Teenagers are reportedly giving up on X and Facebook while TikTok and WhatsApp are gaining momentum

Short: Many people worry that teenagers are spending too much time online, and the latest Pew Research Center survey seems to justify those concerns. Almost half of all teen participants said they were online almost constantly, with YouTube remaining the most popular platform. The former Twitter site X is rapidly losing young users, while WhatsApp is gaining them.

Almost 1,400 young people aged 13 to 17 took part in the survey between September and October. The key, if not particularly surprising, finding is that the number of teenagers who say they are online is increasing almost steadily, from just a quarter a decade ago to almost half today. Almost all respondents (96%) said they use the Internet every day.

Looking across platforms, YouTube remains the most popular among teens, although users have declined from 95% in 2022 to 90%.

TikTok is the second most popular app, with 63% of teens saying they use it.

It turns out that teenage girls are much more likely to use TikTok almost constantly than boys, while on YouTube, which is preferred by men, the roles are reversed.

Although TikTok is used by 170 million Americans, it may not be available in the US for much longer. The US Court of Appeals recently dismissed TikTok’s appeal of a law requiring it to be sold to new owners by January 19 or shut down in the United States.

Back to the survey: Instagram is in third place behind TikTok (61%) as its user share has increased compared to last year, while Snapchat is in fourth place with 55%.

In 2014 and 2015, Facebook became very popular among teenagers, with 71% saying they use the social network. But Zuckerberg’s platform has long been labeled an app for “old people,” leading to an exodus of teenagers. However, over the last two years, Facebook has managed to maintain its 32% share of teen users.

Another meta property, WhatsApp, saw its popularity among teens increase from 17% to 23% since 2022. It was the only app to see an increase in users in the last two years. It appears that large group chats and messaging services are starting to replace social media as the apps of choice among teenagers.

Another social media app (or messaging app, as it calls itself) that is losing teen users is X. A decade ago, Twitter, as it was then, was used by 33% of teens. It is now at 17%, having fallen 5% in the last two years.

The second lowest app on the list is Reddit, which is only used by 14% of teens. That’s still more than double the 6% using Threads, which launched in July last year.

The world is increasingly concerned about the impact that too much online access can have on young people – Australia recently banned those under 16 from using social media. The Pew survey finds that 95% of teens have a smartphone, while 88% have a desktop/laptop at home.

Imprint: Yunus Tuğ