Even as teens express mixed feelings about social media’s impact, these sites remain a key part of their lives, with some using them “almost constantly.”
Now, AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Character.ai, are getting teens’ attention. Roughly two-thirds report using chatbots, including about three-in-ten who do so daily, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17.
Which online platforms teens use
Young people turn to a variety of platforms, but YouTube stands out for being used by nearly all teens. Roughly nine-in-ten report ever using it.
Teens widely use three other platforms:
- About six-in-ten or more say they use TikTok and Instagram.
- A somewhat smaller share say they go on Snapchat (55%).
Fewer use Facebook (31%) and WhatsApp (24%). And no more than about one-in-five say the same of Reddit or X (formerly Twitter).
Changes over time
Today’s online landscape for teens is marked by both stability and new trends.
WhatsApp is one platform that stands out for its growth in recent years. Today, roughly a quarter of teens say they use WhatsApp, up from 17% in 2022.
X and Facebook have declined in use over the past decade. Today, 16% of teens use X, down from 23% in 2022 and 33% in 2014-15. And Facebook, once the go-to platform for teens, is used today by about three-in-ten teens. This is far lower than the 71% in 2014-15, though on par with 2022.
The shares of teens who use other sites or apps, like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, have stayed relatively stable in recent years.
Jump to read about teens’ online experiences: Online platform use by demographic groups | Frequency of online platform use | Use of AI chatbots | Frequency of chatbot use | Internet use
Online platform use by demographic groups
Teen use of specific online platforms varies across demographic groups – including when it comes to gender, race and ethnicity, age and household income.
By gender
Teen girls are more likely to use Snapchat and Instagram. For example, 61% of girls say they use Snapchat, compared with 49% of boys.
Meanwhile, boys are more likely to use Reddit (21% vs. 12%) and YouTube (94% vs. 89%).
By race and ethnicity
There are differences in use by race and ethnicity across all the platforms asked about except Reddit. Black teens are more likely than their White or Hispanic peers to use Instagram, TikTok, X, Snapchat and YouTube. For example, 82% of Black teens say they use Instagram. This drops to 69% among Hispanic teens and is even lower for White teens (55%). And Black teens are more likely than Hispanic teens to use Facebook.1
WhatsApp is used by a larger share of Hispanic and Black teens than White teens.
By age
Older teens stand out from younger teens in using nearly every platform we ask about. For instance, three-quarters of 15- to 17-year-olds say they use Instagram, compared with 44% of 13- to 14-year-olds.
YouTube is the only site measured that older and younger teens are equally likely to use.
By household income
Teens in households with lower and middle incomes are more commonly using TikTok and Facebook, a largely similar pattern to previous years.
For instance, 46% of teens living in households earning less than $30,000 a year say they use Facebook. Similarly, 39% of those in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 say the same. However, this drops to 27% among teens in households earning $75,000 or more.
By party
In a pattern seen in previous Center surveys, a larger share of teens who identify as Democrats than Republicans say they use TikTok, Instagram, Reddit and YouTube.
For example, there is a large partisan gap for TikTok: 75% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning teens say they use TikTok, compared with 60% of Republicans and Republican leaners.
Frequency of online platform use
YouTube is not only widely used, but it’s also the platform the most teens visit on a daily basis. Roughly three-quarters of teens say they use it every day.
Somewhat smaller shares report going on two other platforms daily: TikTok (61%) and Instagram (55%).
Just under half say they visit Snapchat every day (46%), while far fewer say the same of Facebook (20%).
Overall, teen daily use of these platforms remains relatively stable from past years.
Social media is not only a daily feature in the lives of teens, some report using these platforms “almost constantly.” About one-in-five teens say this of TikTok and YouTube.
Fewer describe their use of Instagram and Snapchat as almost constant (12% for each). And just 3% say this of Facebook.
Across these five platforms, 36% of teens use at least one of these sites almost constantly.
Changes over time
The share of teens who say they are on TikTok almost constantly ticked up slightly to 21% this year, from 16% in 2022. The shares who report using YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook almost constantly have changed little since 2022.
