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.
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.
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