Summary Bullets:

• A new study from the non-profit research organization Common Sense Media reveals how youths between the ages of 11 and 17 use their mobile devices.

• The research finds social media and other apps flooding the teens phones with notifications in an effort to keep them engaged.

It is unsurprising that devices are omnipresent for youths who have never experienced a time before the advent of cellular technology. But new research from Common Sense Media, involving both an online survey and mobile device tracking, offers some surprising insights into how, and how much, pre-teens and teenagers are using their phones.

The study finds the duration of daily cell phone use varied from a few minutes to over 16 hours. Research has demonstrated that however brief cell usage had been, smart phones were seldom out of reach. The surveyed check their phones a median of 51 times a day, with a maximum of 498 times. Younger children (11 and 12) check their phones less frequently than their older counterparts.

Teens and younger children are using their phones to access mature content. Of the 85 participants younger than 13, 68% percent have social media applications installed. All of them have had a least one application rated “teen” or older. TikTok is the most popular (47%) followed by SnapChat (31%) and Discord (25%). Forty-five percent of the total sample used with mature or adult-only ratings include Pornhub, fantasy sports/betting apps, and violent games.

All teenage smart phone use isn’t active scrolling. Interviews with smaller focus groups have found teenagers often use phones for background music or passive viewing while they do homework or at night as white noise while they sleep.

The survey didn’t delve into privacy issues or security concerns. But it did provide important data that can offer a baseline view into how smartphones are shaping the first generation to grow up with them. With 43% of children between 8 and 12 and as many as 95% of teens between 13 and 18 being smartphone users, this analysis will need to be ongoing.

In addition to insight regarding how and how much youths interact with their cell phones, the study has also provided perspective into interactions with social media platforms. Specifically, social media platforms and other apps have flooded this group with notifications, a median of 237 daily. Nearly a quarter of these notifications have arrived during school hours, and 5% have been delivered on school nights. Snapchat and Discord have sent teens the most notifications on an average day. If there is good news to be found, Common Sense reports that in discussions with smaller focus groups, the teenagers have been aware of the ways social media platforms and applications manipulate them to stay engaged for longer periods of time. And subsequently, they are learning how to better manage the notifications.

While the research offers new data points about usage volume and applications children and teens are interacting with, it raises more questions than it answers. How does this use, and in many cases misuse, impact communications skills? What, if any, effect does the use of smartphones and social media platforms have on brain development? And in broader terms, is a society dominated by smartphones and social media platforms losing the ability to form healthy interpersonal relationships?