Instant Alert: Nearly 50% of teens in the US say they're now online 'almost constantly,' according to new research

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Nearly 50% of teens in the US say they're now online 'almost constantly,' according to new research

by Avery Hartmans on May 31, 2018, 4:03 PM

A new study from Pew Research Center found that one out of two teens reports being online "almost constantly."
The study found that another 44% say they go online multiple times each day.
The time teens spend online has gone up significantly since Pew's 2014-2015 study. Back then, only 24% of teens reported being online constantly.

Nearly half of US teens report being online on a near constant basis, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

The report, titled "Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018," surveyed teens and their parents about their internet and social media usage.

The survey found that teens are spending more time online than ever before. In fact, 45% of the teens surveyed said they use the internet "almost constantly." Another 44% said they go online several times every day.

But it wasn't an even split along gender lines. Pew found that half of teenage girls fall into the group of constant internet users, while 39% of teenage boys said they fell into that group. Hispanic teens also reported higher levels of internet usage, with 54% saying they use the internet on a near-constant basis.

Blame it on the phone

The time teens spend online has gone up significantly since Pew's 2014-2015 study. Back then, only 24% of teens reported being online constantly, which means teen internet usage has nearly doubled in the last 3-4 years. Pew estimates that the drastic increase is related to the increased access to smartphones.

Pew's findings come at a time when the tech world has started taking measures to scale back so-called "smartphone addiction."

During May's Google I/O event — the search giant's annual developer conference — Google unveiled a "Digital Wellbeing" initiative that it claims is aimed at curbing the phenomenon. The initiative is aimed at helping users track how much time they're spending online, and offers tools to help people avoid distractions and look at their phones less frequently.

According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is working on a similar project called "Digital Health." The feature will include tools to help people monitor how much time they're spending on their device, and how frequently they're using certain apps.