As of June 2020, ** percent of parents to U.S. teens aged 14 to 17 years stated that their kids were spending more than four hours per day on electronic devices since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only ** percent of responding parents stated that their teens had used electronic devices daily for more than four hours before the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the pandemic triggered a rise in the use of electronic devices among American children under 13 and teenagers with screentime now double that of what it used to be across all age groups. YouTube, Netflix and Instagram dominateIn an ongoing survey between 2015 and 2020 it was reported that the most popular video platforms among teens in the U.S. were Netflix and YouTube, and the pandemic has done little to shift that. Cable TV viewership continued to decline throughout 2020, while Hulu rose in popularity during this time. Meanwhile, despite a slight drop in viewership Netflix and YouTube retained their positions as the top two video services after the onset of the pandemic. YouTube and Instagram were also named the most popular social media channels among teens and young adults, as of the third quarter of 2020. Due to their booming popularity, it is no wonder that advertisers have been increasingly targeting these networks, with social media add spend having been on the rise each year since 2017. The biggest growth surge has come from mobile advertising, while spend on desktop advertising has remained nearly the same. Texting and phone calls most preferred during lockdownAs most of the world entered lockdown during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, teens in the U.S. were asked which technologies they had used to virtually connect with friends and family during this time. 'Texting' was the most preferred method, named by over ** percent followed by phone calls. Meanwhile, video chat and social media came in third.

Female teens aged 13 to 18 years had an average daily entertainment screen time of ***** hours and *** minutes in the United States in 2021. In comparison, male tweens had an average screen time of *** hours and ** minutes.

The total daily entertainment screen time of teens, 13 to 18 year olds, amounted to ***** hours and ** minutes in the United States in 2021. Nevertheless, this figure for teens show an increase from the figure recorded in 2015, when it amounted to *** hours and ** minutes.

From July 2021 to December 2023, over ** percent of the teenagers aged 15 to 17 surveyed in the United States had a screen time of four hours or more on a daily basis. Meanwhile, only **** percent of the teenagers aged 12 to 14 reported to have the same amount of daily screen time.

From July 2021 to December 2023, over ** percent of the non-Hispanic Black teenagers aged 12 to 17 surveyed in the United States had a screen time of four hours or more on a daily basis. Meanwhile, only **** percent of the Asian teenagers in the same age group reported to have the same amount of daily screen time.

According to a study on media usage in U.S. children and teenagers ages 8 to 18 years, tweens living in households with an annual income of less than ****** USD spent **** hours per day on screen media, whereas tweens in households with an annual income of above 100,000 USD spent **** hours per day on-screen media. Teens living in households with an annual income of less than ****** USD spent **** hours per day on screen media, while teens in households with an annual income of above 100,000 USD spent **** hours per day.

From July 2021 to December 2023, nearly ***percent of the boys aged 12 to 17 surveyed in the United States had a screen time of four hours or more on a daily basis. Meanwhile, **** percent of the girls in the same age group reported to have the same amount of daily screen time.

According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United States, teenagers spent an average of 4.8 hours every day on social media platforms. Girls spent 5.3 hours on social networks daily, compared to 4.4 hours for boys. YouTube and TikTok were the most popular online networks among those aged 13 to 19, with 1.9 and 1.5 hours of average daily engagement, respectively. The most used platform for girls was TikTok, while the most used platform for boys was YouTube. Are teens constantly connected to social media? YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are the most attractive and time-consuming platforms for young internet users. A survey conducted in the U.S. in 2023 found that 62 percent of teenagers were almost constantly connected to Instagram, and 17 percent were almost constantly connected to TikTok. Overall, 71 percent of teens used YouTube daily, and 47 percent used Snapchat daily. Furthermore, YouTube had a 93 percent reach among American teens in 2023, down from 95 percent in 2022. Teens and their internet devices For younger generations especially, social media is mostly accessed via mobile devices, and almost all teenagers in the United States have smartphone access. A 2023 survey conducted in the U.S. found that 92 percent of teens aged 13 to 14 years had access to a smartphone at home, as well as 97 percent of those aged 15 to 17. Additionally, U.S. girls were slightly more likely than their male counterparts to have access to a smartphone.

From July 2021 to December 2023, over ********* of the teenagers aged 12 to 17 surveyed in the United States who had a screen time of four hours or more on a daily basis experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression. In contrast, only **** and *** percent of the teenagers who reported to have daily screen time of less than **** hours experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively.

According to a survey of parents in the United States conducted in September 2022, besides time granted for homework and educational purposes, ** percent of respondents reported allowing their children to use digital devices between *** or *** hours per day. In comparison, ** percent of respondents reporting to allow their children between ***** and **** hours of screen time per day, while ***** percent of respondents reported allowing their children over *** hours of daily screen time.

