A Pew Research Center survey released this month examined teen usage of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. The survey, conducted online between September 25 to October 9 in 2025, asked approximately 1500 U.S. teenagers, ages 13 to 17, about their online habits.
Pew reported the following results:
- Internet. Nearly all U.S. teens (97%) say they use the internet daily, including 4 in 10 who say they are almost constantly online.
- Social Media. Approximately 1 in 5 teens say they are on TikTok and YouTube almost constantly. The percentage of teens that use:
- YouTube is 92%
- TikTok is 68%
- Instagram is 63%
- Snapchat is 55%
- Facebook is 31%
- WhatsApp is 24%
- Reddit is 17%
- X is 16%
- AI Chatbots. AI has become more common in daily life, from education to entertainment. 64% of teens say they use AI chatbots, including about 3 in 10 who use it daily. 16% of teens use AI chatbots several times a day. The percentage of teens that use:
- ChatGPT is 59%
- Gemini is 23%
- Meta AI is 20%
Parents can use these findings as a way to open conversations with their teens about their personal online activities and their opinions on how much online usage seems appropriate in today’s world. It’s important to use questions to learn more about your teen and allow them to consider their own usage. Parents should not judge or condemn their child’s habits, but express curiosity about how and where their online usage is helping them versus hurting them. These new technologies may be worrisome, but if your child shares something with you, try to avoid immediate negative reactions as this could discourage them from talking to you about it in the future.
These findings are also a great way to revisit important safety information about being online and how to balance screen time with your teen. If you need additional information about these topics, please read some of our previous blogs: