YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat stay broadly used amongst U.S. teenagers; some say they’re on these websites virtually always
Pew Research Center carried out this examine to higher perceive teenagers’ use of digital gadgets, social media and different on-line platforms.
The Center carried out a web-based survey of 1,391 U.S. teenagers from Sept. 18 to Oct. 10, 2024, by means of Ipsos. Ipsos recruited the kids through their mother and father, who had been a part of its KnowledgePanel. The KnowledgePanel is a probability-based net panel recruited primarily by means of nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey was weighted to be consultant of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 who reside with their mother and father by age, gender, race and ethnicity, family earnings, and different classes.
Here are the questions used for this report, together with responses, and the survey methodology.
This analysis was reviewed and accredited by an exterior institutional assessment board (IRB), Advarra, an unbiased committee of consultants specializing in serving to to guard the rights of analysis contributors.
Amid nationwide issues about expertise’s influence on youth, many teenagers are as digitally linked as ever. Most teenagers use social media and have a smartphone, and practically half say they’re on-line virtually always, in response to a brand new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 carried out Sept. 18-Oct. 10, 2024.
YouTube tops the checklist of the net platforms we requested about in our survey. Nine-in-ten teenagers report utilizing the location, barely down from 95% in 2022.
TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat stay broadly used amongst teenagers. Roughly six-in-ten teenagers say they use TikTok and Instagram, and 55% say the identical for Snapchat.
Facebook and X use have steeply declined over the previous decade. Today, 32% of teenagers say they use Facebook. This is down from 71% in 2014-15, although the share of teenagers who use the location has remained secure in recent times. And 17% of teenagers say they use X (previously Twitter) – about half the share who mentioned this a decade in the past (33%), and down from 23% in 2022.
Roughly one-quarter of teenagers (23%) say they use WhatsApp, up 6 proportion factors since 2022.
And 14% of teenagers use Reddit, a share that has remained secure over the previous few years.
We requested about Threads, launched by mum or dad firm Meta in 2023, for the primary time this yr. Only 6% of teenagers report utilizing it.
How typically do teenagers go to on-line platforms?
Debates about teen social media use typically middle on how a lot time teenagers spend on these platforms. As lawmakers discover potential rules, our 2023 survey discovered a majority of Americans help closing dates for minors on social media.
Our present survey requested teenagers how typically they use 5 platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
Overall, 73% of teenagers say they go on YouTube every day, making YouTube essentially the most broadly used and visited platform we requested about. This share consists of 15% who describe their use as “virtually fixed.”
About six-in-ten go to TikTok every day. This consists of 16% who report being on it virtually always.
Roughly half of teenagers say they go on Instagram or Snapchat daily, together with about one-in-ten who say they’re on every of those platforms virtually always.
The share of teenagers who say they use Instagram virtually always has elevated barely, from 8% in 2023 to 12% at present.
Relatively few teenagers report utilizing Facebook every day (20%).
Across all 5 platforms, one-third of teenagers use no less than certainly one of these websites virtually always.
These findings are largely much like what we’ve discovered the previous two years.
By gender
As in earlier surveys, teen women are extra seemingly than boys to say they use TikTok virtually always (19% vs. 13%).
Inversely, teen boys are extra seemingly than women to make use of YouTube this typically. While 19% of boys say they use it virtually always, that share drops to 11% amongst women.
Unlike final yr, comparable shares of boys (13%) and women (12%) at present say they use Snapchat virtually always.
There are additionally no gender variations within the shares of teenagers who report utilizing Instagram and Facebook virtually always.
By race and ethnicity
Roughly one-quarter of Black (28%) or Hispanic (25%) teenagers say they go to TikTok virtually always. This share drops to eight% amongst White teenagers.
Black and Hispanic teenagers are additionally extra seemingly than White teenagers to say they always use YouTube or Instagram.
There are few to no racial or ethnic variations within the shares visiting Snapchat and Facebook on a close to fixed foundation.
How does using on-line platforms differ throughout demographic teams?
While many teenagers interact with on-line platforms, utilization varies by gender, race and ethnicity, age, and family earnings.
