Pew on Teens’ Use of Social Platforms: YouTube Dominates, TikTok Rises, Facebook Falls

YouTube is tops, TikTok is surging and Facebook is plummeting when it comes to usage by teenagers 13 through 17 in the U.S., according to the new Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022 study from Pew Research Center, released Wednesday. Pew used Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel to survey 1,316 U.S. teens from April 14 through May 4, and it found that 95% of respondents use YouTube, making it the most common platform in the study. Next up was TikTok, with 67% of teens saying that they use the video creation platform, and 16% saying they do so almost constantly. A total of 62% of respondents cited Instagram and 59% said they use Snapchat, while just 32% said they use Facebook, down from 71% in the 2014-15 survey by Pew. Just 22% use Twitter, down from 33% in 2014-15, and only 5% use Tumblr, down from 14% in 2014-15. Pew also broke down the differences by gender and race. The think tank found that teen boys are more likely than teen girls to say they use YouTube, Twitch and Reddit, while teen girls are more likely to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Black teens were most likely to use TikTok followed by Hispanic teens and white teens. Meanwhile, Hispanic teens were more likely to use WhatsApp, and Black and Hispanic teen were more likely than white teens to say they never use Instagram or Twitter. Pew found that older respondents were more likely than younger respondents to say they use each of the platforms in the study except YouTube and WhatsApp, nothing that the gap was widest for Instagram, with 73% of those 15 through 17 saying they use it, versus just 45% of those 13 and 14. According to Pew, 35% of teens use at least one of the platforms “almost constantly,” led by YouTube, with roughly three-quarters using it at least daily and 19% almost constantly. Pew found that 58% of respondents use TikTok daily, followed by 51% for Snapchat and 50% for Instagram, while just 19% indicated that they use Facebook every day. As for how the teens are accessing these social platforms, 95% of respondents said they have access to smartphones, 90% to desktop or laptop computers and 80% to gaming consoles, with daily teen internet users rising to 97% from 92% in 2014-15. The share of teens who say they are online almost constantly grew to 46% from 24% over the same time period. Pew found that 54% of teens said it would be hard to give up social media, with girls (58%) more likely than boys (49%) to answer in this fashion. A total of 55% of respondents believe they spend the right amount of time on social applications and sites, while 36% feel that they spend too much time using them and just 8% believe they spend too little time doing so. Among teens who say they use the internet almost constantly, 56% of Black teens and 55% of Hispanic teens admitted to this, compared with just 37% of white teens. By age, 52% of respondents 15 through 17 said they use the internet almost constantly, versus 36% of those aged 13 and 14. The figure of 95% of teens with access to smartphone is up sharply from 73% in 2014-15, and Pew wrote, “While teens’ access to smartphones has increased over roughly the past eight years, their access to other digital technologies, such as desktop or laptop computers or gaming consoles, has remained statistically unchanged.” Finally, Pew said access to computers and gaming consoles differs by teens’ household income, with those living in households that earn $75,000 or more annually 12 points more likely to have access to gaming consoles and 15 points more likely to have access to desktop or laptop computers than those in households with incomes under $30,000. Pew wrote, “While 72% of all U.S. teens say they have access to a smartphone, a computer and a gaming console at home, more affluent teens are particularly likely to have access to all three devices.”

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Pew on Teens’ Use of Social Platforms: YouTube Dominates, TikTok Rises, Facebook Falls

Just 22% use Twitter 'almost constantly,' while that number drops to 5% for Tumblr

David Cohen

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