How Many Teens Use Social Media Every Day? New Federal Data Provides Answers

For the first time in history, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey asked teenagers about their use of social media.

In 2023, 77 percent of high school students used social media several times a day, according to research conducted in the spring among more than 20,000 students.

The new survey question was added in response to growing concerns about the mental health crisis in young people and conversations about the role social media use plays in it, Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s division of adolescent and school health, said in an interview.

Addressing the declining mental health of adolescents has been a top priority for school districts and policymakers in recent years. Many of the solutions involve reducing the impact of social media platformswhich are often cited as the driving force behind the increase in mental health problems among young people.

More than 200 school districts have sued major social media companies about the role of their platforms in the youth mental health crisis. Schools across the country are also restricting cell phone use in their buildings, partly to limit students’ use of social media.

Policymakers at the state and federal level are busy drafting legislation that would significantly limit young people’s access to social mediaIn Florida, for example, children under the age of 14 are not allowed to have social media accounts. From January 1, 2025, 14 and 15 year olds will need parental permission before they can create an account.

And US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a warning label on social media platforms earlier this year users warn that they “have been associated with significant harm to adolescent mental health.”

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey results are similar to survey data from other organizations that have tracked teen social media use. For example, the Pew Research Center’s “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023The report found that 46 percent of teens are online “almost constantly” and 47 percent are online “several times a day.”

Teen girls were more likely than teen boys to use social media multiple times a day, the report found. And those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning were just as likely to use social media multiple times a day as their cisgender and heterosexual peers.

“This suggests that there are other factors driving the mental health crisis among LGBTQ+ youth, such as experiences of stigma and violence,” Ethier said. The CDC plans to provide additional analyses later this fall.

The agency also expects to add the question about social media use to the next round of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2025 to “help add to the conversation,” Ethier said.