2021
The Common
Sense Census:
Media Use by Tweens and Teens
The Common Sense Census:
Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2021
COMMON SENSE IS GRATEFUL FOR THE GENEROUS SUPPORT AND
UNDERWRITING THAT FUNDED THIS RESEARCH REPORT:
Carnegie Corporation of New York Craig Newmark Philanthropies
A Letter from Our Founder
This month we hit a milestone that many of us never believed possible: two years
of the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 2020, we as a community have seen
cautious highs followed by tremendous lows as the country has moved from
relaxed guidelines to new variants. Today, we are starting to see a fuller picture of
the complex impact the last two years have had on everything from the economy
and health care to education and mental health.
For parents, caregivers, educators, and even policymakers across the country, kids’
media use has been among some of the issues at the center of this conversation.
As school went remote, as activities were canceled, as new variants forced kids
and families back indoors, it was clear to anyone who spent time with kids that
screens were taking up more and more time in their days. Our Common Sense
Census program has tracked trends in media use among tweens and teens since
2015. This year’s report is our first opportunity to see kids’ media use during the
pandemic and compare the numbers to previous years.
What we found is noteworthy, but probably not surprising: Media use has grown
faster since the start of the pandemic—over a two-year period—than it had over
the previous four years. But this report goes a few steps further by exploring the
content behind those numbers: how kids are spending that time, and how their
engagement with media makes them feel. And that is where the findings become
a lot more nuanced. For example, 84% of teens use social media, but only 34% of
them say they enjoy social media “a lot.” And social media use is going up among
tweens, a group who are technically not supposed to be using social media in the
first place.
What does all this media use—and no real certainty if these trends will continue—
mean for caregivers? The future of media will certainly go beyond online videos
and the current social platforms. Virtual reality and the metaverse have the poten-
tial to make media more immersive and ubiquitous than it is today. Understanding
how kids are using media will prove vital in helping to establish boundaries that
accurately reflect the outsize role of media in kids' lives during the pandemic
and beyond.
But this report should also be a wake-up call for policymakers, who are seeing
unprecedented bipartisan support for action on making technology work better
for all. We need deeper research and understanding of how media will continue
to impact our kids’ mental, physical, and emotional development. And if kids are
spending this much time with media, we need to ensure that all digital spaces are
safe and healthy for kids to explore.
The last two years have been hard for all of us, but especially so for our kids. As
parents, caregivers, educators, and policymakers, we now have an opportunity
and a responsibility to make the years to come better, safer, and healthier for
kids everywhere.
Founder and CEO
James P. Steyer
Suggested citation: Rideout, V., Peebles, A., Mann, S., & Robb, M. B. (2022). Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2021.
San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.
Credits
Authors: Victoria Rideout, M.A., VJR Consulting
Alanna Peebles, Ph.D., San Diego State University
Supreet Mann, Ph.D., Common Sense
Michael B. Robb, Ph.D., Common Sense
Copy editor: Jennifer Robb
Designers: Allison Rudd and Dana K. Herrick
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Key Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Infographic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Screen Media Use: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Media Devices: Access in the Home and Personal Ownership . . . . . . . . . . 21
Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Online Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Top Video and Social Media Sites Among Teens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Podcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Virtual Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Content Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Appendix: Survey Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 1© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Over the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic forced
many young people to spend much more time at home, away
from friends and activities, than they did in pre-pandemic
times. One question many adults have had is: How has this
affected the amount of time they spend with screens? This
report presents the results of a nationally representative,
probability-based tracking survey of U.S. tweens and teens,
designed to answer that question.
In the first year of the pandemic, remote learning required
many students to spend hours a day taking classes online. But
many also turned to screen media to stay in touch with friends
and family, to pursue hobbies and creative interests, and to
keep themselves entertained. The survey reported here con-
cerns the amount of time young people spent using media for
non-school-related activities, that is, outside of the time spent
using digital devices for classes or homework.
We were most interested to see whether there were any
lasting differences in young people’s use of screen media as
society began to open up again in the fall of 2021. Therefore,
this report compares the frequency, enjoyment, and time
spent engaging in various types of media activities among 8-
to 18-year-olds in 2019, just prior to the virus arriving in the
United States, and fall 2021, as most schools around the
country opened back up for in-person learning.
We focus on three primary measures of young people’s
engagement with media:
• How much they enjoy various media activities, such as
watching television, playing video games, or using social
media
• How often they engage in each of these activities—daily,
weekly, monthly, or less often
• How much time they spend engaging with each type of
media activity per day, on average
The amount of time young people spend engaging in a media
activity is certainly not the only important measure when it
comes to assessing the role of media in their lives. The content
of the media that young people engage with, how they use it,
and how they respond to media are clearly critically important
as well. Our previous reports closely examined:
• The types of content children watched on YouTube
(Radesky, 2020)
• How tweens and teens used digital media to help them
stay connected with friends and family during the coro-
navirus pandemic as well as the types of topics they
researched online for informal learning, and the role of
technology in helping young people create and share
artistic content (Rideout & Robb, 2021)
• How they used social media to promote their mental
well-being (Rideout et al., 2021)
However, the amount of time young people spend engaging
with screen media is also important. Therefore, documenting
time spent with media is one of the key elements of this report,
including tracking changes over time. In addition, the survey
also tracks young people’s access to various types of media
devices in the home (e.g., computer, video game player), and
their personal ownership of digital technology (such as having
their own smartphone or computer).
The 2021 wave of the survey also includes new detail about
social media, which we hope will be useful in light of the recent
release of Facebook’s internal research on the effects of
Instagram on young users (Wells et al., 2021). We document
which specific sites tweens and teens use, which ones they use
the most, and which ones they wouldn’t want to give up if they
could keep only one.
Introduction
2 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The types of media activities included in the surveys are:
• Watching television, whether through broadcast, cable,
or a subscription service
• Watching online videos, such as on YouTube
• Using social media
• Playing video or computer games
• Playing mobile video games, such as on a smartphone
or tablet
• Reading, including ebooks, reading online, and
reading print
• Using digital devices to create content, such as art,
music, or creative writing
• Listening to podcasts
• Using virtual reality
All data in the report is presented separately for tweens (8- to
12-year-olds) and teens (13- to 18-year-olds), and the 2021
results are examined for variations by gender, race/ethnicity,
and family income. The 2019 and 2021 waves of the survey
used separate cross-sectional samples of respondents, with
the text and format of each question staying as consistent as
possible (allowing for some modest changes to reflect the
changing media environment).
As far as we know, this is the only nationally representative
survey tracking media use patterns among a truly random
sample of 8- to 18-year-olds in the United States. Our goal is
to provide data on the large trends and patterns of media
usage among young people to inform the work of content
creators, policymakers, educators, health care providers,
parents, caregivers, and media effects researchers.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 3© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
1. Media use in tweens and teens
has grown faster since the start of the
pandemic than it has over the four
years prior to the pandemic.
From 2015 to 2019, media use for tweens grew only 3%, and
for teens, 11%. But from 2019 to 2021 alone, media use grew
by 17% for tweens and teens. On average, 8- to 12-year-olds
use about five and a half hours of screen media per day (5:33),
while 13- to 18-year-olds use about eight and a half hours of
screen media (8:39) (Figure A). Between 2019 and 2021, the
total amount of screen media used each day went from 4:44 to
5:33 among tweens, and from 7:22 to 8:39 among teens.
