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Check out both sides of digital media and its effects on society.

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Check out both sides of digital media and its effects on society.

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If asked to login, use "bendlapine" for the username & "central" as password.

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Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech

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TikTok has established itself as one of the top online platforms for U.S. teens, while the share of teens who use Facebook has fallen sharply

The landscape of social media is ever-changing, especially among teens who often are on the leading edge of this space. A new Pew Research Center survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 finds TikTok has rocketed in popularity since its North American debut several years ago and now is a top social media platform for teens among the platforms covered in this survey. Some 67% of teens say they ever use TikTok, with 16% of all teens saying they use it almost constantly. Meanwhile, the share of teens who say they use Facebook, a dominant social media platform among teens in the Center's 2014-15 survey, has plummeted from 71% then to 32% today.

YouTube tops the 2022 teen online landscape among the platforms covered in the Center's new survey, as it is used by 95% of teens. TikTok is next on the list of platforms that were asked about in this survey (67%), followed by Instagram and Snapchat, which are both used by about six-in-ten teens. After those platforms come Facebook with 32% and smaller shares who use Twitter, Twitch, WhatsApp, Reddit and Tumblr.

Changes in the social media landscape since 2014-15 extend beyond TikTok's rise and Facebook's fall. Growing shares of teens say they are using Instagram and Snapchat since then. Conversely, Twitter and Tumblr saw declining shares of teens who report using their platforms. And two of the platforms the Center tracked in the earlier survey - Vine and Google+ - no longer exist.

There are some notable demographic differences in teens' social media choices. For example, teen boys are more likely than teen girls to say they use YouTube, Twitch and Reddit, whereas teen girls are more likely than teen boys to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. In addition, higher shares of Black and Hispanic teens report using TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp compared with White teens.

This study also explores the frequency with which teens are on each of the top five online platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. Fully 35% of teens say they are using at least one of them "almost constantly." Teen TikTok and Snapchat users are particularly engaged with these platforms, followed by teen YouTube users in close pursuit. A quarter of teens who use Snapchat or TikTok say they use these apps almost constantly, and a fifth of teen YouTube users say the same. When looking at teens overall, 19% say they use YouTube almost constantly, 16% say this about TikTok, and 15% about Snapchat.

When reflecting on the amount of time they spend on social media generally, a majority of U.S. teens (55%) say they spend about the right amount of time on these apps and sites, while about a third of teens (36%) say they spend too much time on social media. Just 8% of teens think they spend too little time on these platforms.

Asked about the idea of giving up social media, 54% of teens say it would be at least somewhat hard to give it up, while 46% say it would be at least somewhat easy. Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to express it would be difficult to give up social media (58% vs. 49%). Conversely, a quarter of teen boys say giving up social media would be very easy, while 15% of teen girls say the same. Older teens also say they would have difficulty giving up social media. About six-in-ten teens ages 15 to 17 (58%) say giving up social media would be at least somewhat difficult to do. A smaller share of 13- to 14-year-olds (48%) think this would be difficult.

Beyond just online platforms, the new survey finds that the vast majority of teens have access to digital devices, such as smartphones (95%), desktop or laptop computers (90%) and gaming consoles (80%). And the study shows there has been an uptick in daily teen internet users, from 92% in 2014-15 to 97% today. In addition, the share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has roughly doubled since 2014-15 (46% now and 24% then).

These are some of the findings from an online survey of 1,316 teens conducted by the Pew Research Center from April 14 to May 4, 2022. More details about the findings on adoption and use of digital technologies by teens are covered below.

Smartphones, desktop and laptop computers, and gaming consoles remain widely accessible to teens

Since 2014-15, there has been a 22 percentage point rise in the share of teens who report having access to a smartphone (95% now and 73% then). While teens' access to smartphones has increased over roughly the past eight years, their access to other digital technologies, such as desktop or laptop computers or gaming consoles, has remained statistically unchanged.

The survey shows there are differences in access to these digital devices for certain groups. For instance, teens ages 15 to 17 (98%) are more likely to have access to a smartphone than their 13- to 14-year-old counterparts (91%). In addition, teen boys are 21 points more likely to say they have access to gaming consoles than teen girls - a pattern that has been reported in prior Center research.

