Quick answer
Most U.S. teens use social media every day. In Pew’s 2025 survey, about nine in ten teens used YouTube and 55% used Snapchat, and 36% used at least one major platform almost constantly. Gallup found teens average 4.8 hours a day on social media. Youths 12 to 15 using it more than 3 hours a day face double the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms.
Key takeaways
- Up to 95% of 13- to 17-year-olds use social media, and nearly 40% of 8- to 12-year-olds do too.
- TikTok is the app most teens use “almost constantly” (21% in 2025).
- Teen girls average more time than boys: 5.3 versus 4.4 hours a day.
- Research points to the pattern of use, especially addictive, hard-to-stop use, more than raw screen time.
Which apps teens use (2025)
Pew Research Center surveyed 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 in fall 2025.
- YouTube: roughly nine in ten teens use it; about three-quarters use it daily
- TikTok: 61% use it daily; 21% almost constantly
- Instagram: 55% use it daily; 12% almost constantly
- Snapchat: 55% use it; 46% daily; 12% almost constantly
- Facebook: 31% use it; 20% daily
- 64% of teens have used an AI chatbot, and about three in ten do so daily
How many teens are online “almost constantly”
In 2025, 36% of teens said they use at least one of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook almost constantly, and about four in ten said they are online almost constantly. 97% go online every day.
How many hours a day
- Teens average 4.8 hours a day on social media, and 51% spend at least 4 hours (Gallup, 2023).
- Girls average 5.3 hours a day and boys 4.4 hours.
- Time rises with age: from 4.1 hours at 13 to 5.8 hours at 17.
- YouTube (1.9 hours) and TikTok (1.5 hours) take the most time.
Younger children
Most platforms set 13 as the minimum age, but the Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory reported that nearly 40% of children ages 8 to 12 use social media.
What heavy use is linked to
- Adolescents 12 to 15 who spent more than 3 hours a day on social media faced double the risk of poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety (Surgeon General, 2023).
- 46% of 13- to 17-year-olds said social media makes them feel worse about their body image (Surgeon General, 2023).
- A 2025 JAMA study that followed 4,285 young people for four years found that those with high or rising addictive social media use had more than twice the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Total screen time on its own was not linked to those outcomes.
Teen mental health overall
In the CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 39.7% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, including 52.6% of girls. 20.4% had seriously considered suicide. These figures have many causes, and most social media research shows links rather than proof of cause.
How to use these numbers
Statistics describe groups, not your child. If you’re worried, look at how your child uses social media: whether they can stop, whether it crowds out sleep and school, and how they feel afterward. Talk to their doctor if you see changes in mood, eating or sleep.
Common questions
What percentage of teens use social media?
Up to 95% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 use social media, according to the Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory. YouTube is the most used, by roughly nine in ten teens (Pew, 2025).
How many hours a day do teens spend on social media?
Gallup found U.S. teens average 4.8 hours a day on social media, with 51% spending at least 4 hours. Girls average more than boys.
How many teens are addicted to social media?
There is no official diagnosis of social media addiction, so there is no exact count. In a 2025 JAMA study, nearly one in three young people showed a rising pattern of addictive use over four years.
Is 3 hours of social media a day too much for a teen?
The Surgeon General reported that 12- to 15-year-olds who used social media more than 3 hours a day had double the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms. How a teen uses it matters too.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (Dec 9, 2025)
- Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 (Dec 12, 2024)
- Gallup, Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day (Oct 13, 2023)
- U.S. Surgeon General, Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory (May 2023)
- CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2023, MMWR Supplement 73(4) (Oct 10, 2024)
- NewYork-Presbyterian, JAMA study links addictive screen use to suicidal behavior in adolescents (Xiao et al., JAMA, June 2025)
General information, not legal or medical advice. If you are worried about your child’s health, talk to their doctor. Attorney advertising by Grove and Associates PLC; responsible attorney Justin Grove. Results in other cases don’t predict the outcome of yours.