1
This
is a much faster increase in just two years than was seen in the
previous four years. From 2015 to 2019, total screen use
among tweens increased by an average of just eight minutes a
day, compared to 49 minutes in the past two years. Among
teens, screen time ticked up 42 minutes a day from 2015 to
2019 (compared to 1:17 minutes in the past two years)
(Rideout & Robb, 2019). Since 2019, the biggest increases
were in time spent watching online videos (up 23 minutes a day
among teens), using social media (up 17 minutes a day among
teens and eight minutes a day among tweens), and browsing
websites (up 14 minutes a day among teens and 10 minutes a
day among tweens) (Tables A and B, pages9–10).
Key Findings
FIGURE A. Total entertainment screen use among tweens
and teens, per day, 2015 to 2021
Teens
(13- to 18-year-olds)
Tweens
(8- to 12-year-olds)
4:36
4:44
6:40
5:33
8:39
7:22
◼
2015
◼
2019
◼
2021
Note: Entertainment screen use includes time spent watching television and online
videos, playing video games, using social media, browsing websites, creating
content, e-reading, and other digital activities. In 2021, time spent reading ebooks
was included in the total for the first time (accounting for six minutes among tweens
and eight among teens), and time spent watching movies in movie theaters and
using an iPod Touch were not included (these had accounted for seven minutes
among tweens and six minutes among teens in 2019).
Between 2019 and 2021, the total amount
of screen media used each day went from
4:44 to 5:33 among tweens, and from 7:22
to 8:39 among teens. This is a much faster
increase in just two years than was seen in
the previous four years.
1. These gures represent the total amount of screen content young people consume or engage with, adding together the amount of time they spend
watching television and online videos, playing video games, using social media, and other screen-based activities. They do not mean that young
people devote ve and half or eight and a half hours each day exclusively to screen media, since they could be engaging in other activities at the
same time (such as eating or riding a bus), or using more than one screen at a time (such as scrolling social media while watching television).
4 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
2. If forced to choose, teens say
YouTube is the site that they wouldn’t
want to live without (Figure B). In fact,
watching online videos is the favorite
media activity among 8- to 18-year-olds,
appealing to both tweens and teens,
boys and girls, and across racial/ethnic
groups and income levels.
More than six in 10 tweens and teens watch online videos
every day, and say they enjoy watching “a lot” (Figure C). Since
2019, the percent of young people who say they watch online
videos “every day” is up by 8 percentage points among both
tweens and teens (to 64% among tweens and 77% among
teens) (Table C, page 11). Sixty-one percent of tweens and
62% of teens enjoy watching online videos “a lot,” far more
than the percent who enjoy any other activity that much (next
most popular among tweens is television, which 48% enjoy “a
lot,” and among teens is video games, which 39% enjoy “a lot”)
(Table D, page 11). Watching online videos is the activity
enjoyed the most among boys and girls as well as Whites,
Blacks, Hispanic/Latinos, and young people from lower-,
middle-, and higher-income families (Table 5, page 20). Tweens
spend an average of 57 minutes a day watching online videos,
and teens spend 1:22 (up 23 minutes a day since 2019 among
teens) (Tables A and B, pages9–10). If forced to choose a single
site or platform they wouldn’t want to live without, 32% of
teens would choose YouTube, followed by 20% choosing
Snapchat, and 13% choosing TikTok (among the 79% of 13- to
18-year-olds who are regular users of social media and online
videos) (Figure B).
FIGURE B. Site teens wouldn’t want to live without, 2021
Among the 79% of 13- to 18-year-olds who are regular users
of social media and online videos (use at least once a week),
percent who choose each site as the one they wouldn’t want
to live without
Tumblr
Reddit
Pinterest
Twitter
Facebook
Discord
Instagram
TikTok
Snapchat
YouTube
32%
20%
13%
13%
6%
6%
3%
2%
2%
1%
FIGURE C. Top entertainment screen media activities among tweens and teens, 2021
Video games
Television
Online videos
Mobile games
Online videos
Television
65%
64%
43%
Tweens who enjoy each activity “a lot”
Tweens who do each activity “every day”
61%
48%
47%
Social media
Video games
Online videos
Television
Social media
Online videos
77%
62%
49%
Teens who enjoy each activity “a lot”
Teens who do each activity “every day”
62%
39%
34%
Notes: Video games refers to games played on a console, computer, or portable game player. Mobile games refers to games played on a smartphone or tablet.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 5© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
3. Use of social media is growing
among 8- to 12-year-olds.
Thirty-eight percent of tweens have used social media (up from
31% in 2019), and nearly one in five (18%) now say they use
social media “every day” (up 5 percentage points since 2019)
(Table 16, page 33).
The time spent using social media is also up eight minutes a day
among this age group (from 10 to 18 minutes a day, on average)
(Table A, page 9). The top five social media sites tweens have
ever used are Snapchat (13%), Instagram (10%), Facebook
(8%), Discord (5%), and Pinterest (4%) (Figure D).
2
4. Teens (13- to 18-year-olds) now
spend nearly an hour and a half a day
using social media but have conflicted
feelings about the medium.
On average, teens spend 1:27 a day using social media, up from
1:10 in 2019 (Table B, page 10). But even though teens devote
a lot of time to social media, they don’t enjoy it as much as they
do other types of media. Only a third (34%) of teens say they
enjoy using social media “a lot,” compared with 62% who say
they enjoy watching online videos that much (Table D,
page11). Overall, 84% teens say they’ve used social media.
The top five social media sites teens have ever used are
Instagram (53%), Snapchat (49%), Facebook (30%), Discord
(17%), and Twitter (16%) (Figure E).
2. Social media was dened in the survey as being sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or Facebook; platforms such as YouTube, TikTok,
and Twitch were considered online video sites.
FIGURE D. Top social media sites among tweens, 2021
Percent of all 8- to 12-year-olds who have ever used …
Any social media
Pinterest
Discord
Facebook
Instagram
Snapchat
13%
10%
8%
5%
4%
38%
FIGURE E. Top social media sites among teens, 2021
Percent of all 13- to 18-year-olds who have ever used …
Any social media
Twitter
Discord
Facebook
Snapchat
Instagram
53%
49%
30%
17%
16%
84%
6 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
5. Among both tweens and teens,
there are substantial variations in
the average amount of screen media
engaged with each day, by gender,
race/ethnicity, and household income.
Boys use more screen media than girls (1:16 minutes a day
more, on average, among tweens, and 1:14 more among teens)
(Figures F and G). Black and Hispanic/Latino children use more
screen media than their White peers (for example, a differ-
ence of about two hours (1:57) a day between Black and White
tweens and two and a half hours (2:31) a day between
Hispanic/Latino and White tweens). And finally, tweens and
teens from lower-income families engage with substantially
more screen media than their peers from higher-income
households (a difference of 3:11 a day among tweens and 2:03
among teens).
Boys use more screen media than girls,
Black and Hispanic/Latino kids use more
than White kids do, and children from
lower-income households use more than
those in higher-income homes.
FIGURE F. Average daily entertainment screen use among
8- to 12-year-olds, by demographics, 2021
Lower
Middle
Higher
Hispanic/Latino
Black
White
Boys
Girls
4:29
a
6:26
b
7:00
b
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Family income
4:55
a
6:11
b
4:21
a
5:47
b
7:32
c
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is
$100,000 or more. Items with different superscripts (a, b, c) differ significantly
(p < .05).
