Social Media Statistics Updated November 2026

Human Written & Fact Checked · Updated

133 Gen Z Social Media Statistics for 2026

Gen Z is usually defined as people born between 1997 and 2012, which in 2026 covers everyone from young teenagers to people in their late twenties. Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation use that definition. Most surveys do not report generations, though. They report age bands, such as US teens aged 13-17, US adults aged 18-29 or Europeans aged 16-24, and every figure on this page gives the band its producer used.

YouTube is the most used platform among US teens: 92% of 13-17 year olds use it, and 21% say they are on TikTok almost constantly, on Pew Research Center's 2025 survey. In the EU, 90.45% of people aged 16-24 took part in social networks in 2025. Across the Reuters Institute's 48 markets, 52% of 18-24s say social media, video networks and AI chatbots are their main way of getting news.

This page covers which platforms teens and young adults use and how often, how that has changed since 2014, news, AI chatbots, time spent, wellbeing, US school health surveys, the EU, Sweden, Australia's under-16 rule and what the platforms say about their young users. Ever-use, daily use and "almost constantly" are different survey questions, and figures from different producers are not compared as if they measured the same thing.

Headline figures

Which social media platforms do US teens use?

YouTube is used by almost every US teenager, and TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat by more than half. Facebook and X are now minority platforms among teens. Use differs a lot by age, gender, race and even party leaning.

  1. 1 YouTube 92%
  2. 2 TikTok 68%
  3. 3 Instagram 63%
  4. 4 Snapchat 55%
  5. 5 Facebook 31%
  6. 6 WhatsApp 24%
  7. 7 Reddit 17%
  8. 8 X 16%
Share of US teens aged 13-17 who say they ever use each platform, 25 September to 9 October 2025. YouTube leads by a wide margin. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 68% of US teens aged 13-17 use TikTok, 63% Instagram and 55% Snapchat, in Pew's survey of 25 September to 9 October 2025. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • Three-quarters of US teens aged 15-17 use Instagram, against 44% of those aged 13-14; YouTube is the only platform Pew measured that older and younger teens use equally. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 61% of US teen girls use Snapchat, against 49% of boys; boys are more likely to use Reddit and YouTube (94% vs 89%). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 82% of Black US teens use Instagram, against 69% of Hispanic teens and 55% of White teens. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 75% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning US teens use TikTok, against 60% of Republican and Republican-leaning teens. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 95% of US teens aged 13-17 had access to a smartphone at home in 2023, and 13% used BeReal in the first year Pew asked about it. (Pew Research Center (teens 2023), Dec 2023)
  • In 2023, US teen boys were more likely than girls to use Discord (34% vs 22%) and Twitch (22% vs 11%), and girls more likely to use Instagram (66% vs 53%). Discord and Twitch were not asked about in 2025. (Pew Research Center (teens 2023), Dec 2023)

Pew surveyed 1,458 US teens aged 13-17 living with a parent (Ipsos KnowledgePanel, margin of error plus or minus 3.3 points). Figures are the share who say they ever use each platform. The 2023 figures come from an earlier wave of the same survey series.

How many US teens use social media almost constantly?

Most US teens use YouTube every day and a majority use TikTok daily. About a third use at least one big platform almost constantly. Among teens who use TikTok, almost a third say they are on it almost constantly, the highest of any platform.

  1. 1 TikTok 21%
  2. 2 YouTube 17%
  3. 3 Instagram 12%
  4. 4 Snapchat 12%
  5. 5 Facebook 3%
Share of all US teens aged 13-17 who say they use each platform almost constantly, autumn 2025. Teens who do not use a platform count as not using it. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 76% of US teens aged 13-17 use YouTube daily, 61% TikTok, 55% Instagram, 46% Snapchat and 20% Facebook (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 17% of all US teens say they are on YouTube almost constantly, 12% each say so of Instagram and Snapchat, and 3% of Facebook (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 36% of US teens use at least one of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook almost constantly (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 40% of US teens say they use the internet almost constantly, down from 46% in 2022-2024 but up from 24% in 2014-15; 97% go online daily (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • Among US teens who use each app, 31% of TikTok users are on it almost constantly (up from 25% in 2024), against 23% of Snapchat users, 19% of Instagram users, 18% of YouTube users and 10% of Facebook users (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • 35% of Black US teens say they are on YouTube almost constantly, against 23% of Hispanic teens and 8% of White teens (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • The share of all US teens using YouTube several times a day was 41% in 2022, 38% in 2023, 39% in 2024 and 43% in 2025; for TikTok it was 32%, 32%, 34% and 34%. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)