Access to computers and gaming consoles also differs by teens' household income. U.S. teens living in households that make $75,000 or more annually are 12 points more likely to have access to gaming consoles and 15 points more likely to have access to a desktop or laptop computer than teens from households with incomes under $30,000. These gaps in teen computer and gaming console access are consistent with digital divides by household income the Center has observed in previous teen surveys.

While 72% of U.S. teens say they have access to a smartphone, a computer and a gaming console at home, more affluent teens are particularly likely to have access to all three devices. Fully 76% of teens that live in households that make at least $75,000 a year say they have or have access to a smartphone, a gaming console and a desktop or laptop computer, compared with smaller shares of teens from households that make less than $30,000 or teens from households making $30,000 to $74,999 a year who say they have access to all three (60% and 69% of teens, respectively).

Almost all U.S. teens report using the internet daily

The share of teens who say they use the internet about once a day or more has grown slightly since 2014-15. Today, 97% of teens say they use the internet daily, compared with 92% of teens in 2014-15 who said the same.

In addition, the share of teens who say they use the internet almost constantly has gone up: 46% of teens say they use the internet almost constantly, up from only about a quarter (24%) of teenagers who said the same in 2014-15.

Black and Hispanic teens stand out for being on the internet more frequently than White teens. Some 56% of Black teens and 55% of Hispanic teens say they are online almost constantly, compared with 37% of White teens. The difference between Hispanic and White teens on this measure is consistent with previous findings when it comes to frequent internet use.

In addition, older teens are more likely to be online almost constantly. Some 52% of 15- to 17-year-olds say they use the internet almost constantly, while 36% of 13- to 14-year-olds say the same. Another demographic pattern in "almost constant" internet use: 53% of urban teens report being online almost constantly, while somewhat smaller shares of suburban and rural teens say the same (44% and 43%, respectively).

Slight differences are seen among those who say they engage in "almost constant" internet use based on household income. A slightly larger share of teens from households making $30,000 to $74,999 annually report using the internet almost constantly, compared with teens from homes making at least $75,000 (51% and 43%, respectively). Teens who live in households making under $30,000 do not significantly differ from either group.

This survey asked whether U.S. teens use 10 specific online platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, WhatsApp, Reddit and Tumblr.

YouTube stands out as the most common online platform teens use out of the platforms measured, with 95% saying they ever use this site or app. Majorities also say they use TikTok (67%), Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%). Instagram and Snapchat use has grown since asked about in 2014-15, when roughly half of teens said they used Instagram (52%) and about four-in-ten said they used Snapchat (41%).

The share of teens using Facebook has declined sharply in the past decade. Today, 32% of teens report ever using Facebook, down 39 points since 2014-15, when 71% said they ever used the platform. Although today's teens do not use Facebook as extensively as teens in previous years, the platform still enjoys widespread usage among adults, as seen in other recent Center studies.

Other social media platforms have also seen decreases in usage among teens since 2014-15. Some 23% of teens now say they ever use Twitter, compared with 33% in 2014-15. Tumblr has seen a similar decline. While 14% of teens in 2014-15 reported using Tumblr, just 5% of teens today say they use this platform.

The online platforms teens flock to differ slightly based on gender. Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to say they ever use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, while boys are more likely to use Twitch and Reddit. Boys also report using YouTube at higher rates than girls, although the vast majority of teens use this platform regardless of gender.

Teens' use of certain online platforms also differs by race and ethnicity. Black and Hispanic teens are more likely than White teens to say they ever use TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or WhatsApp. Black teens also stand out for being more likely to use TikTok compared with Hispanic teens, while Hispanic teens are more likely than their peers to use WhatsApp.

Older teens are more likely than younger teens to say they use each of the online platforms asked about except for YouTube and WhatsApp. Instagram is an especially notable example, with a majority of teens ages 15 to 17 (73%) saying they ever use Instagram, compared with 45% of teens ages 13 to 14 who say the same (a 28-point gap).

Despite Facebook losing its dominance in the social media world with this new cohort of teens, higher shares of those living in lower- and middle-income households gravitate toward Facebook than their peers who live in more affluent households: 44% of teens living in households earning less than $30,000 a year and 39% of teens from households earning $30,000 to less than $75,000 a year say they ever use Facebook, while 27% of those from households earning $75,000 or more a year say the same. Differences in Facebook use by household income were found in previous Center surveys as well (however the differences by household income were more pronounced in the past).

