The Pew Research Center recently released their latest survey on the usage and impact of social media with U.S. teens (age 13-to-17). The survey came out amid the continuing concerns social media has been having on the youth in the U.S. The survey found that such social media platforms as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat continue to be widely used by teens. Additionally, a number of them surveyed responded that certain social media networks are accessed on a continuous basis.
The survey found Alphabet’s YouTube continues to be the most widely used social media platform. Pew Research found 90% of U.S. teens use the platform. Despite its continued popularity, the number of teens accessing YouTube had dropped from 95% in 2022.
TikTok ranked second accessed by 63% of teens. Similar to YouTube, there was a dip from 2022 when 67% used the social media platform. Last year Congress, citing national security concerns, passed a law that required ByteDance, the company from China that owns TikTok, to sell all its U.S. holdings to a domestic company or cease operating in the U.S. Last January TikTok had been shut down in the U.S. for one day.
Instagram was the only other social media network accessed by more than 60% of teens. According to Pew’s survey, 61% used the Meta-owned Instagram, a slight dip from the 62% of two years prior. Among the remaining social media outlets surveyed, Snapchat had been accessed the most at 55%, a drop-off from 59% in 2022.
Meta’s Facebook, the one-time category leader, was used by 32% of teens. While the percent usage was the same from 2022, it was a sharp drop-off from a Pew survey of 2014-15 when 71% of teens had been on the social media network. On the other hand, the usage of WhatsApp, another Meta-owned platform increased among teens from 17% in 2022 to 23% in 2024.
Not surprisingly, accessing Twitter/X had declined. In 2022, 23% of U.S. teens accessed the microblogging site, that figure dipped to 17% in 2024. Back in 2014-15, Pew found one-third of all teens had accessed the then called Twitter. In 2022 Elon Musk acquired Twitter and renamed it X the following year.
Looking at the remaining social media networks accessed; Reddit was used by 14% of teens in 2024 which was unchanged from 2022. Threads launched in 2023 by Meta as a Twitter/X alternative, had been used by 6% of teens.
While 90% of teens access YouTube, 73% said they are on the website daily, with 15% responding they are constantly on YouTube. Although TikTok has been accessed by 63% of teens, about 60% access it daily and 16% (higher than YouTube) responded that they use the social media network constantly. Moreover, 13% of Snapchat users access it daily, a figure higher than either of the Meta owned Instagram (12%) or Facebook (3%).
In its survey, the Pew Research Center also found:
• Roughly half of teens say they go on Instagram or Snapchat daily, including about one-in-ten who say they’re on each of these platforms almost constantly.
• The share of teens who say they use Instagram constantly has increased from 8% in 2023 to 12% today.
• Relatively few teens said they are on Facebook daily (20%).
The survey also found 19% of female teens use TikTok almost constantly (compared to 13% for males). Conversely, 19% of male teens responded they constantly use YouTube compared to 11% for female teens. With most other social media networks constantly accessing was evenly split by gender.
Looking at race and ethnicity, Pew found one-fourth of Hispanic teens are on TikTok constantly. At 28% the percentage is even greater for Black teens. On the other hand, only 8% of White teens constantly use TikTok. The survey also reported that Black and Hispanic teens are also more likely to be constantly accessing YouTube and Instagram. Constantly accessing the remaining social media were fairly uniform across the three segments.
Pew found 95% of U.S. teens have access to a smartphone, 88% have a desktop/laptop computer, 83% have a gaming console and 70% have a tablet computer at home. With the exception of the tablet, ownership of the other consumer electronics has been consistent over the past few years. Tablet ownership had grown from 65% in 2023 to 70%.
Pew reported older teens (compared to younger teens) more likely to have a smartphone (98%) and a desktop/laptop computer (91%). Also, ownership of desktops/laptops and tablets is greatest with higher income households ($75,000+). About 90% of U.S. male teens have access to a gaming device at home compared to 76% for female teens.
The Pew Research Center survey was based on 1,391 qualified U.S. teen respondents between the ages of 13-to-17. The online panel survey was conducted from September 18 to October 10, 2024. The report was written by Michelle Faverio and Olivia Sidotti.
The full report can be accessed here.
