The Pew Research Center has released new data on American teens’ use of social media and artificial intelligence chatbots, revealing notable differences between how boys and girls spend their time online.
According to a survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, YouTube is the most used social media platform, with 94 percent of boys and 89 percent of girls using the website. Girls are more likely than boys to use TikTok (70 percent versus 65 percent), Instagram (67 percent versus 59 percent), Snapchat (61 percent versus 49 percent), and Facebook (34 percent versus 28 percent). Compared to their male peers, girls are less likely to use Reddit or X (formerly known as Twitter).
Four in ten teen girls say they are constantly on the internet everyday, compared to 37 percent of boys. About one-quarter of American teen girls say they are on TikTok almost constantly throughout their day, compared to 17 percent of boys. The reverse pattern was found for YouTube; about one-fifth of boys use the website constantly throughout their day, compared to 13 percent of girls.
There are no significant differences in boys and girls’ use of AI chatbots, with 63 percent of boys and 64 percent of girls reporting prior use of the technology. ChatGPT, which is used by 59 percent of all teens, is the most widely used chatbot.