To find out exactly how teenagers use their phones and what they think about social media, Common Sense Media conducted a national survey. (Photo: william87, Getty Images / iStockphoto)

If you have been around a teenager recently, it will not be a surprise to discover that they like phones.

Do not talk about it, obviously. But do other things, like sending SMS and using social media.

To find out exactly how teens use their phones and what they think about social media, Common Sense Media conducted a national survey.

The Social Media, Social Life report polled 1,141 US teenagers aged 13-17 on the platforms they use the most, if social media allows them to feel better or worse.

This is the second non-profit survey of this type, with the original published in 2012.

Here are some of the key findings:

Teens and phones

  • Ownership of smartphones has increased dramatically among teens over the past six years. Less than half of teens (41%) had a phone in 2012. Today, 89% of teens do so.
  • If you add the property of tablets, total access to mobile telephony has increased from 67% in 2012 to 95% today.
  • In total, 80% of teenagers are daily texturers, compared to 68% in 2012.
  • Almost half (47%) of teenagers who own a smartphone say they are "dependent". But this does not translate into social media addiction. Less than a quarter (24%) reported being dependent on social media.
  • Nearly seven in ten teens say that they keep their phone or phone "all" (46%) or "most" (23%) of the time while driving.

Teen and Social Media

  • The percentage of teenagers who visit social media several times a day has more than doubled, from 34% in 2012 to 70% in 2018.
  • Snapchat is the preferred social media for teenagers, with 41% of them saying they use it the most. Instagram is next with 22%.
  • The use of Facebook among teens has gone from 68% in 2012 to 15% in 2018.
  • Adolescents are more likely to say that social media has a positive effect rather than a negative effect on how they feel.
  • A quarter of teens say that using social media allows them to feel less alone, compared to 3% who say more.
  • Over the past six years, there has been an increase in exposure to racist, sexist, homophobic or religious content in social media. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of teens say "often" or "sometimes" encounter such messages.
  • About 1 in 10 teens (13%) report having been a victim of cyberbullying.
  • More than one in five (23%) say they have tried to help a person who has been the victim of cyberbullying.
  • More than a quarter of teens (27%) say that social media is an "extremely" or "very" important platform for expression, whether they share their works or whatever they like.
  • A relatively small proportion of teens (16%) have a hidden social account. Of the 16% who reported having a duplicate hidden account, most said they were hiding the account of people who were not close friends rather than their parents.

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