Aug. 12 News — Internet use among the Z generation (post-95s) is on the rise, but their use of Facebook is rapidly declining. A Pew Research Center study of U.S. teens, technology and social media found that only 32 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use Facebook, compared with 71 percent in the 2014-2015 survey, beating out platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
Jules Terpak is a Generation Z content creator who covers digital culture. She says teens no longer find Facebook valuable. “There are now more than 5 powerful social media platforms to scroll through endlessly, and our brains can’t distinguish or prioritize our relationships with all of them,” Terpak said in an email, “To save time and think sensibly, people must weed out the platforms that start to lack value-added incentives.”
While teens are fed up with Facebook, they haven’t abandoned Instagram, another social platform owned by Meta. The survey found that 62 percent of teens use Instagram, up from 52 percent in the 2014-2015 survey. However, TikTok, which wasn’t even released at the time of the last study, is now used by 67 percent of U.S. teens, up from Instagram and Snapchat (59 percent).
Notably, 95% of teens say they use YouTube, which may make the Google video platform seem like a dominant social platform. However, many users interact with the platform simply to watch videos, rather than as a place to connect with others online. This includes, for example, teens who use YouTube to listen to music.
In another frequency survey, TikTok continues to receive more attention among teens than any platform other than YouTube. 19 percent of teens said they use YouTube “almost always.” TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat received 16 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively. TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat receive “almost constant attention” from 16 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent of teens, respectively. Only 2% use Facebook in this way.