When it comes to the frequency that teens use the top five platforms the survey looked at, YouTube and TikTok stand out as the platforms teens use most frequently. About three-quarters of teens visit YouTube at least daily, including 19% who report using the site or app almost constantly. A majority of teens (58%) visit TikTok daily, while about half say the same for Snapchat (51%) and Instagram (50%).

Looking within teens who use a given platform, TikTok and Snapchat stand out for having larger shares of teenage users who visit these platforms regularly. Fully 86% of teen TikTok or Snapchat users say they are on that platform daily and a quarter of teen users for both of these platforms say they are on the site or app almost constantly. Somewhat smaller shares of teen YouTube users (20%) and teen Instagram users (16%) say they are on those respective platforms almost constantly (about eight-in-ten teen users are on these platforms daily).

Not only is there a smaller share of teenage Facebook users than there was in 2014-15, teens who do use Facebook are also relatively less frequent users of the platform compared with the other platforms covered in this survey. Just 7% of teen Facebook users say they are on the site or app almost constantly (representing 2% of all teens). Still, about six-in-ten teen Facebook users (57%) visit the platform daily.

Across these five platforms, 35% of all U.S. teens say they are on at least one of them almost constantly. While this is not a comprehensive rundown of all teens who use any kind of online platform almost constantly, this 35% of teens represent a group of relatively heavy platform users and they clearly have different views about their use of social media compared with those who say they use at least one of these platforms, though less often than "almost constantly." Those findings are covered in a later section.

Larger shares of Black and Hispanic teens say they are on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram almost constantly than White teens. For example, Black and Hispanic teens are roughly five times more likely than White teens to say they are on Instagram almost constantly.

Hispanic teens are more likely to be frequent users of Snapchat than White or Black teens: 23% of Hispanic teens say they use this social media platform almost constantly, while 12% of White teens and 11% of Black teens say the same. There are no racial and ethnic differences in teens' frequency of Facebook usage.

Overall, Hispanic (47%) and Black teens (45%) are more likely than White teens (26%) to say they use at least one of these five online platforms almost constantly.

As social media use has become a common part of many teens' daily routine, the Center asked U.S. teens how they feel about the amount of time they are spending on social media. A slight majority (55%) say the amount of time they spend of social media is about right, and smaller shares say they spend too much time or too little time on these platforms.

While a majority of teen boys and half of teen girls say they spend about the right amount of time on social media, this sentiment is more common among boys. Teen girls are more likely than their male counterparts to say they spend too much time on social media. In addition, White teens are more likely to see their time using social media as about right compared with Hispanic teens. Black teens do not differ from either group.

This analysis also explored how teens who frequently use these platforms may feel about their time on them and how those feelings may differ from teens who use these sites and apps less frequently. To do this, two groups were constructed. The first group is the 35% of teens who say they use at least one of the five platforms this survey covered - YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook - almost constantly. The other group consists of teens who say they use these platforms but not as frequently - that is, they use at least one of these five platforms but use them less often than "almost constantly."

When asked how they feel about the time they spend on social media, 53% of teens who almost constantly use at least one of the platforms say they are on social media too much, while about three-in-ten teens (28%) who use at least one of these platforms but less often say the same.

Teens who are almost constantly online - not just on social media - also stand out for saying they spend too much time on social media: 51% say they are on social media too much. By comparison, 26% of teens who are online several times a day say they are on social media too much.

When reflecting on what it would be like to try to quit social media, teens are somewhat divided whether this would be easy or difficult. Some 54% of U.S. teens say it would be very (18%) or somewhat hard (35%) for them to give up social media. Conversely, 46% of teens say it would be at least somewhat easy for them to give up social media, with a fifth saying it would be very easy.

Teenage girls are slightly more likely to say it would be hard to give up social media than teen boys (58% vs. 49%). A similar gap is seen between older and younger teens, with teens 15 to 17 years old being more likely than 13- and 14-year-olds to say it would be at least somewhat hard to give up social media.

A majority of teens who use at least one of the platforms asked about in the survey "almost constantly" say it would be hard to give up social media, with 32% saying it would be very hard. Smaller shares of teens who use at least one of these online platforms but use them less often say the same.