By gender
Instagram and TikTok are used extra broadly by teen women than teen boys. For instance, 66% of ladies say they use TikTok, in contrast with 59% of boys. Instagram use follows an analogous sample (66% vs. 56%).
On the opposite hand, boys are extra seemingly than women to say they use YouTube (93% vs. 87%).
By race and ethnicity
Among teenagers, a bigger share of those that are Black (79%) or Hispanic (74%) than White (54%) say they use TikTok. Black and Hispanic teenagers additionally stand out in contrast with White teenagers of their use of Instagram and X.
When it involves the messaging platform WhatsApp, Hispanic teenagers are extra seemingly than Black or White teenagers to say they use it.
By age
Older teenagers are extra seemingly than youthful teenagers to make use of every of the platforms we requested about. Notably, teenagers ages 15 to 17 are extra seemingly than these ages 13 to 14 say they use Instagram (72% vs. 43%) or Snapchat (63% vs. 44%).
Differences are extra modest for platforms like YouTube, which most older (92%) and youthful (87%) teenagers use.
By family earnings
As was true in prior research, Facebook stays extra generally used amongst teenagers in lower-income households. For instance, 45% of teenagers in households incomes lower than $30,000 a yr say they use Facebook. This drops to 35% amongst teenagers in households incomes $30,000 to $74,999 a yr and 29% amongst teenagers with family incomes of $75,000 or extra.
Teens in lower-income households are extra seemingly than these within the highest-income households to say they use TikTok (73% vs. 59%).
By partisanship
Teens who establish as Democrats and Democratic leaners are extra seemingly Republicans and GOP leaners to say they use TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and WhatApp.
TikTok stands out for its partisan distinction: 73% of Democratic teenagers versus 52% of Republican teenagers say they use the platform.
How a lot time are teenagers spending on-line?
We additionally requested teenagers about how typically they go surfing on the whole.
Nearly half of teenagers say they’re on-line virtually always, up from 24% a decade in the past. This share has stayed constant over the previous few years.
Overall, practically all teenagers – 96% – report utilizing the web every day.
By race and ethnicity
Hispanic and Black teenagers stand out of their display screen time. About half or extra Hispanic (58%) or Black (53%) teenagers say they use the web virtually always. That share drops to 37% amongst White teenagers.
These findings are in step with earlier Center surveys.
By age
Being on-line virtually always is extra widespread amongst older teenagers than youthful ones. About half of 15- to 17-year-olds report that they’re on-line this typically, in contrast with 38% of these ages 13 to 14.
What gadgets do teenagers have entry to at residence?
There’s no a method that at present’s teenagers go surfing.
Our newest survey reveals that giant shares of teenagers have or have entry to a smartphone (95%), desktop or laptop computer laptop (88%), gaming console (83%), or pill laptop (70%) at residence.
Overall, smartphone, laptop and gaming console possession has remained secure over the previous few years. But the share of teenagers who say they’ve entry to tablets has risen from 65% in 2023 to 70% at present.
By age
Most teenagers say they’ve or have entry to a smartphone. But older teenagers (98%) are barely extra seemingly than youthful teenagers (90%) to say this.
Older teenagers are additionally extra seemingly than youthful teenagers to have or have entry to a desktop or laptop computer laptop (91% vs. 85%).
There are not any variations by age in the case of having a gaming console or pill laptop.
By family earnings
Access to a house laptop or a pill is commonest amongst teenagers in high-income households.
- Desktop or laptop computer laptop: 93% of teenagers residing in households whose annual earnings is $75,000 or extra have entry to a house laptop. That share falls to about eight-in-ten amongst these whose annual family earnings is $30,000 to $74,999 (81%) or lower than $30,000 (78%).
- Tablet laptop: About three-quarters of teenagers whose annual family earnings is $75,000 or extra (73%) have entry to a pill at residence, in contrast with 64% every amongst teenagers whose annual family earnings is $30,000 to $74,999 and people whose family earnings is lower than $30,000.
By gender
Majorities of girls and boys have entry to a gaming console, however boys stand out. Nine-in-ten teenage boys say they’ve entry to a gaming console at residence, whereas about three quarters of ladies say this (76%).
For extra on gender variations in online game use, learn our 2023 report: Teens and Video Games Today.