FIGURE G. Average daily entertainment screen use among
13- to 18-year-olds, by demographics, 2021
Lower
Middle
Higher
Hispanic/Latino
Black
White
Boys
Girls
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Family income
7:49
a
9:50
b
10:02
b
8:02
a
9:16
b
7:16
a
9:34
b
9:19
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is
$100,000 or more. Items with different superscripts (a, b) differ significantly
(p < .05).
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 7© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
6. Though children consumed more
media overall after the pandemic than
they had before, one form of media did
not increase in usage: reading.
About a third of tweens (34%) and one in five teens (21%) say
they spend some time reading for their own pleasure every
day (Figure H), about the same as in 2019 (35% and 22%,
respectively) (Table 18, page 35). On average, tweens and teens
spend 34 minutes a day reading, including books, magazines,
ebooks, and online articles (not a statistically significant
difference from 2019, when the average was 29 minutes a day).
7. Nearly half (46%) of all 13- to
18-year-olds have listened to podcasts,
and one in five say they do so at least
once a week.
Twenty-two percent of teens say they enjoy listening to
podcasts “a lot” or “somewhat” (Figure I). It is interesting to
note that teens engage with a wide variety of types of media,
including media based primarily on the spoken word.
FIGURE H. Reading frequency among teens, 2021
Percent of 13- to 18-year-olds who read for pleasure …
◼
Every day
◼
At least once a week
◼
At least once a month
◼
Less than once a month
◼
Never
20%
14%
27%
18%
21%
FIGURE I. Teens and podcasts, 2021
Percent of 13- to 18-year-olds who …
Listen to podcasts at least once a week
Enjoy podcasts somewhat/a lot
Have ever listened to podcasts
46%
22%
20%
8 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
FIGURE J. Access to home computers, by race/ethnicity and
by income, 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds with a laptop or desktop
computer in the home
Higher
Middle
Lower
White
Hispanic/Latino
Black
81%
a
83%
a
91%
b
Family income
Race/ethnicity
67%
a
89%
b
94%
c
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is
$100,000 or more. Items with different superscripts (a, b, c) differ significantly
(p < .05).
8. Large numbers of Black, Hispanic/
Latino, and children in lower-income
households still do not have access to a
computer at home, one of the most
basic building blocks of digital equity.
While 94% of children in higher-income households and 91%
of White children have at least one computer in the home,
only 67% of those in lower-income households and 81% and
83% of Black and Hispanic/Latino children, respectively, do
(Figure J). It is hard to imagine the possibility of educational
equity with such a wide disparity in digital access.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 9© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE A. Entertainment screen media use among 8- to 12-year-olds, 2019 vs. 2021
Percent who did each activity and average time spent per day
Among 8- to 12-year-olds …
Percent who used
on target day Average time among users Average time among all
2019 2021 2019 2021 2019 2021
Television/Videos 84% 87% 3:00 3:04 2:30 2:40
• Television on TV set 57% 62% 1:52 1:55 1:04 1:11
• Television on other devices 18%
a
28%
b
1:42 1:32 :19 :25
• Online videos 54% 58% 1:44 1:39 :56 :57
• DVDs 7% 5% 1:48 # :08 :06
• Movies (in theater) 3% NA # NA :04 NA
Gaming 64%
a
59%
b
2:18 2:27 1:28 1:27
• Console/portable video games 30% 30% 2:24 2:13 :44 :40
• Computer games 11% 15% 1:36 1:27 :11 :13
• Mobile video games 45%
a
37%
b
1:17
a
1:31
b
:34 :33
Social media 13%
a
22%
b
1:17 1:20 :10
a
:18
b
Other
• Browsing websites 17%
a
30%
b
1:23 1:19 :14
a
:24
b
• Video-chatting 10%
a
18%
b
:55 1:07 :05
a
:12
b
• E-reading
†
8% 10% 1:19 1:26 :07 :09
• Making art/music 10% 11% 1:14 1:05 :07 :07
• Writing
‡
1%
a
2%
b
# #
*
a
:01
b
• Anything else 11%
a
19%
b
1:01 1:18 :07
a
:15
b
Total screen media
§
92% 95% 5:07
a
5:50
b
4:44
a
5:33
b
# Indicates sample size of users is too small for reliable results (n < 50).
* Indicates more than zero, but less than half a minute.
†
In 2019, the e-reading total did not include time spent reading ebooks; in 2021 it does.
‡
On a digital device (computer, tablet, or smartphone).
§
In 2019, screen media included time spent using iPod Touches, which accounted for one minute of watching online videos and two minutes of playing mobile games among
tweens, but otherwise accounted for less than half a minute in any other activity. In 2021, iPod Touches were dropped from the survey.
Notes: All times are rounded to the nearest minute. Totals are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may
differ slightly from the sum of rounded times. Items with different superscripts (a, b) differ significantly (p < .05). Items with no superscript do not differ significantly.
Significance should be read across rows over time and within each category (i.e., percent who used; average time among users; average time among all). NA indicates this
item was not asked in 2021.
10 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE B. Entertainment screen media use among 13- to 18-year-olds, 2019 vs. 2021
Percent who did each activity and average time spent per day
Among 13- to 18-year-olds …
Percent who used
on target day Average time among users Average time among all
2019 2021 2019 2021 2019 2021
Television/Videos 86%
a
92%
b
3:21 3:34 2:53
a
3:16
b
• Television on TV set 50% 52% 2:14 2:16 1:07 1:10
• Television on other devices 33% 32% 1:54 2:03 :38 :39
• Online videos 61%
a
77%
b
1:37 1:46 :59
a
1:22
b
• DVDs 4% 4% # # :04 :05
• Movies (in theater) 3% NA # NA :04 NA
Gaming 56% 59% 2:52 3:01 1:36 1:46
• Console/portable video games 30%
a
35%
b
2:43 2:37 :49 :55
• Computer games 13%
a
18%
b
2:35 2:29 :19 :26
• Mobile video games 35% 33% 1:19 1:16 :27 :25
Social media 61%
a
67%
b
1:56 2:10 1:10
a
1:27
b
Other
• Browsing websites 47%
a
60%
b
1:18 1:25 :37
a
:51
b
• Video-chatting 20%
a
26%
b
1:33 1:18 :19 :20
• E-reading
†
16% 18% 1:33 1:20 :15 :15
• Making art/music 10% 13% 1:18 1:29 :08 :12
• Writing
‡
5% 4% # # :04 :03
• Anything else 30% 33% 1:34 1:28 :28 :29
Total screen media
§
96% 97% 7:40
a
8:55
b
7:22
a
8:39
b
# Indicates sample size of users is too small for reliable results (n < 50).
†
In 2019, the e-reading total did not include time spent reading ebooks; in 2021 it does.
‡
On a digital device (computer, tablet, or smartphone).
§
In 2019, screen media included time spent using iPod Touches, which accounted for less than half a minute in any activity among teens. In 2021, iPod Touches were dropped
from the survey.
Notes: All times are rounded to the nearest minute. Totals are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may
differ slightly from the sum of rounded times. Items with different superscripts (a, b) differ significantly (p < .05). Items with no superscript do not differ significantly.
Significance should be read across rows over time and within each category (i.e., percent who used; average time among users; average time among all). NA indicates this
item was not asked in 2021.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 11© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE C. Daily media activities, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
8- to 12-year-olds who … “every day” 2019 2021 13- to 18-year-olds who … “every day” 2019 2021
Watch television 63% 65% Watch online videos 69%
a
77%
b
Watch online videos 56%
a
64%
b
Use social media 63% 62%
Play mobile games 46% 43% Watch television 57%
a
49%
b
Read for pleasure 35% 34% Play mobile games 46%
a
40%
b
Play video games* NA 23% Play video games* NA 26%
• On a console/portable player 24% NA • On a console/portable player 27% NA
• On a computer 15% NA • On a computer 17% NA
Use social media 13%
a
18%
b
Read for pleasure 22% 21%
Use virtual reality 2% 3% Use virtual reality 4% 3%
Listen to podcasts NA 2% Listen to podcasts NA 6%
* In 2019, respondents were asked separate questions about the frequency of their use of games played on a computer, and of games played on a console/portable player.
