Teens & Youth

Most teens at least sometimes feel happy and peaceful when they don’t have their phone, but 44% say this makes them anxious. Half of parents say they have looked through their teen’s phone.

YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain the most widely used online platforms among U.S. teens. And teens are less likely to be using Facebook and Twitter (recently renamed X) than they were a decade ago.

More than half of U.S. teens say it would be difficult for them to give up social media. 36% say they spend too much time on social media.

In 2021, there were 2,590 gun deaths among U.S. children and teens under the age of 18, up from 1,732 in 2019.

Here’s a look at what surveys by Pew Research Center and other organizations have found about Americans’ mental health during the pandemic.

A majority of U.S. parents are keeping a watchful eye on what their teens do on social media; some are also imposing screen time restrictions.

Nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, with physical appearance being seen as a relatively common reason why. Older teen girls are especially likely to report being targeted by online abuse overall and because of their appearance.

Majorities of teens credit social media with strengthening their friendships and providing support while also noting the emotionally charged side of these platforms.

The landscape of social media is ever-changing, especially among teens who often are on the leading edge of this space. A new survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 finds that TikTok has established itself as one of the top online platforms for U.S. teens, while the share of teens who use Facebook has fallen sharply.

Last summer, businesses trying to come back from the COVID-19 pandemic hired nearly a million more teens than in the summer of 2020.