Pew reports frequency in two ways: as a share of all teens, and as a share of each platform's teen users. The two bases give different numbers for the same platform and are not compared. Internet use is a separate question from use of any one platform.

Which platforms do US adults aged 18-29 use?

US adults under 30 are the heaviest users of almost every platform. Facebook is the main exception: it is most used by people in their 30s and 40s. Nextdoor is the one platform where under-30s are the lowest group.

  1. 1 YouTube 95%
  2. 2 Instagram 79%
  3. 3 Facebook 69%
  4. 4 TikTok 65%
  5. 5 Snapchat 56%
  6. 6 LinkedIn 41%
  7. 7 Reddit 40%
  8. 8 WhatsApp 37%
  9. 9 X 31%
Share of US adults aged 18-29 who say they ever use each platform, from Pew's survey of 30 January to 18 June 2026. (Pew Research Center (social media fact sheet), Oct 2026)

Pew reports US adults by age band (18-29, 30-49, 50-64, 65+), not by generation. Ever-use shares come from the 2026 survey and daily-use shares from the 2025 survey, so the two are not compared.

How many young people use social media in the EU and other countries?

Nine in ten people aged 16-24 in the EU take part in social networks, a share that sat in the mid-80s for a decade before rising in 2024 and 2025. In every country Pew surveyed in 2026, adults under 35 used the most platforms.

78.29% 2011 83.35% 2013 85.44% 2015 86.05% 2017 85.61% 2019 84.22% 2021 83.37% 2023 88.58% 2024 90.45% 2025
View data table
Share of people aged 16-24 in the EU-27 taking part in social networks in the three months before the survey. 2020 is an estimate and 2021 has a break in series.
PeriodValue
201178.29%
201383.35%
201585.44%
201786.05%
201985.61%
202184.22%
202383.37%
202488.58%
202590.45%
Share of people aged 16-24 in the EU-27 taking part in social networks in the three months before the survey. 2020 is an estimate and 2021 has a break in series. (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • The share of EU people aged 16-24 taking part in social networks was 78.29% in 2011, 85.44% in 2015, 85.61% in 2019, 84.22% in 2021 (break in series), 83.37% in 2023 and 88.58% in 2024. (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • In 2025, 90.52% of EU 16-19 year olds and 90.39% of 20-24 year olds took part in social networks; in 2011 the gap was wider, at 82.5% against 74.65%. (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • Older age groups in the EU use social networks far less: 52.23% of 55-64s, 34.1% of 65-74s and 15.07% of people aged 75-89 in 2025. (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • The highest shares of 16-24s taking part in social networks in 2025 were in Austria (98.75%), Malta (97.97%), Cyprus (97.91%), Finland (97.75%), Czechia (97.58%) and Denmark (97.33%). (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • The lowest shares among EU 16-24s in 2025 were in Italy (81.36%), Luxembourg (82.73%), Germany (85.37%), Belgium (87.5%) and Sweden (89.1%). (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • Among larger EU countries in 2025, 95.0% of 16-24s took part in social networks in the Netherlands, 94.9% in France (break in series), 93.14% in Ireland, 92.64% in Spain and 91.66% in Poland. (Eurostat (isoc_ci_ac_i), Apr 2026)
  • 90.5% of Canadians aged 15-24 used social networking sites or apps in 2022, against 89.6% of 25-44s, 72.3% of 45-64s and 43.5% of those 65 and over. (Statistics Canada (Table 22-10-0137-01), Jul 2023)
  • 56% of Australian adults aged 18-24 used TikTok in the past seven days to June 2025, up from 46%, against 23% of all Australian adults. (ACMA (How we communicate), Feb 2026)
  • In the UK, 58% of adults aged 18-34 use Snapchat, against 2% of those 50 and older (spring 2026). (Pew Research Center (global attitudes 2026), Oct 2026)
  • In every one of the 37 countries Pew surveyed in 2026, adults under 35 were the most likely age group to use three or more of Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and Snapchat; in the UK, 60% of 18-34s said social media's effect on democracy had been good, against 31% of those 50 and older. (Pew Research Center (global attitudes 2026), Oct 2026)