In 2021, those items were combined into a single question “How often do you play video games on a console (like Xbox or PlayStation), portable player (like Switch), or
computer?”
Notes: NA indicates the question was not asked in that wave of the survey. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups are statistically
significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
TABLE D. Media enjoyment, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
8- to 12-year-olds who enjoy … “a lot” 2019 2021 13- to 18-year-olds who enjoy … “a lot” 2019 2021
Watching online videos 67%
a
61%
b
Watching online videos 58% 62%
Playing video games* 52% 47% Playing video games* 43% 39%
Watching television 50% 48% Using social media 41%
a
34%
b
Playing mobile games 55%
a
45%
b
Playing mobile games 30% 28%
Reading for pleasure 38% 33% Watching television 33%
a
27%
b
Using social media 8%
a
12%
b
Reading for pleasure 24% 23%
Using virtual reality 6%
a
9%
b
Using virtual reality 5% 5%
Listening to podcasts N/A 3% Listening to podcasts N/A 5%
* In 2021, includes playing on a console, portable player, or computer. In 2019, enjoyment of computer games was asked separately. Therefore, changes over time for this
category cannot be evaluated.
Note: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
12 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Average daily entertainment screen use,
by activity and age, 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds with a laptop or desktop
computer in the home, 2021
Average daily entertainment screen use, 2021
If you had to pick one site you didn’t want to live without, which would it be?
**
Among tweens, percent who use social media ...
Media use grew faster in the last two years than
it did in the four years prior to the pandemic.
Overall, boys use more screen media than girls.
Black and Hispanic/Latino children use screens
more than White children.
And children in higher-income households use
screens for entertainment less than children in
middle- and lower-income households.
Note: “Lower” income is <$35,000; “middle” is $35,000-99,999; and “higher” is $100,000 or more.
* Among the 79% of 13- to 18-year-olds who use social media and online videos at least once a week.
** Top 5 responses
LOWER INCOME
67%
MIDDLE INCOME
89%
HIGHER INCOME
E-reading includes ebooks and online reading (articles, stories, news, etc.)
BOYS
GIRLS
WHITE
BLACK
HISPANIC/LATINO
HIGHER
MIDDLE
LOWER
By gender
By race/ethnicity
By household income
BOYS
GIRLS
WHITE
BLACK
HISPANIC/LATINO
HIGHER
MIDDLE
LOWER
By gender
By race/ethnicity
By household income
2021
2019
94%
EVER
EVERY
DAY
Watching online videos is the
favorite media activity of both
tweens and teens.
TeensTweens
2015 2019 2021
YOUTUBE
SNAPCHAT
INSTAGRAM
TIKTOK
FACEBOOK
Methodology: The data in this report is from a nationally representative, probability-based online survey of 1,306 young people (age 8 to 18) in the United States. The survey was
conducted from Sept. 29 through Oct. 25, 2021, by Ipsos Public Affairs for Common Sense Media, using Ipsos's KnowledgePanel
©. The survey was offered in English or Spanish.
Total entertainment screen use per day (average)
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds who enjoy each
activity “a lot,” 2021
Teens
Tweens
TV/VIDEOS
GAMING
BROWSING
WEBSITES
SOCIAL
MEDIA
CONTENT
CREATION
VIDEO-
CHATTING
E-READING
OTHER
Teens
Tweens
Note: Tweens are 8- to 12-year-olds. Teens are 13- to 18-year-olds.
SOCIAL
MEDIA
ONLINE
VIDEOS
VIDEO
GAMES
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 13© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Average daily entertainment screen use,
by activity and age, 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds with a laptop or desktop
computer in the home, 2021
Average daily entertainment screen use, 2021
If you had to pick one site you didn’t want to live without, which would it be?
**
Among tweens, percent who use social media ...
Media use grew faster in the last two years than
it did in the four years prior to the pandemic.
Overall, boys use more screen media than girls.
Black and Hispanic/Latino children use screens
more than White children.
And children in higher-income households use
screens for entertainment less than children in
middle- and lower-income households.
Note: “Lower” income is <$35,000; “middle” is $35,000-99,999; and “higher” is $100,000 or more.
* Among the 79% of 13- to 18-year-olds who use social media and online videos at least once a week.
** Top 5 responses
LOWER INCOME
67%
MIDDLE INCOME
89%
HIGHER INCOME
E-reading includes ebooks and online reading (articles, stories, news, etc.)
BOYS
GIRLS
WHITE
BLACK
HISPANIC/LATINO
HIGHER
MIDDLE
LOWER
By gender
By race/ethnicity
By household income
BOYS
GIRLS
WHITE
BLACK
HISPANIC/LATINO
HIGHER
MIDDLE
LOWER
By gender
By race/ethnicity
By household income
2021
2019
94%
EVER
EVERY
DAY
Watching online videos is the
favorite media activity of both
tweens and teens.
TeensTweens
2015 2019 2021
YOUTUBE
SNAPCHAT
INSTAGRAM
TIKTOK
FACEBOOK
Methodology: The data in this report is from a nationally representative, probability-based online survey of 1,306 young people (age 8 to 18) in the United States. The survey was
conducted from Sept. 29 through Oct. 25, 2021, by Ipsos Public Affairs for Common Sense Media, using Ipsos's KnowledgePanel
©. The survey was offered in English or Spanish.
Total entertainment screen use per day (average)
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds who enjoy each
activity “a lot,” 2021
Teens
Tweens
TV/VIDEOS
GAMING
BROWSING
WEBSITES
SOCIAL
MEDIA
CONTENT
CREATION
VIDEO-
CHATTING
E-READING
OTHER
Teens
Tweens
Note: Tweens are 8- to 12-year-olds. Teens are 13- to 18-year-olds.
SOCIAL
MEDIA
ONLINE
VIDEOS
VIDEO
GAMES
photo
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 15© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
These increases in use of entertainment screen media in the
two years between 2019 and 2021 are far greater than the
increases we saw from 2015 to 2019. In that four-year span,
total screen use among tweens increased by an average of just
eight minutes day; in the past two years, it increased an
average of 49 minutes a day. Among teens, the average screen
use ticked up by 42 minutes a day between 2015 and 2019;
over the past two years, it increased by an hour and 17
minutes a day, on average. In other words, from 2015 to 2019,
media use for tweens grew only 3%, and for teens, 11%. But
from 2019 to 2021 alone, media use grew by 17% for tweens
and teens. Although we cannot determine how much COVID-
19 restrictions played a role, it is clear that media use has
shifted dramatically from before the pandemic to the time of
our measurement.
FIGURE 1. Total entertainment screen use among tweens
and teens, per day, 2015 to 2021
Teens
(13- to 18-year-olds)
Tweens
(8- to 12-year-olds)
4:36
4:44
6:40
5:33
8:39
7:22
◼
2015
◼
2019
◼
2021
Note: Entertainment screen use includes time spent watching television and online
videos, playing video games, using social media, browsing websites, creating
content, e-reading, and other digital activities. In 2021, time spent reading ebooks
was included in the total for the first time (accounting for six minutes among tweens
and eight among teens), and time spent watching movies in movie theaters and
using an iPod Touch were not included (these had accounted for seven minutes
among tweens and six minutes among teens in 2019).
