A 2023 survey found that half of the teenagers in the United States between 15 and 17 years used the internet almost constantly. The share of teens between 13 and 14 years going online frequently was lower, 40 percent. Overall, 46 percent of U.S. teens surveyed said they used the internet almost continuously.

Between 2015 and 2023, internet usage by teenagers in the United States declined, whereas the share of those who went online constantly almost doubled, from 24 to 46 percent. As of October 2023, the percentage of those using the internet only several times a week or less often was three percent.

As of October 2023, around 47 percent of teenage girls between 13 and 17 years in the United States said they used the internet constantly. The share of boys of the same age constantly using the internet was almost the same, 45 percent. Overall, 46 percent of surveyed teens said they are almost constantly online.

A March 2023 survey found that over half of teens in the United States accessed the internet to listen to music, as 65 percent of respondents between 13 and 17 years stated so. A further 59 percent said they went online to use social media, while 57 percent watched videos created by other people.

A survey conducted in 2022 revealed that a majority of children aged between 13 and 17 years old in urban India spent more than one hour per day on social media, videos, and games on the Internet, as reported by about 78 percent of parents. Contrariwise, parents who reported that their teenagers hardly spent any time on online media accounted for a mere four percent of respondents during the survey period.

As of October 2023, around 55 percent of Hispanic teenagers in the United States said they used the internet constantly. The percentage of black teens in the U.S. going online continuously was almost similar, at 54 percent. Meanwhile, 38 percent of white Americans of the same age used the internet frequently.

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.

In a fall 2023 survey, it was found that TikTok was the most important social network for 38 percent of U.S. teens. Snapchat ranked second, with 28 percent of teenagers in the United States stating it to be their favorite, ahead of Instagram. Teens and the internet in the United States It is no secret that the young really know what’s what when it comes to new technologies these days. Especially those born in the internet era and who only know of analog telephones and cameras from stories of their elders seem to be constantly online and always following the latest tech trends. In fact, a recent survey shows that some 92 percent of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56 claim to connect several times a day, and 24 percent are connected almost constantly to the internet. Furthermore, the move from desktop computers to mobile devices insured that teenagers would be some of the most fervent users of mobile internet, anytime, anywhere.

As of June 2020, 63 percent of parents in the United States reported that their teenagers spent more time using social media than they did in pre-pandemic times. Overall, 25 percent of respondents stated that their children used social media less, and 12 percent said that their teens usage of online platforms had not changed.

Over 42 percent of teenagers in Poland used multi-stage logins to protect their privacy on the internet in 2020. More than 38 percent of respondents deleted the browser history.

In 2024, it was found that 96 percent of respondents aged between 12 and 19 years stated that they used WhatsApp every day or several times a week. Instagram and TikTok usage remained mostly the same compared to 2023.

During a 2018/2019 survey, 29 percent of students between the ages of eight and 18 surveyed in Costa Rica said they had been exposed to discriminatory, exclusionary and derogatory content on the internet, making it the most common type of negative content encountered by online users of this segment of the population in the Central American country. In addition, approximately 27.5 percent of children and teens stated being exposed to images of violence while navigating the web. The study also found that uploading photos taken with their mobile phones was the most common online activity putting Costa Rican users of that age at risk.

According to a survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2022, 88 percent of teens aged 16 to 17 had been educated about internet safety by their parents, while 79 percent had received education on the subject of online safety from a teacher. Children and teens between the ages of eight and 15 were also most likely to receive this type of information from parents, followed by teachers.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, 68 percent of pre-teens were using social media applications. Overall, 47 percent of respondents aged 11 to 12 years were using TikTok, and 31 percent were using Snapchat. Both TikTok and Snapchat state that users of their apps must be at least 13 years of age, with the latter being in compliance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Even though Discord and Facebook also have age restrictions of 13 years, 25 percent and 16 percent of pre-teens were using the online platforms, respectively.

German teenagers used YouTube the most, followed by WhatsApp and Instagram. The ranking at hand is mostly made up of social media, messaging and streaming services, which in itself is already revealing of how today’s teenagers use the internet.

Triple threat

As seen here, the competition is divided between three main online platforms. YouTube is mostly used to view music videos among German girls and boys alike, followed by watching funny clips and comedy videos made by other YouTubers. Meanwhile, WhatsApp was by far the most important smartphone app for teenagers in Germany. Instagram belonged to apps used for daily or weekly online activity.

Glued to the screen?

German teens spent an average of 205 minutes online a day – this compared to 134 minutes back in 2009. Of course, the rise of mobile technology contributes extensively to this development, as a person doesn’t need to be seated in front of a PC to go online anymore. Teenagers also primarily used the internet for communication.

Between 2018 and 2019, nearly 93 percent of students between the ages of eight and 18 surveyed in Costa Rica said they used the internet to watch video content, making it the most popular online activity among this segment of the population. Meanwhile, online shopping was the least popular web activity among children and teens in the Central American country, with less than 17 percent of respondents stating to purchase over the internet.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, 42 percent of boys aged 13-17 said they could speak their minds freely online. Girls of the same age were less likely to feel free to express their thoughts online, as only 33 percent agreed with the statement.

According to a survey conducted in September 2020, about 46 percent of surveyed teenagers in Australia said they would like to access online safety information on how to support a friend who is in trouble. Around 44 percent of respondents would like to learn how to block someone using privacy settings on their device.

In 2023, almost 99 percent of teens aged between 15 and 17 years in Italy accessed the internet. This represents an increase from 2017, when the share of Italian teens accessing the internet was lower than 94 percent. Approximately 95 percent of young adults aged between 25 and 34 years in Italy accessed the internet during the last measured year, up by the 89.8 percent recorded in 2017.

During a 2018/2019 survey, nearly 75 percent of responding students aged eight to 18 in Costa Rica said to access the internet at least once a day, while 15.6 percent stated to access the web at least once a week but not every day.