Facebook Remains Popular, but Not Among Teenagers

A Pew Research Center study has collected some interesting data regarding teenagers’ online usage. Surprisingly, teens are using Facebook much less in recent years. What did the study find they were using more? And what other sites have less teens engaged with them than they used to? 

What Sites Are Teenagers Visiting?  

The poll shows that the sites receiving the most teen visitors are YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. 32 percent of teens stated they used YouTube most of the time, while Snapchat snagged 35 percent of teens and Instagram got 15 percent. Facebook, by comparison, was only 10 percent of teens’ most visited sites.  

Which Other Sites are Receiving Less Teen Visitors? 

Other sites once regarded as teenage destinations online are also seeing less traffic from that age group. Tumblr, a popular blogging site, barely showed up in the poll. The same goes for Twitter, which is quite surprising, and Reddit. It seems that teens are mostly drawn to visual apps, finding their entertainment in pictures, videos and music, not text-based apps that are more static. 

Other Findings 

Other interesting findings in the study include smartphone ownership. A positively massive 95 percent of teenagers polled stated they had a smartphone. With regards to internet usage, 45 percent of the teens thought that it had neither a positive nor a negative impact on their lives. This relative disinterest in the medium with which many of them spend all their time is concerning.  

What Does this Mean?

What do you make of these findings? Were you surprised at the apps they’re using more often, and how little they’re using Facebook now? Is it a good thing that teens are connecting with one another with these platforms? And how do you feel about the overwhelming number of smartphone-equipped teens with internet addictions who think nothing of it? 

We all have our own answers to these questions, of course. For my part, I understand the desire to stay connected. I do, however, worry that these kids are spending so much time wishing they were somewhere- or someone- else, that they forget to be happy with who they are. Studies have linked social media with more feelings of alienation and loneliness. I just hope these trends reverse in the coming years and kids learn to be okay just being where they are.