One question this study was designed to help answer is
whether screen media use has changed since the onset of the
coronavirus pandemic. Many have speculated that use of
screen media increased during the first year of the pandemic,
as most young people were restricted from normal activities
and forced to spend more time at home. This survey sought to
examine if there were any lasting changes in the time young
people spend with screens as in-person activities began
ramping up in the fall of 2021.
Time devoted to screen activities. On average, 8- to 12-year-olds
use about five and a half hours of screen media per day (5:33),
while 13- to 18-year-olds use about eight and a half hours
(8:39) (Figure 1). These figures represent the total amount of
screen content young people consume or engage with, adding
together the amount of time they spend watching television
and online videos, playing video games, using social media,
and the like. These findings on total amount of screen media
used do not mean that young people devote five and half or
eight and a half hours each day exclusively to screen media, for
two reasons:
• They often spend some proportion of time using multiple
screens at once (for example, scrolling social media while
watching television), meaning two hours of screen
content could fit into a single hour of the day.
• They often watch or use screen media while they are
doing other things, like riding in a car or bus, or eating
breakfast.
It’s also important to remember that these time estimates
represent the average among all young people; individual use
of media varies widely.
The findings indicate that the total amount of screen media
used by young people increased substantially between spring
2019 and fall 2021. Among tweens, total use of screen media
went from 4:44 to 5:33 (an increase of 49 minutes a day, on
average). Among teens, total screen media usage went from
7:22 to 8:39 (an increase of 1:17 a day, on average) (Figure 1).
Screen Media Use: Overview
16 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
who use more than eight hours of screen media. The number
of tweens and teens using more than eight hours of screen
media a day is up from just two years ago, especially among
teens (from 29% to 41% of all teens).
Top screen activities and key changes over time. Watching video
content, including TV shows and online videos, accounts for
the most screen use among both tweens and teens (2:40
among tweens and 3:16 among teens), followed by gaming on
consoles, portable players, computers, or mobile devices (1:27
among tweens and 1:46 among teens) (Table 2). Among teens,
social media also accounts for a substantial amount of screen
use (1:27), as does browsing websites (51 minutes). Other
screen activities, such as video-chatting, reading, or making
digital art or music, take up far less time each day on average.
In addition to looking at the average (mean) daily time spent in
each media activity, another useful way of exploring the data
is to look at the proportion of young people who spend various
segments of time using screen media. For example, in any
given day, what proportion of young people use less than two
hours of screen media, and what proportion use more than
eight hours?
Using this metric, we see that almost all tweens and teens
spend some time with screens each day—in any given day, just
5% of tweens and 3% of teens don’t engage with screen media
at all (Table 1). Among tweens, nearly half (47%) use more than
four hours of screen media a day, including 20% who use more
than eight hours. Among teens, three out of four (75%) use
more than four hours of screen media per day, including 41%
TABLE 1. Entertainment screen media use, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Percent who use the following
amount of screen media per day
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
None 8% 5% 4% 3%
2 hours or less 26% 24% 15%
a
7%
b
2:01 to 4 hours 25% 23% 18% 15%
4:01 to 8 hours 26% 27% 33% 34%
More than 8 hours 15%
a
20%
b
29%
a
41%
b
TABLE 2. Average daily entertainment screen use, by activity and age, 2019 vs. 2021
Average daily use devoted to …
Among 8- to 12-year-olds
Average daily use devoted to …
Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Television/Videos* 2:30 2:40 Television/Videos* 2:53
a
3:16
b
Gaming 1:28 1:27 Gaming 1:36 1:46
Browsing websites :14
a
:24
b
Social media 1:10
a
1:27
b
Social media :10
a
:18
b
Browsing websites :37
a
:51
b
Content creation
†
:08 :08 Video-chatting :19 :20
Video-chatting :05
a
:12
b
E-reading :15 :15
E-reading :07 :09 Content creation
†
:12 :14
Other
‡
:07
a
:15
b
Other
‡
:28 :29
Total screen use
§
4:44
a
5:33
b
Total screen use
§
7:22
a
8:39
b
* In 2019, time spent watching movies in movie theaters was included in this category and accounted for an average of four minutes a day among both tweens and teens.
This item was not included in 2021.
†
Includes making digital art or music or writing on a digital device.
‡
Includes using maps or other functional apps, emailing, shopping, and doing any other digital activity not specifically asked about in the survey.
§ In 2019, screen use included iPod Touches, which accounted for one minute of watching online videos and two minutes of playing mobile games among tweens,
but otherwise accounted for less than half a minute in any other activity among either age group. In 2021, iPod Touches were dropped from the survey.
Note: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 17© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
average of 2:31 more than White tweens. Black and Hispanic
teens average about two hours more screen media per day
than White teens (2:01 more among Black, and 2:13 more
among Hispanic/Latinos). And finally, tweens and teens in
lower-income families engage with more screen media than
their peers from higher-income households (a difference of
3:11 a day among tweens and 2:03 among teens).
The largest increases in screen use from 2019 to 2021 were
among teens from middle-income households (an increase of
2:17 a day), Hispanic/Latino tweens and teens (an increase of
1:47 and 1:48 a day, respectively), tweens from lower-income
households (1:43 a day), and teen boys (an increase of 1:40 a
day from 2019 to 2021) (Table 4). In our next wave of data
collection, we will be interested to see if those changes hold,
or if they are a temporary artifact of this particular wave of
data collection.
The biggest increases in screen use between 2019 and 2021
were in time spent watching online videos (up 23 minutes a day
among teens), using social media (up 17 minutes a day among
teens and eight minutes a day among tweens), browsing web-
sites (up 14 minutes a day among teens and 10 minutes a day
among tweens), and video-chatting (up seven minutes a day
among tweens).
Among both tweens and teens, there are substantial varia-
tions in the average amount of screen media engaged with
each day, by gender, race/ethnicity, and household income
(Table 3). Boys use more screen media than girls (1:16 minutes
a day more, on average, among tweens, and 1:14 more among
teens). Black and Hispanic/Latino tweens and teens use more
screen media than their White peers. Among 8- to 12-year-
olds, Black tweens use nearly two hours more screen media
per day, on average, than White tweens (1:57 more for Black
vs. White tweens a day). Hispanic/Latino tweens use an
TABLE 3. Screen use, by age and demographic, 2021
Average daily screen use
among …
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
8- to 12-year-olds 6:11
a
4:55
b
4:29
a
6:26
b
7:00
b
7:32
a
5:47
b
4:21
c
13- to 18-year-olds 9:16
a
8:02
b
7:49
a
9:50
b
10:02
b
9:19
a
9:34
a
7:16
b
TABLE 4. Screen use, by age and demographic, 2019 vs. 2021
Average daily screen use
among …
Boys Girls
2019 2021 Change 2019 2021 Change
8- to 12-year-olds 5:16
a
6:11
b
+:55 4:10
a
4:55
b
+:45
13- to 18-year-olds 7:36
a
9:16
b
+1:4 0 7:07 8:02 +:55
White Black Hispanic/Latino
2019 2021 Change 2019 2021 Change 2019 2021 Change
8- to 12-year-olds 4:15 4:29 +:14 6:04 6:26 +:22 5:12
a
7:00
b
+1:47
13- to 18-year-olds 6:40
a
7:49
b
+1:09 8:32 9:50 +1:18 8:14
a
10:02
b
+1:48
Lower income Middle income Higher income
2019 2021 Change 2019 2021 Change 2019 2021 Change
8- to 12-year-olds 5:49
a
7:32
b
+1:43 4:52
a
5:47
b
+:55 3:59 4:21 +:22
13- to 18-year-olds 8:32 9:19 +:47 7:17
a
9:34
b
+2:17 6:49 7:16 +:27
Note: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b, c) are used to denote whether differences between groups
(Table 3) or over time (Table 4) are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Data in the Change columns reflects the difference
between 2019 and 2021 before rounding.