Eurostat measures the share of all people in each age band (internet users and non-users alike) who created a profile, posted messages or made other contributions on social networks. Statistics Canada, ACMA and Pew run separate national surveys with their own age bands and questions, so their figures are not compared with Eurostat's. France's 2025 figure has a method break and is not read as growth.

How do children and young people in Sweden use social media?

In Sweden, TikTok and Snapchat are the platforms of children and young people, while Facebook belongs to adults. Use among the youngest children has fallen sharply since 2023, and most teens and young adults say they get stuck scrolling.

88% 2021 92% 2022 92% 2023 91% 2024 86% 2025 83% 2026
View data table
Share of Swedish children and young people aged 8-19 who use social media daily, 2021-2026, from Internetstiftelsen's annual survey (fieldwork in January). Daily use has fallen for two years.
PeriodValue
202188%
202292%
202392%
202491%
202586%
202683%
Share of Swedish children and young people aged 8-19 who use social media daily, 2021-2026, from Internetstiftelsen's annual survey (fieldwork in January). Daily use has fallen for two years. (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 69% of Swedes born in the 2000s used TikTok in the past 12 months and 52% used it daily, against 7% and 4% of those born in the 1960s; 89% of the 2000s cohort use Snapchat (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 68% of Swedes born in the 2000s use Facebook, against 85% of those born in the 1990s; 21% of the 2000s cohort use it daily, against 63% of those born in the 1970s (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 52% of Swedish children and young people aged 8-19 use Snapchat daily and 42% TikTok, against 19% and 9% of adults aged 20 and over; 5% of 8-19s use Facebook daily, against 53% of adults (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • Weekly social media use among Swedish 8-19 year olds fell from 97% in 2023 and 2024 and 95% in 2025 to 89% in 2026. (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • Among Swedish lower-primary children (lågstadiet), social media use in the past 12 months fell from 97% in 2023 to 80% in 2026 and daily use from 75% to 50%; at upper secondary school (gymnasiet) 100% used social media in 2026. (Internetstiftelsen (social media chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 93% of Swedes aged 16-19 and 92% of those aged 20-34 felt stuck in passive scrolling on their phone in the past 12 months, against 80% of all internet users aged 12 and over (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (doomscrolling chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 42% of Swedish children and young people aged 12-19 say passive scrolling makes them feel worse and 4% better; 33% say it has no effect (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (doomscrolling chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • 30% of Swedes aged 16-19 have tried a digital detox, against 40% of 20-34s and 29% of all internet users aged 16 and over; one in five 16-19s has paused social media (2026). (Internetstiftelsen (doomscrolling chapter 2026), Sep 2026)
  • Half of Swedish children aged 9-12 used social media in 2024, down 10 points since 2022 and 20 points since 2020; 56% did in 2014. The share of 9-12s who never use social media rose from 33% in 2022 to 46% in 2024. (Mediemyndigheten (Ungar & medier 2025), 2025)
  • More than 80% of Swedish teens aged 13-16 and 17-18 use social media daily, down 3 and 5 points since 2020; around 30% of children from age 13 use it for more than three hours on a typical day (2024). (Mediemyndigheten (Ungar & medier 2025), 2025)
  • More than half of Swedish 17-18 year olds compare their appearance with others on social media daily or sometimes; about half of girls aged 17-18 and 19% of boys say social media content makes them think worse of their own looks (2024). (Mediemyndigheten (Ungar & medier 2025), 2025)
  • Since 2022, the share of Swedish teens who think they spend too much time on social media rose by 5 points among 13-16s and 10 points among 17-18s; teens who say their time is about right average just over two hours a day (2024). (Mediemyndigheten (Ungar & medier 2025), 2025)

Internetstiftelsen (the Swedish Internet Foundation) reports both age bands and birth decades; a birth decade such as "born in the 2000s" is a cohort, not an age band. School stages are reported as stages, not ages. Mediemyndigheten (the Swedish Agency for the Media) runs a separate survey of children aged 9-18 with fieldwork in late 2024, so its figures are not compared with Internetstiftelsen's.

