MIAMI.- The excessive use of social networks has a great impact on the lives of los teenagers in USA reaching high cups.
15% of American teenagers are constantly connected on some social media platform, such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchataccording to a survey about social networks and Internet habits in adolescents in 2023 carried out by experts from the Pew Research Center.
Researchers surveyed 1,453 young people ages 13 to 17 between September 26 and October 26, 2023 to determine the most used social networks, Internet use and device ownership among adolescents.
Almost 50% of adolescents said they use the Internet daily. In general, more than nine out of ten reported using this technological tool continuously, the research center detailed.
The most used networks
The analysis showed that YouTube It was the platform most used by young people. 93% of respondents said they regularly use the video streaming platform, of which 16% visit or use it daily.
TikTok It was the second social network that gained the most popularity among the youth population. 63% of adolescents between 13 and 17 years old said they used the application owned by ByteDance.
“About 17% of the 63% of respondents who said they use TikTok indicated that they access the short video service constantly,” the report noted.
They added that the percentage of teens using TikTok has not changed statistically since last year.
The third most popular app used by teens was Snapchat with 60% usage, followed by Instagram with 59% popularity.
As to Instagramthe survey reflected that 59% of young people over 16 to 17 use the application owned by Meta.
Instagram use didn’t make up the difference in engagement, rising from 52% in 2014-15 to a high of 62% last year, then falling to 59% in 2023, according to Pew Research.
The researchers reported that regarding Facebook and Twitternow known as X, decreased in popularity among teenagers residing in the country compared to a decade ago.
“Although Facebook once dominated the landscape of social media use in the US, the proportion of teenagers using the application “has decreased from 71% in 2014-2015 to 33% today,” they said.
Use by gender
According to the study, adolescent girls are more likely than boys to constantly use TikTok, 22% compared to 12%, and Snapchat 17% compared to 12%.
While 66% of teenage girls are more likely to use Instagram compared to 53% for boys.
On the other hand, the findings determined that applications such as BeReal, TikTok and Snapchat were more used by female adolescents, while male adolescents were more likely to use messages focused on video games and social applications such as Discord and Twitch.
However, little or no difference was shown in the proportion of boys and girls who report consistently using YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Race and ethnicity
They also looked at differences by race and ethnicity in the amount of time teens say they spend on these platforms.
They found that across race and ethnicity, TikTok is used by about 80% of African American teens, 70% of Hispanic teens, and 57% of white teens.
At the same time, a higher proportion of African American and Hispanic teens reported being on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok most of the time, compared to white teens.
Hispanic teenagers stand out in the use of TikTok and Snapchat. 32% of Hispanic adolescents said they are on TikTok almost always, while among African Americans and those of light color, 20% and 10% said they use the tool respectively.
In turn, the report indicated that Hispanic adolescents are more likely to use the WhatsApp messaging service, owned by Meta, than African-American or light-colored adolescents.
Finally, Pew Research highlighted that teens’ use of sites and apps has changed little over the past year, in contrast to the latest report last year.
“The proportion of adolescents using these platforms has remained relatively stable since spring 2022, when the Center last conducted a survey on these topics,” the authors stated.
@Lydr05
Source: With information from the Pew Research Center