18 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Frequency of screen use. Another measure for assessing young
people’s relationship with various types of media activities is
the frequency with which they engage in those activities, such
as watching television, playing games, or using social media. In
this survey, we track the proportion of young people who say
they engage in an activity “every day.”
Among tweens, the top two media activities engaged in most
frequently are watching television (65% do so daily) and
watching online videos (64%) (Figure 2). Among teens, the two
most common activities are watching online videos (77% do
so daily) and using social media (62%). About half (49%) of
teens watch television daily as well.
Among tweens, the top two media activities
engaged in most frequently are watching
television (65% do so daily) and watching
online videos (64%).
Since 2019, the percent of young people who watch online
videos “every day” is up among both tweens (8 percentage
points) and teens (8 percentage points). Television viewing has
continued to decline among teens (down 8 percentage points).
Mobile gaming is also down among teens (6 percentage
points). Because of changes in question structure, it’s not
clear whether there have been changes in the frequency
tweens and teens play video games on console players, por-
table players, and computers. Daily use of social media is up 5
percentage points among tweens, and held steady among
teens (Table C, page 11).
FIGURE 2. Daily entertainment screen media activities,
by age, 2021
Percent of tweens and teens who engage in each activity
“every day”
◼
Tweens
◼
Teens
Podcasts
Virtual reality
Social media
Video games*
Reading
Mobile games
Online videos
Television
65%
49%
64%
77%
43%
40%
34%
21%
23%
26%
18%
62%
3%
3%
2%
6%
* On a console, portable player, or computer.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 19© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Enjoyment of screen media. Sometimes there is a difference
between what young people do most frequently, and what
they say they enjoy doing the most. For example, many young
people say they watch television every day, but fewer say they
enjoy it “a lot.” Forty-nine percent of teens say they watch
television every day, but only 27% say they enjoy it “a lot.” Even
more dramatically, 62% of teens use social media “every day,”
but only 34% say they enjoy it “a lot.” The one medium with
congruence between use and enjoyment is online videos,
which more than six in 10 tweens and teens use every day and
enjoy “a lot.”
Watching online videos is by far the favorite media activity for
both tweens (61% enjoy it a lot) and teens (62%) (Figure 3).
Watching television is the next most popular activity among
tweens (48%), and playing video games is next among teens
(39%). Social media is the third favorite media activity among
teens, with 34% saying they enjoy it “a lot,” while playing video
games is next among tweens (47% enjoy playing “a lot”). In
general, enjoyment of media is highest among tweens and
goes down among teens, with two exceptions: online videos,
which appeal across age groups, and social media, which most
tweens don’t use.
Watching online videos is notable for being popular across
demographic groups, enjoyed by boys and girls, Whites, Blacks
and Hispanics/Latinos, and young people from lower-, middle-,
and higher-income households (Table 5, page 20). And video
gaming is notable for being the most split along gender lines,
with a 36-percentage-point difference in enjoyment between
boys and girls (but no difference by race/ethnicity or house-
hold income). On the other hand, girls enjoy using social media
more than boys do (30% vs. 19% enjoy it “a lot”). Black and
Hispanic/Latino children as well as tweens and teens in lower-
income households also enjoy using social media more than
their peers do.
Teens’ enjoyment of social media went down since 2019 (from
41% to 34% who enjoy it “a lot”), as did their enjoyment of
television (down from 33% to 27%). The proportion of tweens
who say they enjoy playing mobile games decreased by 10
percentage points to 45%, while the proportion who enjoy
using social media a lot increased by 4 percentage points to
12% (Table D, page 11).
The one medium with congruence between
use and enjoyment is online videos, which
more than six in 10 tweens and teens use
every day and enjoy “a lot.”
FIGURE 3. Favorite entertainment screen media activities,
by age, 2021
Percent of tweens and teens who enjoy each media activity
“a lot”
◼
Tweens
◼
Teens
Podcasts
Virtual reality
Social media
Reading
Mobile games
Video games*
Television
Online videos
61%
62%
48%
27%
47%
39%
45%
28%
33%
23%
12%
34%
9%
5%
3%
5%
* On a console, portable player, or computer.
20 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE 5. Enjoyment of entertainment screen media, by demographics, 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds
who say they enjoy each
activity “a lot”
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Watching online videos 64%
a
59%
b
60% 64% 66% 65% 62% 60%
Playing video games* 60%
a
24%
b
40% 48% 45% 45% 44% 40%
Watching television 35% 39% 37%
a
46%
b
36%
a
36% 39% 36%
Playing mobile games
†
40%
a
31%
b
33% 40% 37% 41%
a
38%
a
31%
b
Reading for pleasure 21%
a
34%
b
31%
a
19%
b
22%
b
26% 28% 28%
Using social media 19%
a
30%
b
21%
a
35%
b
28%
b
30%
a
24%
ab
22%
b
Using virtual reality 9%
a
4%
b
7% 7% 4% 10%
a
5%
b
7%
ab
Listening to podcasts 5% 4% 4%
a
8%
b
4%
ab
8%
a
3%
b
4%
b
* On a console or portable player.
†
On a smartphone or tablet.
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 21© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE 6. Technology in the home, 2019 vs. 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds with a …
in the home 2019 2021
Smartphone 91%
a
94%
b
TV set 87% 89%
Computer (laptop or desktop) 89% 87%
Subscription streaming service* 72%
a
84%
b
Video game player 78% 79%
Tablet 75% 74%
Cable TV* 41%
a
32%
b
Satellite TV* 21%
a
13%
b
Virtual reality headset 14% 17%
* Asked of parents.
Note: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are
statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ
significantly.
The one major trend in the home media
environment that we do see over the past
two years is the continued increase in the
number of families with subscription
streaming services, such as Netflix or
Hulu, which went from 72% in 2019 to
84% in 2021.
Young people’s homes continue to offer many devices and
platforms for engaging with media. These include larger
devices such as TV sets, computers, and video game consoles,
as well as mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
And the types of content platforms available now include
streaming services as well as broadcast and cable. In this
section of the report, we document the presence of these
devices and services in the home, how many young people
have their own media devices, and any changes over time.
Media devices in the home. Interestingly, there does not appear
to have been an increase in the number of families owning
either computers, tablets, or video game players during the
pandemic (Table 6). With so many young people attending
remote school, and family members relying even more than
usual on screen media for entertainment, it is somewhat sur-
prising to see ownership of those devices remain steady over
the past two years. As was the case in 2019, about nine out of
10 families have at least one smartphone in the home (94%), a
TV set (89%), and a computer (87%), and about three out of
four have a tablet (74%) and a video game player (79%).