Where do young people get their news?

For young adults, social media and video platforms are the main route to news, and printed newspapers barely feature. In the US, under-30s trust information from social media about as much as national news organisations. The Reuters Institute and Pew ask different questions, so their figures are not compared.

  1. 1 Ages 18-29 39%
  2. 2 Ages 30-49 25%
  3. 3 Ages 50-64 11%
  4. 4 Ages 65+ 4%
Share of US adults who regularly get news on TikTok, by age, from Pew's 2026 survey. Younger adults are far more likely to. (Pew Research Center (news fact sheet), Oct 2026)
  • Almost four in ten people aged 18-24 across the Reuters Institute's markets use TikTok weekly for news videos and 36% use Instagram, against 12% and 15% of people over 55 (2026). (Reuters Institute (Digital News Report 2026), Jun 2026)
  • 53% of 18-24s in the Reuters Institute survey use TikTok weekly for any purpose, against 23% of over-55s; 67% of 18-24s use Instagram weekly, against 39% of those 55 and over (2026). (Reuters Institute (Digital News Report 2026), Jun 2026)
  • 56% of people aged 18-24 who did not read a newspaper in the last week say they have never read one regularly; for TV news the figure is 21% (2026). (Reuters Institute (Digital News Report 2026), Jun 2026)
  • Just over half of 18-24s who watch news videos on YouTube watch longer ones (over 5 minutes) weekly, against 41% of over-55s; 16% of under-35s use AI chatbots for news (2026). (Reuters Institute (Digital News Report 2026), Jun 2026)
  • Instagram is the top social platform for news among 18-24s, reaching 42% of the age group across 48 markets; X news use among 18-24s fell to 15% (2026). (Reuters Institute (DNR 2026 summary), Jun 2026)
  • In Pew's August 2025 survey, 76% of US adults aged 18-29 got news on social media at least sometimes, against 28% of those 65 and older; 43% of 18-29s regularly got news on TikTok (65 and older: 3%) and 40% on Instagram (5%). (Pew Research Center (young adults and news), Dec 2025)
  • 38% of US adults under 30 regularly get news from news influencers, people with at least 100,000 followers who post about current events, against 23% of those aged 30-49 (2025). (Pew Research Center (young adults and news), Dec 2025)
  • 50% of US adults aged 18-29 trust information from social media at least some, about the same as for national news organisations (51%); among those 65 and older it is 24% against 62%. 15% of young adults follow the news all or most of the time (2025). (Pew Research Center (young adults and news), Dec 2025)
  • 45% of US teen TikTok users aged 13-17 say getting news is a reason they use the app, against 39% of teen Instagram users and 26% of teen Snapchat users (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat), Apr 2026)

The Reuters Institute surveys online samples in 48 markets and reports averages across them, not the world population. Pew surveys US adults. Pew's 43% (August 2025 survey) and 39% (2026 survey) for 18-29s regularly getting news on TikTok come from separate surveys and are each given with their own year; no trend is drawn between them. The teen figure is a share of TikTok users, not of all teens.

How many US teens use AI chatbots?

Two-thirds of US teens have used an AI chatbot and about three in ten use one every day. ChatGPT is by far the most used. Pew asked teens about chatbots for the first time in 2025, so there is no trend yet.