The teens who think they spend too much time on social media also report they would struggle to step back completely from it. Teens who say they spend too much time on social media are 36 percentage points more likely than teens who see their usage as about right to say giving up social media would be hard (78% vs. 42%). In fact, about three-in-ten teens who say they use social media too much (29%) say it would be very hard for them to give up social media. Conversely, a majority of teens who see their social media usage as about right (58%) say that it would be at least somewhat easy for them to give it up.

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Emily A. Vogels, Risa Gelles-Watnick and Navid Massarat

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The landscape of social media is ever-changing, especially among teens who often are on the leading edge of this space. A new survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 finds that TikTok has established itself as one of the top online platforms for U.S.

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Social media has changed the way we communicate today. It's in our best interest to be informed about all of the new possibilities to manage our online reputation. The lines between professional and personal are blurring online and many times, we refer to our online presence as our "Personal Brand." Your Personal Brand can be both the personal and professional "YOU."

Here are five benefits of using social media:

1. Build relationships.

Social media is not just about brands connecting with their customers. In fact, at its root, social media is about connecting people to people. If you've attended a Social Shift training session I've led, chances are you've heard that almost every single friend I have in San Francisco, I met through social media.

From a professional perspective, you can grow your professional network online tremendously by connecting with colleagues, mentors, role models and other professionals. If you nurture those relationships, you have a whole new network to tap when you're looking for opportunities or professional guidance.

2. Share your expertise.

Social media gives you an opportunity to talk about what you know and what you want to be known for. Sharing your expertise will attract potential professional and personal connections. Learn how to present your professional experience, achievements and results and you will get more and more opportunities to connect with like-minded people.

If you share content on topics that you know much about, you can begin to build credibility. This doesn't only go for your online presence. If you live your personal brand and your actions reflect your online presence, it validates that you can be trusted and those relationships you are building will be that much more authentic and valuable.

3. Increase your visibility.

If you spend time honing in on your expertise, consistently managing your social channels, then you have the potential to greatly increase your visibility and even become a thought-leader in your space. Good content gets shared, so if you are consistently posting quality content, the more people who share it, the more people see it.

It's not just about pushing content, however. You also need to be engaging with other people's content. Following people and interacting with them on social media will work to build relationships (we keep coming back to this one!) and will help to get your name out there for people to turn to.

4. Educate yourself.

There is a lot of noise on the Internet. Social media allows you to hone in on what you really care about and what you really want to read. You can create lists that curate content from your favorite people, thought leaders in the space, or media outlets. You can easily learn about current events and things taking place near you.

5. Connect anytime

I know to some of you this may sound like a disadvantage. But, the advantage of being able to communicate and connect with anyone instantly outweighs the potential negative.

Social media can help you connect before, during and after networking events, a conference or a meeting. People can get to know you prior to meeting you and be better equipped to talk in person. I know I've met people in person for the first time after following them online for a while and we felt like long lost friends!

Social media is a land of new opportunity. There are countless personal and professional benefits of using social media. With a little love and care, we can start to build and shape our personal brands into an epicenter of opportunity.

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Social media has changed the way we communicate today. It's in our best interest to be informed about all of the new possibilities to manage our online reputation.

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This is from the perspective of empowerment for teens.

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Literature shows that there are many benefits of internet and social media in young peoples lives.

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Wall Street Journal: There is no "quick fix"

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Wall Street Journal: There is no "quick fix"

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I'm not sure if students will be able to access this because it's a Wall Street Journal article.

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Social media is in crisis. Elon Musk 's Twitter is still afloat, but the engine is sputtering as users and advertisers consider jumping ship. The reputationally-challenged Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, is cutting costs to manage a stagnating core business and to fund a bet-the-farm investment in an unproven metaverse. Chinese-owned TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny on national security grounds.

Many view this moment of reckoning over social media with grim satisfaction. Advocates, politicians and activists have railed for years against the dark sides of online platforms-hate speech, vicious trolling, disinformation, bias against certain views and the incubation of extremist ideas. Social media has been blamed for everything from the demise of local news to the rise of autocracy worldwide.

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Essay | There's No Quick Fix for Social Media

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Social media is in crisis. Elon Musk 's Twitter is still afloat, but the engine is sputtering as users and advertisers consider jumping ship. The reputationally-challenged Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, is cutting costs to manage a stagnating core business and to fund a bet-the-farm investment in an unproven metaverse.

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Read about where teens fall on the "at risk" spectrum of technolgoy.