The one major trend in the home media environment that we
do see over the past two years is the continued increase in the
number of families with subscription streaming services, such
as Netflix or Hulu, which went from 72% in 2019 to 84% in
2021. Cable and satellite subscriptions continued to decline in
tandem with the increase in streaming subscriptions, from
41% to 32% of families with cable, and from 21% to 13% with
satellite. In terms of new media technologies, about one in six
tweens and teens now report having a virtual reality headset
in the home (up from 14% in 2019, not a statistically significant
difference).
Media Devices: Access in the Home and
Personal Ownership
22 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Personal device ownership. As mentioned above, there were no
substantial changes in the number of households with at least
one computer, tablet, or video game player over the past two
years. In this section, we look at a slightly different measure,
the number of tweens and teens who have their own digital
devices. And here too, surprisingly, we did not see substantial
changes. The proportion of teens with their own smartphone
crept up by 4 percentage points to 88% (not a statistically
significant change), and the number of tweens with their
own tablet nudged up 5 percentage points to 57%, also not
a statistically significant change (Table 7). Due to changes in
question wording between the 2019 and 2021 surveys, we
are not able to determine whether there was a change in the
proportion with their own laptop or desktop computers.
The number of tweens and teens with their own digital devices
is up dramatically in the past six years, but not in the past two
years (Figure 4). In 2015, 24% of tweens had their own smart-
phone, and today 43% do. In 2015, 67% of teens had their own
phone, while today 88% do (Rideout & Robb, 2019). When
looked at in more detail by individual ages, about three in 10
of all 8- and 9-year-olds have their own phones; among 12- to
13-year-olds, about seven in 10 do; and among those age 14 or
older, about nine in 10 have their own phones.
FIGURE 4. Smartphone ownership, by individual age, 2015 to 2021
Percent of 8- to 18-year-olds who have their own smartphone
18171615141312111098
⎯ 2015 ⎯ 2019 ⎯ 2021
AGE, IN YEARS
19%
31%
26%
32%
42%
36%
53%
69%
71%
70%
81%
83%
89%
88%
91%
32%
37%
19%
15%
11%
41%
50%
59%
71%
73%
74%
77%
72%
91%
86%
90%
97%
93%
TABLE 7. Personal device ownership, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Percent of 8- to 12-year-olds who own a … 2019 2021
Tablet 52% 57%
Smartphone 41% 43%
Computer NA* 43%
Percent of 13- to 18-year-olds who own a … 2019 2021
Smartphone 84% 88%
Computer NA* 64%
Tablet 35% 36%
* In 2019, respondents were asked whether they had their own laptop (23% of
tweens and 49% of teens did). In 2021, question wording was changed to
include laptop or desktop computer, so results are not comparable.
Note: None of the differences over time were statistically significant.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 23© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Despite the necessity of computers and
tablets for remote learning, and despite
efforts by school districts and others to
provide devices to families without them
during the first year of the pandemic,
large numbers of children in lower-income
households—and children of color—still do
not have access to these basic building
blocks of digital equity.
Despite the necessity of computers and tablets for remote
learning, and despite efforts by school districts and others to
provide devices to families without them during the first year
of the pandemic, large numbers of children in lower-income
households—and children of color—still do not have access to
these basic building blocks of digital equity (Chandra et al.,
2020). While 94% of tweens and teens in higher-income
households and 91% of White children have at least one com-
puter in the home, only 67% of children in lower-income
families, and 81% and 83%, respectively, of Black and
Hispanic/Latino children do (Table 8). It is hard to imagine
there could be educational equity with such a wide disparity
in digital access. Similarly, 60% of tweens and teens in lower-
income families have a tablet in the home, compared to 81% of
children in higher-income households. There is even a 10-per-
centage-point gap in access to a smartphone in the home, with
14% of tweens and teens from lower-income homes saying no
one in the home has a smartphone.
TABLE 8. Household and personal device ownership, by race/ethnicity and family income, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Race/Ethnicity Family income
White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Percent who have a … in the home
• Smartphone 95% 93% 93% 86%
a
95%
b
96%
b
• Tablet 75% 71% 72% 60%
a
75%
b
81%
c
• Computer 91%
a
81%
b
83%
b
67%
a
89%
b
94%
c
Percent who have their own …
• Smartphone 65%
a
74%
b
70%
ab
68% 69% 65%
• Tablet 45% 45% 46% 40% 47% 47%
• Computer 53% 55% 55% 41%
a
55%
b
58%
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b, c) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
photo
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 25© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Television loses some of its appeal as young people grow from
the tween years to the teen years. Only about one in four
teens (27%) say they enjoy watching television “a lot,” far
fewer than the proportion who enjoy watching online videos
(62%); and the popularity of television among teens is trending
downward (two years ago, a third said they enjoyed television
a lot).
About a quarter (26%) of tweens’ TV viewing and more than a
third (35%) of teens’ viewing happens on devices like a smart-
phone, tablet, or computer. More than eight in 10 (84%) young
people have access to a subscription or streaming service like
Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+, compared to about a third (32%)
with cable and just 13% with a satellite TV service.
About a quarter (26%) of tweens' TV viewing
and more than a third (35%) of teens' viewing
happens on devices like a smartphone, tablet,
or computer.
Watching television—whether through broadcast, cable, or
streaming services—continues to be a mainstay of young
people’s media diets. Sometimes their viewing occurs on a TV
set, and sometimes on a laptop, tablet, or phone.
Watching television still occupies more time in young people’s
media diets than any other single media activity, even though
there seems to be more excitement for other forms of enter-
tainment (i.e., young people are more likely to enjoy other
activities “a lot”). Tweens watch about an hour and a half of
television daily (1:36), and teens average closer to two hours a
day (1:50) (Table 9). Time watching television held fairly steady
among teens from 2019 to 2021 and increased among tweens
(from 1:22 to 1:36 a day, on average).
Nearly two out of three tweens (65%) watch television “every
day,” as do about half (49%) of teens. But while the proportion
of tweens who spend some time watching television every day
remained largely the same from 2019 to 2021, there was a
decline in daily TV viewing among teens, from 57% to 49%.
About half (48%) of tweens say they like watching television “a
lot”—far less than say the same about watching online videos
(61%), but about the same as two years ago, and in line with the
level of enjoyment tweens have for other media, such as
playing video games (also 47%) (Table D, page 11).
Television
TABLE 9. Television: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy watching television “a lot” 50% 48% 33%
a
27%
b
Frequency: Percent who watch television “every day” 63% 65% 57%
a
49%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent watching television (among all)* 1:22
a
1:36
b
1:45 1:50
• On a TV set 1:04 1:11 1:07 1:10
• On other devices* :19 :25 :38 :39
* 2019 included time spent on an iPod Touch, which accounted for less than half a minute; 2021 survey did not include iPod Touch.
Notes: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Totals
are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of rounded times.
26 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Watching television is something young people
devote a substantial amount of time to each
day regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, or
household income.
Watching television is something young people devote a
substantial amount of time to each day regardless of gender,
race/ethnicity, or household income. But Black young people
are especially committed to television, with nearly three
out of four saying they watch “every day” (73% v. 56% of
Hispanic/Latino children, and 52% of Whites) (Table 10).
White tweens and teens average nearly an hour and a half of
television viewing every day (1:27), while their Black and
Hispanic/Latino peers average more than two hours (2:14
and 2:04, respectively). Similarly, while young people from
all income groups watch a fair amount of television, those
from higher-income households watch less frequently and for
a shorter amount of time than those in lower- or middle-
income households.