  1. 1 ChatGPT 59%
  2. 2 Gemini 23%
  3. 3 Meta AI 20%
  4. 4 Copilot 14%
  5. 5 Character.ai 9%
  6. 6 Claude 3%
Share of US teens aged 13-17 who say they use each AI chatbot, 25 September to 9 October 2025. (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • About three in ten US teens aged 13-17 use AI chatbots every day, including 16% who do so several times a day or almost constantly (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)
  • ChatGPT is the most used chatbot among US teens, at 59%, followed by Gemini at 23% and Meta AI at 20% (2025). (Pew Research Center (teens 2025), Dec 2025)

Chatbot use is asked in the same Pew survey as social media use but is a separate question; it is not social media use.

How much time do young people spend on social media?

Studies of US teens give very different answers on time spent, because each defines social media differently, so their figures are not compared. In Gallup's survey girls reported more time than boys, and time rose through the teenage years.

  1. 1 YouTube 1.9h
  2. 2 TikTok 1.5h
  3. 3 Instagram 0.9h
Average hours a day US teens said they spent on each of three platforms, from Gallup's survey of June and July 2023. (Gallup (teen social media hours), Oct 2023)
  • 51% of US teens spent at least four hours a day on social media in Gallup's 2023 survey. (Gallup (teen social media hours), Oct 2023)
  • US teen girls spent 5.3 hours a day on social media against 4.4 hours for boys, and use rose from 4.1 hours a day at age 13 to 5.8 hours at age 17 (2023). (Gallup (teen social media hours), Oct 2023)
  • US teens aged 13-18 spent an average of 1 hour 27 minutes a day on social media in 2021, up from 1 hour 10 minutes in 2019, on a definition that excludes YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. (Common Sense Media (census 2021), Mar 2022)
  • 84% of US teens aged 13-18 had used social media and 62% used it every day in 2021, but only 34% enjoyed it "a lot", down from 41% in 2019. (Common Sense Media (census 2021), Mar 2022)
  • US teens aged 13-18 averaged 8 hours 39 minutes a day of entertainment screen use in 2021, up from 7:22 in 2019; tweens aged 8-12 averaged 5:33, up from 4:44. (Common Sense Media (census 2021), Mar 2022)
  • 38% of US tweens aged 8-12 had used social media in 2021, up from 31% in 2019, and 18% used it every day; the sites they used most were Snapchat (13%), Instagram (10%) and Facebook (8%). (Common Sense Media (census 2021), Mar 2022)
  • Internet users aged 16-24 spend an average of well over 24 hours a week on social and video feeds, more than three times the figure for users aged 65 and over, on GWI survey data (2026). (Kepios (Digital 2027, GWI data), Oct 2026)
  • A year earlier, women aged 16-24 spent 25 hours 45 minutes a week on social and video feeds, more than 3 hours 40 minutes a day, against 18 hours 36 minutes for all online adults (2025). (Kepios (Digital 2026, GWI data), Oct 2025)

Gallup asked US teens (aged 13-19) about hours on seven named platforms and added them up, so multitasking can raise the total. Common Sense Media's 2021 census counts Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit and Facebook as social media and treats YouTube, TikTok and Twitch as online video. The two studies define social media differently and are not compared. Kepios reports GWI survey data for internet users in GWI's markets.

What do young people say social media does to their mental health?

US teens are more negative about social media's effect on their peers than on themselves, and more of them now say they spend too much time on it. Most also say it helps them feel connected to friends. These are self-reported views, not measured effects.