A survey of parents in the United States found that during the second quarter of 2021, 53 percent of respondents were setting limits on their children's screen time. This is an increase from the all-time low of 48 percent of responding parents in the first quarter of 2021 and almost a return to pre-pandemic levels. Overall, 51 percent of parents said that their children spent more than three hours on screens per day.

In 2024, children in the United States spent an average of *** minutes per day on ******. ********* ranked second, with young users engaging with the popular video messaging app for approximately ** minutes per day. By comparison, children in the United States spent ** minutes on average on *********, while the ****** mobile app only saw approximately ***** minutes of daily usage by children and teens in the country.

During an August 2020 survey, ** percent of responding parents from the United States reported to having lowered their standards for what they deem as appropriate screen time for their children due to the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, ** percent of U.S. parents wished they had better ways to monitor their children's screen time.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, ** percent of teenagers spent up to ** minutes per day on social media app TikTok, whilst a further ** percent reported to spend between *** and ***** hours on the video-based app. Overall, ***** percent of teens in the United States spent more than **** hours on TikTok every day.

In 2024, children in the United Kingdom spent an average of *** minutes per day on TikTok. This was followed by Instagram, as children in the UK reported using the app for an average of ** minutes daily. Children in the UK aged between four and 18 years also used Facebook for ** minutes a day on average in the measured period. Mobile ownership and usage among UK children In 2021, around ** percent of kids aged between eight and 11 years in the UK owned a smartphone, while children aged between five and seven having access to their own device were approximately ** percent. Mobile phones were also the second most popular devices used to access the web by children aged between eight and 11 years, as tablet computers were still the most popular option for users aged between three and 11 years. Children were not immune to the popularity acquired by short video format content in 2020 and 2021, spending an average of ** minutes per day engaging with TikTok, as well as over ** minutes on the YouTube app in 2021. Children data protection In 2021, ** percent of U.S. parents and ** percent of UK parents reported being slightly concerned with their children’s device usage habits. While the share of parents reporting to be very or extremely concerned was considerably smaller, children are considered among the most vulnerable digital audiences and need additional attention when it comes to data and privacy protection. According to a study conducted during the first quarter of 2022, ** percent of children’s apps hosted in the Google Play Store and ** percent of apps hosted in the Apple App Store transmitted users’ locations to advertisers. Additionally, ** percent of kids’ apps were found to collect persistent identifiers, such as users’ IP addresses, which could potentially lead to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations in the United States. In the United Kingdom, companies have to take into account several obligations when considering online environments for children, including an age-appropriate design and avoiding sharing children’s data.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, 63 percent of teenagers spent up to 15 minutes per day on social media app Snapchat, whilst one in ten spent between 15 and 30 minutes on the app. Overall, 15 percent of respondents spent one to two hours on Snapchat.

A survey of parents conducted in August 2020 found that 72 percent stated overuse of social media/screen time was a health concern for their child during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unhealthy eating, depression, and stress were other health worries for kids mentioned by over half of the respondents. This statistic shows the leading health concerns for children/teens in the U.S. during COVID-19 according to parents as of August 2020.

In 2024, children and teenagers in the United States spent an average of 152 minutes playing Roblox games via their mobile devices. By comparison, weekly engagement levels with Minecraft app among players aged 18 and younger decreased from 48 daily minutes in 2023 to 40 minutes in 2024.

This statistic presents the share of teen and young adult internet users worldwide who use the following devices while watching TV as of the second quarter 2017, by device type. According to the findings, 55 percent of teen and young adult internet users in North America had reported to using either their laptop or PC while watching TV, while 81 percent of users in Asia Pacific had stated to using their mobile devices simultaneously with their television viewing.

According to a survey conducted in June 2023, adults in the United States spent more time per day on TikTok than on any other leading social media platform. Overall, respondents reported spending an average of 53.8 minutes per day on the social video app. YouTube and Twitter ranked second and third, each with an average of 48 minutes and 34 minutes spent on the platforms per day, respectively.

U.S. teens have time for certain platforms

Different social media platforms attract different demographics, with teenagers in the United States being more drawn to TikTok and YouTube over Facebook. In 2023, teenagers in the United States spent an average of almost two hours on YouTube and 1.5 hours on TikTok every day, 1451257 while Facebook was used by teens for less than half an hour per day. Furthermore, social media habits differ between genders, as teen girls were more likely to spend more time than boys on Instagram.

TikTok is king for teens and Gen Z

Although spending 1.5 hours on the Generation Z app of choice may sound rather modest, some TikTok users devote much more of their time to the platform . According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, around eight percent of teenagers in the United States spent over five hours a day on TikTok. 1417187 whereas another 22 percent reported spending between two and three hours daily on the video-based app.