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Parents play a major role in whether teens' use of digital technology is healthy or puts their mental and physical health at risk, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The large, nationwide study was led by Dr. Megan Moreno, professor of pediatrics and head of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and adolescent health physician, UW Health Kids. Researchers looked at the digital media use and family dynamics of nearly 4,000 pairs, each consisting of a parent and a teen.

They found that about 63% of teens fell into the "family engaged" group and had a healthy relationship with technology. The other 37% were categorized as "at risk." Those risks included that their parents did not set a good example with their own social media use, had rules that only revolved around screen time or had no rules at all for digital media use.

Although some device features make screen time easy for parents to measure, based on findings of the study, Moreno cautions against using screen time as a sole indicator of whether technology use is healthy.

"We found that [household] rules that focused on the content of technology, that focused on ongoing communication with parents - those rules were more effective than rules around screen time," said Moreno.

As with all parenting topics, it's important for parents to be guided by an understanding of the unique needs of their child, and to realize the impact they have as role models, she explains.

"Our study illustrates that the risks and benefits of technology use are not the same for every individual adolescent,'' said Moreno. "Parents set the tone for healthy technology use, and this includes how parents use their own phones."

These results were published during a pandemic when digital communication is more central than ever for teens. In fact, about 95% of those surveyed have their own smartphone and 88% have access to a computer at home.

The researchers surveyed the teens and their parents separately using an online tool, then correlated the answers. They measured parental involvement by whether the household had media rules, how much parents used social media, and the parent-child relationship. Health outcomes for teens included physical activity, sleep, problematic internet use and mental health. Well-being was measured by mental wellness, communication and empathy. They also asked whether the family-owned technology devices or whether the teens did.

The researchers used a method called Latent Class Analysis to sort teens into two groups. The "family engaged" teens were more likely to have family-owned devices, household media rules centered on content, positive parent relationships and lower parental social media use. These teens reported better health outcomes and well-being indicators. For example, 70% of this group showed healthy attitudes toward their body image. They were also more likely to "co-watch" content with their parents.

The "at risk" teens reported higher rates of personal ownership of devices. They also had higher rates of depression (56%), anxiety (69%), unhealthy body image (84%) and fear of missing out (85%). Their parents tended to use social media more frequently than parents in the "engaged" group.

According to Moreno, there are three key behaviors associated with better well-being around technology use.

Consider family-owned technology devices, rather than individually owned.

Create and maintain household rules centered on content, not screen time.

Being aware, as parents, of their own technology and social media use, particularly at home.

Other members of the research team are Dr. Yalda Uhls, of UCLA, and Kole Binger, Qianqian Zhao, Dr. Jen Eickhoff, and Matt Minich, of UW-Madison.

The study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research: Parenting and Pediatrics.

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UW Study: Most teens actually have healthy relationship with digital technology

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The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison addresses the evolving health care needs of Wisconsin and beyond while building on our innovative tradition of more than 100 years of educating health professionals and expanding boundaries of science through research. We are at the forefront of medical education, research and patient care.

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Digital technologies have profoundly changed childhood and adolescence. The internet and the means to access it, such as tablets and smartphones, along with social media platforms and messaging apps, have become integral to the lives of youth around the world. They have transformed their education and learning, the way they make and maintain friendships, how they spend their leisure time, and their engagement with wider society. UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2017: Children in a Digital World report reveals that one in three internet users is younger than 18 years and 71% of 15-24-year-olds are online, making them the most connected age group worldwide. However, the so-called digital divide is substantial: 346 million youth are not online, with African adolescents the most affected (60% are not connected compared with 4% in Europe). Young people who lack digital skills, live in remote regions, or speak a minority language are also being left behind in harnessing the opportunities that digital technologies can provide. These benefits include access to education, training, and jobs, which can help break intergenerational cycles of poverty, and access to news and information sources that can help protect their health, safety, and rights.

Along with the substantial opportunities the digital age brings, come a diverse range of risks and harms. Digital technologies have increased the scale of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Child sex offenders have increased access to children through unprotected social media profiles and online gaming forums. Technological advances have allowed individual offenders and trafficking rings to evade detection through encrypted platforms and the creation of false identities, and have enabled them to pursue multiple victims at the same time.