36% 2022 27% 2023 45% 2024
View data table
Share of US teens aged 13-17 who say they spend too much time on social media, by survey year, from Pew.
PeriodValue
202236%
202327%
202445%
Share of US teens aged 13-17 who say they spend too much time on social media, by survey year, from Pew. (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 14% of US teens aged 13-17 say social media has a negative effect on them personally (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 19% of US teens say social media has hurt their mental health; teen girls are more likely than boys to say it hurt their mental health (25% vs 14%), confidence (20% vs 10%) or sleep (50% vs 40%) (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 44% of US teens say they have cut back on social media, up from 39% in 2023 (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • The share of US teens who say they spend about the right amount of time on social media fell to 49% in 2024, from 64% in 2023 and 55% in 2022. (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 74% of US teens say what they see on social media makes them feel more connected to their friends' lives, and 63% say it gives them a place to show their creative side (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 39% of US teens say social media makes them feel overwhelmed by drama, 31% pressure to post popular content, 31% excluded by friends and 27% worse about their own life (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • The share of US teens who say social media makes them feel they have people who can support them through tough times fell to 52% in 2024 from 67% in 2022. (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 55% of US parents of teens are extremely or very concerned about teen mental health, against 35% of teens; among teens at least somewhat concerned, 22% name social media as the main factor (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • 34% of US teens say they at least sometimes get information about mental health on social media, including 9% who do so extremely or fairly often (2024 survey). (Pew Research Center (teens and mental health), Apr 2025)
  • In a survey by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation, which use the Gen Z label for people born 1997-2012, 26% of US teenagers aged 13-18 said they cope by browsing social media when upset, against 9% of preteens aged 10-12 (2024). (Gallup and Walton Family Foundation (Gen Z coping), Jul 2024)
  • Among 4,285 US youths followed from about age 10, 31.3% had an increasing pattern of addictive social media use and 9.6% a high-peaking one; increasing addictive use was linked to a risk ratio of 2.14 for suicidal behaviours (high-peaking: 2.39), while total screen time at baseline was not linked to outcomes (2025). (JAMA (Xiao et al., 2025), Jun 2025)

Pew's figures are teens' own views from a survey of 1,391 US teens and their parents in September and October 2024. The JAMA study follows the US Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort and measures addictive use patterns, not hours; it shows links, not proof of cause. The Gallup and Walton survey is a separate US panel of 10-18 year olds.

How do US teens feel about TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat?

US teens use TikTok mainly to be entertained and Snapchat mainly to keep up with friends and family. TikTok users are the most likely to say they spend too much time on the app. Parents are more negative than teens about social media's effect on mental health.

  1. 1 TikTok 96%
  2. 2 Instagram 91%
  3. 3 Snapchat 87%
Share of each platform's US teen users who say entertainment is a reason they use it (major or minor), autumn 2025. (Pew Research Center (teens on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat), Apr 2026)

Each figure is a share of that platform's US teen users (TikTok 996, Instagram 908, Snapchat 772), not of all teens, from the same autumn 2025 survey as Pew's main teen report. Parent figures are shares of all parents of teens.

What do US school health surveys show about social media?

In the CDC's 2025 national survey, about a third of US high school students used social media every hour or more. Students who used it frequently in 2023 reported more sadness and bullying, but the surveys are cross-sectional and show links, not causes.

  1. 1 Black 40%
  2. 2 American Indian or Alaska Native 39%
  3. 3 Hispanic or Latino 39%
  4. 4 Middle Eastern or North African 39%
  5. 5 Multiracial 39%
  6. 6 Asian 34%
  7. 7 White 33%
Share of US high school students who used social media every hour or more in 2025, by race and ethnicity, from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. (CDC (YRBS digital behaviors 2025), Sep 2026)
  • Hourly social media use among US high school students was 37% in 2023, when the CDC first asked; by grade in 2025 it ranged from 33% in 9th grade to 38% in 12th grade. (CDC (YRBS digital behaviors 2025), Sep 2026)
  • 77.0% of US high school students used social media at least several times a day in 2023: 81.8% of female and 72.9% of male students. (CDC (MMWR, social media and bullying 2023), Oct 2024)
  • Frequent use in 2023 rose from 74.5% of students aged 14 or younger to 79.1% of 17-year-olds; by sexual identity it was 82.2% for bisexual, 82.6% for questioning, 79.2% for heterosexual and 67.7% for lesbian or gay students. (CDC (MMWR, social media and bullying 2023), Oct 2024)
  • US high school students who used social media frequently had higher adjusted prevalence of persistent sadness or hopelessness (42.6% vs 31.9%, adjusted prevalence ratio 1.35) and of being bullied electronically (17.0% vs 15.9%, aPR 1.54) than infrequent users (2023). (CDC (MMWR, social media and bullying 2023), Oct 2024)
  • Frequent users also had higher adjusted prevalence of being bullied at school (aPR 1.31) and seriously considering suicide (aPR 1.21), but not of attempted suicide (aPR 1.11, not significant) (2023). (CDC (MMWR, social media and bullying 2023), Oct 2024)
  • US high school students using social media hourly or more were more likely to report binge eating on 3 or more of the past 30 days than those using it once a day or less (22.8% vs 12.9%, aPR 1.70); 40.5% of all students reported binge eating on at least 1 day (2025). (CDC (MMWR, binge eating 2025), Oct 2026)

