Poll: Almost Half of Teens Almost Always Online

Just under half of American teenagers describe themselves as "almost constantly" online, according to a new poll from Pew Research Center.

In 2015, 24% of American teenagers, those ages 13-17, described themselves as "almost constantly" online. That number has jumped to 46% in 2022.

In 2022:

• 46% use the internet "almost constantly."
• 48% use the internet "several times a day."
• 3% use the internet "about once a day."
• 3% use the internet "several times a week or less often."

In 2015:

• 24% used the internet "almost constantly."
• 56% used the internet "several times a day."
• 12% used the internet "about once a day."
• 8% used the internet "several times a week or less often."

Most teens, 54%, said that it would be hard to give up social media, with 18% saying it would be "very hard," 35% saying it would be "somewhat hard," 26% saying it would be "somewhat easy," and 20% saying it would be "very easy."

"It's an evolving landscape on multiple levels—not just the platforms themselves with different names and things, but also even individual platforms were one thing a while ago, and now are different," Lee Rainie, Pew's director of internet and technology research and one of the lead authors of this report, told The Wall Street Journal.

Pew research associate Emily Vogels, another co-author, added that "Without being able to interact with others in the in-person environment, [teens] were looking to see where their friends were going online, so that they could maintain those connections."

Pew surveyed 1,316 teens, as well as at least one of their parents in groups called "dyads," across the country from April 14 – May 4, 2022, with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.

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