Recently, Pew Research Center released findings from a Fall of 2023 study with important stats that can help inform our parenting and spark essential conversations with our youth.
The survey gathered responses from 1,435 teenagers aged 13 to 17 and their parents. Today, I’ll concentrate solely on the teenagers’ responses, but in a future blog, I’ll highlight the parents’ responses.
I’ve structured today’s blog to state the findings first, and then I write about the solutions after. Be sure to read through this to get the most out of it.
Study finding #1:
The study found that 69% of teens feel their smartphones help them with their hobbies and interests.
I wanted to start with this finding since it is something positive about tech. Communication science tells us that starting off on a positive note lessens defensiveness by teens.
Tech, including our phones, has three main functions: tool, treat, and talk. Using phones as a tool to expand on interests and learn new hobbies — how fantastic! The other day, I learned from one of the women on our Screenagers team that her son learned to crochet from online videos.
What about the 31% of teens who didn’t say their phone helped them with hobbies and interests? In the “Solutions Section,” found below all the findings, I offer a solution.
Study finding #2:
The study found that 7 out of 10 teens report feeling peaceful and/ or happy when they don’t have a phone with them. Their answers suggest that they welcome breaks from their phones and other devices.
I am not surprised by this statistic. Many young people have told me this over the years.
This is a wonderful reminder to all of us parents that the work we do to ensure time off devices is positively experienced by teens.
And what about the 3/10 who do not report feeling peaceful at times when they don’t have their phone? Many people experience different levels of anxiety without phones, such as FOMO, not being reachable, not having all the tools in the phone, and so forth. A solution is offered in the “Solutions section” below all the findings.
Study finding #3:
On average, almost 40% of teens feel they are on their phones too much. This is a great figure to discuss within our homes. That is almost half of kids–millions of teens. Given this fact, how can we help them? And if your teen says, well, that is not me, “I feel I am on my phone the perfect amount.” A solution is offered in the “Solutions Section” found below all these findings.
Study finding #4:
In the survey, young teen girls ages 13 and 14 were more likely to say that the harm from smartphones outweighs the benefit than older teen girls or teen boys in general.
This is an important finding to discuss. Few other studies have reported on females’ vs. males’ opinions about the benefits vs risks of social media.
This data gives parents extra confidence in lovingly using their authority, along with collaborative rule setting, to ensure screen time breaks are happening.
Solution suggestions for study findings 1 through 4
Solution for #1
(31% of teens who didn’t say that their phone helped them with hobbies and interests)
This will be a great discussion starter. Does your child (or students) use their phone (or other device if they don’t own a phone) to expand their hobbies and interests?
Some people might initially disagree, but I’m convinced that when you deeply discuss their interests, it’s evident that their online activities and the content they encounter play a significant role in nurturing these interests.
This is a good time to talk about the tool aspect of tech — one such tool is being a teacher. Is there any hobby they would like to try (maybe darts, disc golf, embroidery, or cooking a new recipe)? Talk about how tech that could help with that.
Solution for #2
(Teens not feeling peaceful / or happy without their phone)
- Help a teen feel less anxious not having a phone for an outing together. It can be in small steps, such as saying you will bring their phone and keep it with you. And if they really need it to check something, you will hand it over.
- You can then progress to a tricker situation — having them keep it at home
- Make sure that what you are doing that day is something fun — ideally, something they choose to do, if possible.
- Try not to ask them, “ See, don’t you feel happy off your phone?” That will likely cause reactance. Instead, just the sheer fun of the day will be enough. You can comment on how much you enjoyed having everyone be so present.
Solution for #3
(Many teens do not think they are on their phones too much)
This is a great time for some calm discourse to understand why they are saying what they are.
It could be that you have family limits, and indeed, they are not overly on their phones. If this is not the case, and you think they are on the way too much, then this is a time to review some past TTTs on resetting. This one is a good starting point: Spring Reset: 4 Steps to Setting New Screen Limits
Solution for #4
(13 and 14-year-old girls more likely to report harms outweigh benefits)
Talk with your child/family/students about why they think that younger teen girls were more likely to report feeling harms outweigh benefits.
Questions to get the conversation started with your family or group:
- What do you think about all these findings?
- If you were coming up with a survey of teens, what questions would you want to know?
- What other solutions can you think of related to the findings above?
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