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey covers US public and private high school students in grades 9-12. Hourly use (asked in 2023 and 2025) and use at least several times a day (2023) are different questions and are not compared. Adjusted prevalence ratios control for age, race and ethnicity, sex and sexual identity, so they differ from the raw gaps.

What has Australia's under-16 social media rule changed?

Australia's Social Media Minimum Age took effect on 10 December 2025 and requires age-restricted platforms to keep out under-16s. Millions of accounts were removed or restricted, but three months on most children aged 10-15 still used at least one restricted platform. Platform counts and survey shares measure different things and are not combined.

  1. 1 YouTube 76%
  2. 2 TikTok 56%
  3. 3 Instagram 47%
  4. 4 Snapchat 46%
  5. 5 Facebook 42%
Share of Australian children aged 10-15 who had ever used each platform, from eSafety's survey of December 2024 to February 2025, before the under-16 rule. (eSafety Commissioner (children 10-15 survey 2025), Jul 2025)
  • More than 300,000 further accounts were prevented from signing in to age-restricted platforms in Australia between mid-December 2025 and the start of March 2026, eSafety said; the platforms supplied the counts under legally enforceable notices. (eSafety Commissioner (compliance update Mar 2026), Mar 2026)
  • 49.7% of surveyed Australian parents of children aged 8-15 said their child had their own account on at least one platform before the restrictions; this fell to 31.3% afterwards (survey of 898 parents, January and February 2026). (eSafety Commissioner (compliance update Mar 2026), Mar 2026)
  • Of Australian children aged 8-15 who had an account on each platform before the ban, their parents said 63.6% still had one on Facebook, 69.1% on Instagram, 69.4% on Snapchat, 69.3% on TikTok and 48.5% on YouTube in early 2026. (eSafety Commissioner (compliance update Mar 2026), Mar 2026)
  • Before the rule, 96% of Australian children aged 10-15 had ever used a social media platform (99% of 13-15s and 93% of 10-12s), and 44% had used YouTube Kids (survey December 2024 to February 2025). (eSafety Commissioner (children 10-15 survey 2025), Jul 2025)
  • In the four weeks before that survey, 63% of Australian children aged 10-15 had used YouTube, 44% TikTok, 36% Snapchat, 35% Instagram and 29% Facebook; 52% had ever been cyberbullied, 38% in the past 12 months. (eSafety Commissioner (children 10-15 survey 2025), Jul 2025)
  • Among Australian children aged 10-15, the share holding their own YouTube account fell from 33.2% to 23.3% in the three months after the rule began, Snapchat from 28.6% to 23.3%, TikTok from 28.2% to 21.7%, Instagram from 21.6% to 19.3% and Facebook from 12.4% to 11.2%. (eSafety Commissioner (three-month evaluation), Jul 2026)
  • 81.5% of Australian children aged 10-15 still used an age-restricted platform in the past four weeks three months in, down from 85.9%; use of Pinterest, which is not age-restricted, rose from 16.6% to 21.8% and Reddit from 6.1% to 9.4%. (eSafety Commissioner (three-month evaluation), Jul 2026)
  • Of Australian children aged 10-15 who still held an age-restricted account, 50.2% said the platform had not yet asked them to confirm their age and 18.2% that it had estimated their age wrongly; 37.1% had listed their age as 16 or above (2026). (eSafety Commissioner (three-month evaluation), Jul 2026)
  • 68.1% of Australian parents of children aged 10-15 were at least somewhat supportive of the restrictions three months in (68.6% at baseline), and 65.4% of children said the rule had no impact on them (2026). (eSafety Commissioner (three-month evaluation), Jul 2026)
  • Snap says it had locked or disabled over 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia by the end of January 2026, belonging to users who declared an age under 16 or whom it believed to be under 16. (Snap Inc. (Australia minimum age post), Feb 2026)

