More Teens Always Online, Survey Finds

A new report by the Pew Research Center reveals that nearly half of American teens say they're online almost all the time. This is despite worries about how social media and phone use impact their mental health. YouTube remains the favorite platform, with 90% of teens watching videos there daily. However, apps like TikTok and Snapchat saw small drops in use, likely because kids have more face-to-face time now that pandemic restrictions are easing. The biggest drop was seen on X, with only 17% of teens using it. Reddit stayed steady at 14%, and just 6% use Meta's Threads.Countries worldwide are trying to figure out how to handle the effects of social media on teens' well-being. Australia, for instance, passed a law banning kids under 16 from social networks, but enforcing this might be tricky and could lead to unintended consequences. When it comes to how often teens use these platforms, a good number say they're on them constantly. For YouTube, that's 15%, for TikTok, 16%, and for Snapchat, 13%. Girls tend to use TikTok more constantly than boys, who prefer YouTube. There's no big difference between genders for Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. More Black and Hispanic teens said they visit TikTok constantly compared to white teens. The report came from a survey done by Pew Research Center between September and October 2024, with 1, 391 U. S. teens aged 13 to 17 participating.