YouTube most popular social media among teens in 2018

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that 85 percent of teens use YouTube — the most out of any social media.

Pew conducted the study on U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 from March 7th to April 10th, 2018.

Alongside YouTube, Instagram was the next highest, with the platforming being used by 72 percent of teens. Snapchat wasn’t far behind with 69 percent.

However, Facebook fell significantly from first place in a 2015 study. Now 51 percent of teens use the big blue social network, down 20 percent. Facebook also tends to be more popular among teens in lower-income households.

Additionally, 95 percent of teens have access to or own a smartphone and 45 percent were online almost constantly. In 2015, those numbers were 73 percent and 24 percent respectively.

Despite all this social media use, teens couldn’t agree on what impact — if any — social media had on their lives. 31 percent of teens agreed it had positive impact on their lives. Additionally almost half stated the connection to friends and family being the main reason.

24 percent said social media had a negative impact on them. The main reason behind that was bullying, but a number of teens said social media harmed relationships, reduced face-to-face contact and created an unrealistic view of other’s lives.

However, 45 percent of teens indicated social media had no positive or negative impact in their life.

Furthermore, 84 percent of teens have access to a game console and 90 percent say they play games of any kind. This includes computer, console and mobile games. 83 percent of girls and 97 percent of boys play video games.

While the study was conducted on U.S. teens, Canadian teens likely won’t differ much. For example, 94 percent of Canadians aged 15-34 said they owned a smartphone in a study conducted two years ago. Although it’s not quite the same age group, you can imagine how that number has grown.

Source: Pew Research Center Via: The Verge