17% in 2022. Pew also asked kids how often they use various online platforms. Small but significant numbers said they are on them "almost constantly." For YouTube, 15% reported constant use, for TikTok, 16% and for Snapchat, 13%. As in previous surveys, girls were more likely to use TikTok almost constantly while boys gravitated to YouTube. There was no meaningful gender difference in the use of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Roughly a quarter of Black and Hispanic teens said they visit TikTok almost constantly, compared with just 8% of white teenagers. The report was based on a survey of 1,391 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted from Sept. 18 to Oct. 10, 2024.
Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online "constantly" despite concerns about the effects of social media and smartphones on their mental health, according to a new report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center.
As in past years, YouTube was the single most popular platform teenagers used — 90% said they watched videos on the site, down slightly from 95% in 2022. Nearly three-quarters said they visit YouTube every day.
There was a slight downward trend in several popular apps teens used. For instance, 63% of teens said they used TikTok, down from 67% and Snapchat slipped to 55% from 59%. This small decline could be due to pandemic-era restrictions easing up and kids having more time to see friends in person, but it's not enough to be truly meaningful.
X saw the biggest decline among teenage users. Only 17% of teenagers said they use X, down from 23% in 2022, the year Elon Musk bought the platform. Reddit held steady at 14%. About 6% of teenagers said they use Threads, Meta's answer to X that launched in 2023.
Meta's messaging service WhatsApp was a rare exception in that it saw the number of teenage users increase, to 23% from 17% in 2022.
Pew also asked kids how often they use various online platforms. Small but significant numbers said they are on them "almost constantly." For YouTube, 15% reported constant use, for TikTok, 16% and for Snapchat, 13%.
As in previous surveys, girls were more likely to use TikTok almost constantly while boys gravitated to YouTube. There was no meaningful gender difference in the use of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
Roughly a quarter of Black and Hispanic teens said they visit TikTok almost constantly, compared with just 8% of white teenagers.
The report was based on a survey of 1,391 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted from Sept. 18 to Oct. 10, 2024.
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