The account counts are platform-reported numbers aggregated by eSafety and count accounts, not people; eSafety released no per-platform split. Snap's figure is its own count for Snapchat only. The parent survey (children 8-15), the 2025 children's survey (10-15) and the three-month evaluation with Stanford University's Social Media Lab (10-15, panel of 803) are separate surveys. None of these measures is added to, subtracted from or compared with another. Use in the evaluation includes logged-out viewing and other people's accounts; only the Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube account falls were statistically significant.

What do platforms say about their young users?

Pinterest and Snap both market themselves as platforms for young people. Their figures are company claims based on internal data, with methods and definitions that are not published in full.

  • Pinterest's business site, live in November 2026, says Gen Z is its fastest-growing audience and makes up 50% of its global user base; the same page gives 661 million monthly active users. Pinterest does not show its Gen Z definition or method. (Pinterest (business audience page), 2026)
  • Snap says Snapchat reaches 75% of "Gen Z and Millennials", which it defines as 13-34 year olds, across 25 or more countries (internal data, second quarter of 2024), and that about 80% of Snapchatters are over 18. (Snap Inc. (Snapchat for Business), 2024)
  • Snap said in September 2023 that Snapchat reaches 90% of 13-24 year olds and 70% of 13-34 year olds in the Netherlands, where it had more than 5 million monthly users, and that nearly 45% of Dutch Snapchatters are 25 or older. (Snap Inc. (Netherlands newsroom post), Sep 2023)
  • Snap says over 75% of time spent on Snapchat in Australia is messaging with close friends and family (2026). (Snap Inc. (Australia minimum age post), Feb 2026)

These are the companies' own marketing and policy statements, dated as published. Snap's "Gen Z and Millennials" covers ages 13-34 and is not Gen Z alone. Neither company gives these age figures in its SEC filings, and they are not compared with survey figures elsewhere on this page.

Glossary

Gen Z
Usually people born between 1997 and 2012, the definition used by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. Most surveys report age bands instead.
Almost constantly
Pew Research Center's highest frequency answer, above several times a day, about once a day and less often.
Ever-use
The share of people who say they use a platform at all, however often.
YRBS
The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey of US high school students in grades 9-12.
MMWR
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC's journal.
aPR
Adjusted prevalence ratio: how much more common an outcome is in one group than another after controlling for other factors.
SMMA
Australia's Social Media Minimum Age, which from 10 December 2025 requires age-restricted platforms to keep out under-16s.
eSafety
Australia's eSafety Commissioner, the government regulator for online safety.
ACMA
Australian Communications and Media Authority.
GWI
A market research company whose survey of internet users aged 16 and over Kepios reports.
ABCD study
The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, a long-term US cohort of children followed from about age 10.
Internetstiftelsen
The Swedish Internet Foundation, which publishes the annual Svenskarna och internet survey.
Mediemyndigheten
The Swedish Agency for the Media, formerly Statens medieråd, which publishes Ungar & medier.

Methodology and sources

Gen Z is usually defined as people born between 1997 and 2012, but most producers report age bands, so every figure here gives its own band (for example US teens aged 13-17, US adults aged 18-29, EU residents aged 16-24 or Swedish children aged 8-19). The label Gen Z is used only where the producer uses it. Figures come from survey researchers (Pew Research Center, Gallup, Common Sense Media, the Reuters Institute), official statistics bodies and regulators (Eurostat, Statistics Canada, ACMA, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, the CDC, Internetstiftelsen and Mediemyndigheten in Sweden), a peer-reviewed JAMA study, Kepios, and the companies themselves. Each figure links to the body that published it, with the date. Ever-use, daily use and "almost constantly" are kept apart, as are shares of all teens and shares of a platform's users. Studies that define social media differently, such as Gallup's and Common Sense Media's time-spent figures, are not compared. Company claims are labelled as such. The page is reviewed monthly and the date is shown at the top.