Young people are not only at risk from adult exploitation; children can also obtain sexual or intimate photos of a peer and share them with or without the individual's consent. Digital advances have meant that bullying is no longer left at the school gates; cyberbullying is a new method for bullies to hurt and humiliate their victims with the click of a button. Words and images posted online that are designed to cause harm are also difficult to delete, increasing the risk of re-victimisation.

Concerns have also been raised about the time children spend using digital technology and its effect on their physical activity and mental health. Evidence suggests moderate use of digital technology can be beneficial to children's mental wellbeing, whereas excessive use can be detrimental. Children's social relationships seem to be enhanced by digital technology, especially since most of their social circle is now online. Evidence on physical activity is mixed, and better research is needed in this area.

The effect of the content children encounter online should be a focus of future studies. Some websites and apps present a risk to the health of vulnerable youth, such as those that promote self-harm, suicide, or anorexia. Others support underage activities, such as gambling. A 2017 survey found that 3% of 11-16-year-olds in the UK have spent some of their own money on online gambling, and 7% have used their parents' accounts, with or without their permission.

Despite these issues, the popularity and use of digital technologies will continue to grow. However, an intergenerational gap exists in digital knowledge and literacy. Teachers and parents need training to teach digital skills and online safety to children. They are also crucial to helping young people assess reliable news and information sources and navigate the pressures social media, as highlighted in a report released on Jan 4 by England's Children's Commissioner. Schools are also an important forum for discussing cyberbullying, and anti-bullying programmes need to include online harassment.

Some children have never been online or have little access and are missing out on the benefits of connectivity. UNICEF recommends that market strategies to foster competition among providers, and tax and other incentives for technology companies could help reduce the cost of access. Digital companies, meanwhile, have a responsibility to protect young users from harm. The WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation Online, involving technology companies, international organisations, and countries, is one good example of a multi-stakeholder, coordinated approach to tackle this threat that has no borders.

Children and adolescents have the most to gain and are most at risk from digital technologies. They must be at the forefront of national and global digital policies, not only to protect them from online harm but also to allow technology to help them fulfil their full potential.
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This editorial reviews the risks and benefits of digital technology on children and adolescents, a group with "the most to gain and are most at risk from digital technologies."

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Growing up in a digital world: benefits and risks

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Digital technologies have profoundly changed childhood and adolescence. The internet and the means to access it, such as tablets and smartphones, along with social media platforms and messaging apps, have become integral to the lives of youth around the world.

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​Today's children and teens are growing up immersed in digital media. It ranges from TV and videos to social media, video games and so much more. And it's all available on multiple devices-computers, e-readers, gaming consoles, smartphones and other screens.

Media can influence how children and teens feel, learn, think and behave. This is why it's important to be understand the risks & benefits of digital media use and how to keep them in balance for your family.

Kids & media use: by the numbers

Recent Common Sense Media research shows that media use by tweens (ages 8-12 years) and teens (ages 13-18 years) has risen faster in the two years since the pandemic than the four years before. The research found 8- to 12-year-olds spend an average of five and a half hours a day on screens and consuming media. That rate climbs to over eight and a half hours a day for teens.

Among teens, 79% said they use social media and online videos at least once a week, and 32% of these said they "wouldn't want to live without" YouTube. And nearly two-thirds (65%) of tweens said they watch TV, 64% watch online videos and 43% play games on a smartphone or tablet every day.

Average daily screentime rates soared highest among Black and Hispanic/Latino kids and those of lower-income families. These teens and tweens were spending between 6.5 and 7.5 hours a day on entertainment screens.

In another survey, 71% of parents with younger children (under 12 years old) said they were concerned about their child spending too much time in front of screens.

Risks & benefits of media use by children & teens

Why use digital media?

Digital media use can:

Expose users to new ideas and information.

Raise awareness of current events and issues.

Promote community participation.

Help students work with others on assignments and projects.

Digital media use also has social benefits that:

Allow families and friends to stay in touch, no matter where they live.

Enhance access to valuable support networks, especially for people with illnesses or disabilities.

Help promote wellness and healthy behaviors, such as how to quit smoking or how to eat healthy.

Why limit media use?

Overuse of digital media may place your children at risk of:

Negative effect on school performance. Children and teens often use entertainment media at the same time that they're doing other things, such as homework. Such multitasking can have a negative effect on how well they do in school.