By gender
There are some gender differences in frequency of using these sites or apps.
Slightly larger shares of teen girls than boys report being on TikTok and Instagram almost constantly. Teen boys are more likely than girls to visit YouTube this often (20% vs. 13%).
Similar rates of girls and boys say they use Snapchat and Facebook almost constantly.
By race and ethnicity
Black and Hispanic teens are particularly likely to report being on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram almost constantly.
For example, 35% of Black teens say they’re on YouTube almost constantly, compared with 23% among Hispanic teens. Both groups are much more likely than White teens (8%) to say this.
There are only small or no racial or ethnic differences in visiting Snapchat or Facebook almost constantly.
Use of AI chatbots
AI chatbots have become more common in daily life, from education to entertainment. For the first time, we asked teens about their overall use of chatbots, how often they use them and which ones they turn to.
A majority of teens say they use chatbots. Roughly two-thirds of teens (64%) say they ever use an AI chatbot. Fewer (36%) do not use this tool.
While many teens use chatbots, there are some differences across demographic groups:
- Race and ethnicity: Roughly seven-in-ten Black and Hispanic teens say they use chatbots, higher than among White teens (58%).
- Age: 68% of teens ages 15 to 17 use chatbots, compared with 57% among teens 13 to 14 years old.
- Household income: Teens living in households earning $75,000 or more are more likely than those in households with incomes of less than $30,000 to use chatbots (66% vs. 56%). Those living in households earning $30,000 to $74,999 do not differ from either group.
Frequency of chatbot use
About three-in-ten teens say they use AI chatbots every day, including 16% who do so several times a day or almost constantly.
Daily use of chatbots differs somewhat by race and ethnicity as well as age:
- Race and ethnicity: About a third of Black (35%) and Hispanic teens (33%) report using AI chatbots daily. A smaller share of White teens (22%) say the same.
- Age: 31% of teens ages 15 to 17 say they use chatbots on a daily basis, compared with about a quarter of those ages 13 to 14 (24%).
Which chatbots do teens use?
In addition to understanding their overall use, we also asked teens about their use of six specific chatbots.
ChatGPT (59%) is by far the most widely used chatbot and the only one we measured that a majority of teens use.
This is more than twice the rate of the next most commonly used chatbots: Gemini (23%) and Meta AI (20%).
Fewer say they use Copilot, Character.ai and Claude.
By race and ethnicity
Black and Hispanic teens are more likely than their White peers to say they use Gemini and Meta AI.
Black and White teens differ modestly in their use of ChatGPT and Character.ai.
There are no significant differences in use for Copilot or Claude.
By age
Teens ages 15 to 17 are more likely than those 13 to 15 to report using ChatGPT and Meta AI.
By household income
ChatGPT use is more common among teens in higher-income households. About six-in-ten teens living in households earning $75,000 or more (62%) say they use it. That compares with 52% of teens living in households earning less than $75,000.
Meanwhile, lower- and middle-income teens are more likely to use Character.ai. Some 14% of teens in households with incomes of less than $75,000 report using it. This is double the rate among teens in households with incomes of $75,000 or more (7%).
Go to the appendix for a full breakdown of AI chatbot use by demographic groups.
Teens’ internet use
The survey also explores how often teens use the internet.
Nearly all U.S. teens (97%) say they use the internet daily, including four-in-ten who say they are almost constantly online.
The share of teens who say they’re online almost constantly is much higher today than a decade ago, though it’s a slight dip from last year.
By race and ethnicity
Black (55%) and Hispanic teens (52%) are about twice as likely as White teens (27%) to say they’re online almost constantly.
By age
Being online almost constantly is more common for older teens. While 43% of 15- to 17-year-olds report being online almost constantly, 34% of 13- and 14-year-olds report this.
By household income
Teens living in households that earn less than $75,000 annually are more likely than those in households earning $75,000 or more to say they use the internet almost constantly.
There are no significant differences in internet use by gender.
