New research suggests that nearly half of American teenagers say they use the internet “almost constantly.”
The United States-based Pew Research Center released a study this month.
It found that the share of teens who say they are online almost all the time rose from 24 percent in 2015 to 46 percent.
The results were based on a Pew public opinion study carried out from April 14 to May 4.
The study involved 1,316 teens aged 13 to 17 years old.
The research found that about 95 percent of American teens have smartphones.
The study also asked teens about their social media behavior.
It found that the number of teens using Facebook has dropped to 32 percent, down from 71 percent in 2015.
The research shows that teens have moved away from Facebook to spend time on the video sharing services YouTube and TikTok.
About 95 percent of teens said they use Google-owned YouTube, while 67 percent said they use TikTok.
About 62 percent of the teens said they use Instagram, which is owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta.
About 59 percent said they use Snapchat.
Less than one fourth of teens said they use Twitter.
"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," the study said.
The research found that teen boys are more likely than teen girls to use YouTube, or the services Twitch and Reddit.
Teen girls were more interested in using TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.
In addition, higher shares of Black and Hispanic teens reported using TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp compared to white teens.
About 54 percent of teens questioned said it would be “somewhat hard” to give up social media, while 46 percent said it would be “somewhat easy.”
About 25 percent of teen boys said giving up social media would be “very easy.”
But just 15 percent of teen girls said the same.
Experts in online technology behavior have accused large technology companies of targeting teens with methods to get them to spend more time on their social media services.
One method uses algorithms to repeatedly suggest content to keep users on the services for longer periods of time.
Child rights groups and U.S. Congress members have warned that heavy use of social media services can harm the mental health of young users.
They have called on large technology companies to take steps to reduce such harm.
Several services – including Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok – have introduced features that they say are designed to make their services safer and more fitting for young users.
The tools do offer some help, such as blocking unknown individuals from messaging children.
But experts say the measures also come with weaknesses.
For example, teens can get around limits if they lie about their age.
The services also largely depend on parents to enforce rules.
And the measures do little or nothing to limit inappropriate and harmful material suggested by algorithms.
“These platforms know that their algorithms can sometimes be amplifying harmful content, and they’re not taking steps to stop that,” said Irene Ly.
She is a privacy advisor at the nonprofit group Common Sense Media based in San Francisco, California.
Ly said the more teens keep scrolling, the more involved they get in the services.
She added that the longer teens spend on the services, the more profitable the technology companies become.
“I don’t think they have too much incentive to be changing that” Ly said.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
新的研究表明，近一半的美国青少年表示他们“几乎经常”使用互联网。
美国皮尤研究中心本月发布了一项研究。
研究发现，表示自己几乎一直上网的青少年的比例从2015年的24%上升到46%。
该研究结果是基于皮尤研究中心于4月14日至5月4日进行的一项民意调查得出的。
这项研究涉及1316名13至17岁的青少年。
研究发现，大约95%的美国青少年拥有智能手机。
这项研究还询问了青少年有关社交媒体行为的问题。
研究发现，使用脸书的青少年人数从2015年的71%下降到32%。
研究表明，青少年已经不再使用脸书，而是把时间花在视频分享软件YouTube和TikTok上。
约95%的青少年表示他们使用谷歌旗下的YouTube，67%的青少年表示他们使用TikTok。
约62%的青少年表示，他们使用脸书母公司Meta旗下的照片墙。
约59%的青少年表示他们使用Snapchat（色拉布）。
不到四分之一的青少年表示他们使用推特。
研究称：“四分之一使用Snapchat（色拉布）或TikTok的青少年表示，他们几乎经常使用这些应用软件，五分之一的YouTube青少年用户也是如此。”
研究发现，在青少年人群中，男孩比女孩更有可能使用YouTube或Twitch和Reddit。
青少年女孩对使用TikTok、Instagram（照片墙）和Snapchat（色拉布）更感兴趣。
此外，与白人青少年相比，黑人和拉美裔青少年使用TikTok、推特和WhatsApp的比例更高。
约54%的受访青少年表示，放弃社交媒体“有点难”，而46%的受访青少年表示，放弃社交媒体“有点容易”。
约25%的青少年男孩表示，放弃社交媒体“非常容易”。
但只有15%的青少年女孩表示放弃社交媒体“非常容易”。
研究网络科技行为的专家指责大型科技公司以青少年为目标，利用各种方法让他们在社交媒体上花费更多时间。
一种方法是使用算法反复推荐内容，让用户花费更长的时间一直使用这些服务。
儿童权利组织和美国国会议员警告称，过度使用社交媒体服务可能会危害年轻用户的心理健康。
他们要求大型科技公司采取措施减少这种危害。
包括Instagram（照片墙）、Snapchat（色拉布）和TikTok在内的几家服务公司推出了一些功能，他们表示这些功能旨在让他们的服务更安全，更适合年轻用户。
这些工具确实提供了一些帮助，比如阻止未知的人给孩子们发送消息。
但专家表示，这些措施也存在弱点。
例如，如果青少年谎报年龄，他们就可以绕过限制。
这些服务在很大程度上也依赖于家长来执行规则。
而且，这些措施在限制算法推荐的不适当和有害的内容方面几乎没有甚至根本没有起作用。
艾琳·利说：“这些平台知道，他们的算法有时会推广有害内容，但他们没有采取措施阻止这种情况”。
她是总部设在加利福尼亚州旧金山的非营利组织Common Sense Media的隐私顾问。
利说，青少年滚动屏幕的次数越多，他们使用这些服务的频率就越高。
她还说，青少年在这些服务上花费的时间越长，科技公司的利润就越高。
利说：“我认为他们没有太多的动力去改变这一点”。
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。