Sexting, loss of privacy & predators. Sexting is the sending or receiving of sexually explicit images, videos, or text messages using a smartphone, computer, tablet, video game or digital camera. About 19% of youth have sent a sexual photo to someone else. Teens need to know that once content is shared with others, they may not be able to delete it completely. Kids may also not use privacy settings. Sex offenders may use social networking, chat rooms, e-mail and online games to contact and exploit children.

Cyberbullying. Children and teens online can be victims of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can lead to short- and long-term negative social, academic, and health issues for both the bully and target. Fortunately, programs to help prevent bullying may reduce cyberbullying.

Make a family media use plan

Children today are growing up in a time of highly personalized media use experiences. It's smart to develop a customized media use plan for your children. This helps your kids avoid overusing media by balancing it with other healthy activities.

A media plan should consider each child's age, health, personality and developmental stage. Remember, all children and teens need adequate sleep (8-12 hours each night, depending on age), physical activity (1 hour a day) and time away from media. Create a customized plan for your family with our interactive Family Media Use Plan. Developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), this tool works with your family's values and busy life.

More information

Adapted from Beyond Screen Time: A Parent's Guide to Media Use (Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Pediatrics)

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adverse effects of media~ digital media~ television~ constantly connected~ own smartphone~ online~ media exposure on children~ sexual references~ sexting~ cyberbullying~ violence in the media~ american media

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Constantly Connected: How Media Use Can Affect Your Child

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​Today's children and teens are growing up immersed in digital media. It ranges from TV and videos to social media, video games and so much more. And it's all available on multiple devices-computers, e-readers, gaming consoles, smartphones and other screens. Media can influence how children and teens feel, learn, think and behave.

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Americans' views about the influence of the media in the country have shifted dramatically over the course of a year in which there was much discussion about the news media's role during the election and post-election coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic and protests about racial justice. More Americans now say that news organizations are gaining influence than say their influence is waning, a stark contrast to just one year ago when the reverse was true.

When Americans were asked to evaluate the media's standing in the nation, about four-in-ten (41%) say news organizations are growing in their influence, somewhat higher than the one-third (33%) who say their influence is declining, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 8-14, 2021. The remaining one-quarter of U.S. adults say they are neither growing nor declining in influence.

To examine Americans' views about the influence of the news media, Pew Research Center surveyed 12,045 U.S. adults from March 8 to 14, 2021. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center's American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP's methodology. See here to read more about the questions used for this analysis and the methodology.

This is the latest report in Pew Research Center's ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

By comparison, Americans in early 2020 were far more likely to say the news media were declining in influence. Nearly half (48%) at that time said this, compared with far fewer (32%) who said news organizations were growing in influence.

The 2021 figures more closely resemble responses from 2011 - the next most recent time this was asked - and before, in that more Americans then said the news media were growing in influence than declining. Views could have shifted in the gap between 2011 and 2020, but if so, they have now shifted back. (It should be noted that prior to 2020, this question was asked on the phone instead of on the web.)

What's more, this shift in views of the media's influence in the country occurred among members of both political parties - and in the same direction.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are about evenly split in whether they think news organizations are growing (40%) or declining in influence (41%). This is very different from a year ago, when Republicans were twice as likely to say their influence was declining than growing (56% vs. 28%).

And Democrats and Democratic leaners are now much more likely to say news organizations are growing (43%) than declining in influence (28%), while a year ago they were slightly more likely to say influence was declining (42% vs. 36% growing).

Overall, then, Republicans are still more likely than Democrats to say the news media are losing standing in the country, though the two groups are more on par in thinking that the media are increasing in their influence. (Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to say news organizations are neither growing nor declining in influence - 29% vs. 19%.)

Trust in media closely ties to whether its influence is seen as growing or declining. Those who have greater trust in national news organizations tend to be more likely to see the news media gaining influence, while those with low levels of trust are generally more likely to see it waning.

Americans who say they have a great deal of trust in the accuracy of political news from national news organizations are twice as likely to say the news media are growing than declining in influence (48% vs. 24%, respectively). Conversely, those who have no trust at all are much more likely to think that news organizations are declining (47% vs. 33% who say they are growing).

