Teenage girls struggle more than boys to give up social media

Teen girls find it more difficult to quit social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube than teen boys, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center in the US.

When asked about the idea of giving up social media, 54 per cent of teens say it would be at least somewhat hard to give it up, while 46 per cent 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 per cent vs 49 per cent)," the survey findings showed.

Conversely, a quarter of teen boys say giving up social media would be very easy, while 15 per cent 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 say giving up social media would be at least somewhat difficult to do. A smaller share of 13- to 14-year-olds think this would be difficult," the survey revealed.

When reflecting on the amount of time they spend on social media generally, a majority of US teens (55 per cent) say they spend about the right amount of time on these apps and sites, while about a third of teens (36 per cent) say they spend too much time on social media.

Beyond just online platforms, the vast majority of teens have access to digital devices, such as smartphones (95 per cent), desktop or laptop computers (90 per cent), and gaming consoles (80 per cent).

The study shows there has been an uptick in daily teen internet users, from 92 per cent in 2014-15 to 97 per cent today.

In addition, the share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has roughly doubled since 2014-15.

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 said. (AA/IANS)