Black Americans are far more likely to think that the news media are growing in influence rather than declining (48% vs. 19%, respectively), as are Hispanic Americans though to a somewhat lesser degree. White Americans, on the other hand, are about evenly split in thinking the news media are growing or declining in influence (39% vs. 37%, respectively). And while men are about evenly split (39% growing vs. 38% declining), women are more likely to say news organizations are growing (43%) than declining (29%) in influence.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.

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More Americans now see the media's influence growing compared with a year ago

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Americans' views about the influence of the media in the country have shifted dramatically over the course of a year in which there was much discussion about the news media's role during the election and post-election coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic and protests about racial justice.

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Social Media is 'Tearing Us' Apart, according to teens

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Social Media is 'Tearing Us' Apart, according to teens

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The digital world isn't just exhausting for adults. More than half of the middle and high school students who participated in a recent survey say they sometimes turn off their phones just to get some relief from all the activity, even though they then feel disconnected. And more than half of U.S. students surveyed-56 percent-say technology and social media are "tearing us apart more than they are bringing people together."

That's according to results from a series of polls spearheaded by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit in San Francisco that studies the impact of technology on young people, and Kahoot!, a learning games platform. The surveys were hosted by teachers in 219,754 sessions, engaging 457,330 middle and high school students from around the world. The questions were intended to get class discussion going, and give teachers insights on how their students view social media. But some of the results are striking.

For instance:

*About a quarter of U.S. students who took the survey agreed with the statement, "When you're hanging out with friends, it's okay for everyone to be on their phones," while about 60 percent disagreed. And a third of students said that if you "don't want to text someone anymore, it's okay to just ghost them," compared with more than half who disagreed with that statement.

*More than half of U.S. students surveyed-nearly 54 percent-said social media is a good place to stay up-to-date on the world's news, while about a quarter disagreed.

*Nearly a third of U.S. students-31 percent-said it was okay to share something on social media, even if it's not true, if it is funny and you like what it says.

*Just under 43 percent of students surveyed in the U.S. said that when you find "mean, hateful, or abusive content" online, it's best to ignore it. Roughly the same percentage disagreed. And more than a third agreed with the idea that "people should accept that seeing offensive or threatening content is just a part of being online," while half of students disagreed with that idea.

*About 80 percent of U.S. students in the survey said that "some people think too much about their social media posts, and are always trying to be perfect," while just over 10 percent disagreed with that idea. And about a third said that it was "okay to post a version of yourself on social media that's not 100 percent real."

The findings on the surveys were intended to spark conversation on digital citizenship. Jason Gay, a media specialist at Highland High School in Fort Thomas, Ky., said it allowed him to "meet kids on their terms." And he was able to learn a bit more about the stresses social media bring on his students.

"There is a whole side of meme culture and joke culture that as adults is a really tough thing for us to understand," he said. Students "are so used to that world where everything is all the time being pumped out" online, and they rarely catch a break from it, the way that many now-adults did when they were in high school and social interactions were largely confined to the school day.

Ruben Valenzuela, eighth grade social studies teacher at Sanchez Middle School in El Paso, Texas, also used the quizzes, and accompanying lessons from Common Sense, to talk to his students about how social media is impacting their interactions with peers.

"They agreed that when they are hanging out with a group of friends, pretty much everyone is on their phone," he said, even if they are just interacting with other people in the room. "A lot of them said they'll talk to one hundred of their classmates on social media, but in real life as they are passing in the hallway, they won't talk to each other."

The reason? Sometimes it just feels easier to talk to someone through the safety of a screen. "It gives them time to think about their responses," he said. "Students say it's easier to cope with rejection. They all agree they can't live without their phone."
Image: Getty

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Social Media Is 'Tearing Us Apart', Middle and High School Students Say

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The digital world isn't just exhausting for adults. More than half of the middle and high school students who participated in a recent survey say they sometimes turn off their phones just to get some relief from all the activity.

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In support of the authenticity of Be Real

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In support of the authenticity of Be Real

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From the NY Times: Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine

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From the NY Times: Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine

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The debate over Section 230 in Congress which is "a federal law that provides liability protection for online service providers when they transmit or take down user-generated content."

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The debate over Section 230 in Congress which is "a federal law that provides liability protection for online service providers when they transmit or take down user-generated content."

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Check out both sides of whether or not mainstream media outlets have political biases

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Check out both sides of whether or not mainstream media outlets have political biases

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When you need to login, use "bendlapine" as the username & "central" as the password.