TABLE 10. Television: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by demographics, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy watching television “a lot” 35% 39% 37%
a
46%
b
36%
a
36% 39% 36%
Frequency: Percent who watch television “every day” 54% 58% 52%
a
73%
b
56%
a
62%
a
58%
a
50%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent watching television …
• Among those who watch 2:37 2:30 2:16
a
2:58
b
2:52
b
2:48
a
2:49
a
2:06
b
• Among all 1:41 1:47 1:27
a
2:14
b
2:04
b
1:56
a
1:58
a
1:22
b
Notes: Television viewing includes watching on DVDs and watching television on a TV set, a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone. Lower income is <$35,000; middle is
$35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups are statistically significant (p < .05). Items
with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 27© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Watching online videos on sites such
as YouTube or TikTok is the media
activity young people enjoy doing
the most, by far.
Watching online videos on sites such as YouTube or TikTok
is the media activity young people enjoy doing the most, by
far. Sixty-one percent of tweens and 62% of teens say they
enjoy watching videos online “a lot,” far above any other media
activity covered in this survey (Table 11). (The next closest
among tweens was watching television, which 48% said they
enjoy doing “a lot,” and among teens it was playing video
games, which 39% enjoy “a lot” (Table D, page 11).) It’s also
the activity they are most likely to do every day. For example,
77% of teens say they watch online videos every single day
(by comparison, 62% say they use social media every day, and
49% watch television that often).
During the pandemic, watching online videos has become
even more popular among young people than it was before.
From 2019 to 2021, the proportion of both tweens and teens
who watch every day went up by 8 percentage points, and
among teens, average viewing time went up by 23 minutes
a day.
Online Videos
TABLE 11. Online videos: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy watching online videos “a lot” 67%
a
61%
b
58% 62%
Frequency: Percent who watch online videos “every day” 56%
a
64%
b
69%
a
77%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent watching online videos* …
• Among those who watch 1:44 1:39 1:37 1:46
• Among all :56 :57 :59
a
1:22
b
* 2019 data included time spent on an iPod touch, which accounted for one minute among tweens and less than half a minute among teens; the 2021 survey did not include
iPod Touch.
Note: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
28 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Watching videos online is incredibly popular
across demographic groups, but especially
among Hispanic/Latinos and young people
from lower-income households.
Watching videos online is incredibly popular across demo-
graphic groups, but especially among Hispanic/Latinos and
young people from lower-income households, who are more
likely to say they watch online videos “every day,” and who
watch for longer periods of time (Table 12). For example,
79% of Hispanic/Latino tweens and teens say they watch
online videos every day, compared to 67% of Whites.
Tweens and teens in lower-income households who watch
online videos tend to watch for longer, averaging 2:12 a
session, compared with 1:29 among those in higher-income
households who watch.
TABLE 12. Online videos: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by demographics, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy watching online videos “a lot” 64%
a
59%
b
60% 64% 66% 65% 62% 60%
Frequency: Percent who watch online videos “every day” 73% 70% 67%
a
73%
ab
79%
b
78%
a
70%
b
69%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent watching online videos …
• Among those who watch 1:48 1:38 1:40 1:51 1:47 2:12
a
1:46
b
1:29
c
• Among all 1:16
a
1:05
b
1:06
a
1:08
ab
1:22
b
1:23
a
1:14
a
1:02
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b, c) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 29© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The survey explored a variety of types of gaming: mobile
games (those played on a smartphone or tablet), computer
games, and games played on a dedicated video game player,
such as a console or portable player. In general, tweens enjoy
playing games more than teens, especially mobile gaming
(45% of tweens enjoy playing mobile games a lot, compared
with 28% of teens) (Table 13). On average, tweens spend 1:27
a day gaming, and teens spend 1:46, but those numbers
obscure substantial differences between boys and girls.
Among all 8- to 18-year-olds, boys spend an average of 2:20
a day playing video games, and girls average just under an
hour (:54) (Table 14, page 30).
Video gaming continues to be one of the more popular media
activities for both tweens and teens, but enjoyment is split
dramatically along gender lines. Previous research indicates
that playing video games online was a popular way for young
people to hang out with friends during the pandemic, when it
was often tougher to see friends face-to-face (Rideout & Robb,
2021).
Somewhat surprisingly, the current survey doesn’t document
any big changes in video game playing from 2019 to 2021. The
number of homes with a video game console or portable
player has not changed (79% have one), and the average
amount of time spent playing did not change substantially.
Gaming
TABLE 13. Video games: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy playing video games “a lot”
• On a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) 55%
a
45%
b
30% 28%
• On a console, computer, or portable player* NA 47% NA 39%
Frequency: Percent who play video games “every day”
• On a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) 46% 43% 46%
a
40%
b
• On a console, computer, or portable player* NA 23% NA 26%
Time spent: Average daily time spent gaming (among all) 1:28 1:27 1:36 1:46
• On a mobile device
†
:34 :33 :27 :25
• On a computer :11 :13 :19 :26
• On a console or portable player :44 :40 :49 :55
* In 2019, computer and console/portable games were asked separately, so those results are not included here.
†
Participants were asked in 2019 about time spent on iPod Touches, which accounted for two minutes among tweens, and less than half a minute among teens; these items
were dropped from the 2021 survey.
Notes: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Totals
are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of rounded times.
30 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Forty percent of all boys play console, portable,
or computer-based video games “every day,”
compared to just 10% of all girls.
The differences between boys and girls are especially pro-
nounced when it comes to games played on a gaming console,
portable device, or computer. Sixty percent of all boys enjoy
those types of games “a lot,” compared with 24% of girls; there
are no differences by race/ethnicity or household income
when it comes to enjoyment of this type of video gaming
(Table 13). Forty percent of all boys play console, portable, or
computer-based video games “every day,” compared to just
10% of all girls.
Young people from higher-income households spend less time
than others their age playing mobile games or those on a
console or portable player. There are no statistically signifi-
cant differences in time devoted to console/portable gaming
by race/ethnicity, but including computer and mobile gaming,
White tweens and teens spend less time than Hispanic/Latino
children gaming (1:31 vs. 1:53 per day, on average), with Black
children in between (1:41, not significantly different from
either other group).
TABLE 14. Video games: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by demographics, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy playing video games “a lot”
• On a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) 40%
a
31%
b
33% 40% 37% 41%
a
38%
a
31%
b
• On a console, computer, or portable player 60%
a
24%
b
40% 48% 45% 45% 44% 40%
Frequency: Percent who play video games “every day”
• On a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) 49%
a
34%
b
40% 39% 46% 48%
a
42%
ab
38%
b
• On a console, computer, or portable player 40%
a
10%
b
23%
a
35%
b
25%
a
31%
a
27%
a
20%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent gaming (among all) 2:20
a
:54
b
1:31
a
1:41
ab
1:53
b
1:46
a
1:51
a
1:19
b
• On a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) :33
a
:24
b
:25
a
:29
ab
:37
b
:32
a
:34
a
:22
b
• On a computer :29
a
:11
b
:20 :15 :23 :14 :21 :22
• On a console or portable player 1:17
a
:18
b
:45 :57 :52 1:00
a
:55
a
:35
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Totals are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a
result, totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of rounded times.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 31© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
second at 20%. Given the recent societal conversation about
the negative impact of Instagram on some users (Romo, 2021),
it is interesting to note that just 15% of teens say it’s the site
they use most often, and 13% pick it as the one site they
wouldn’t want to live without.
Certain sites are used fairly equally by teen boys and teen girls
(e.g., Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook), while others are clearly
more gendered (e.g., 30% of girls use Pinterest vs. 8% of boys).
Large numbers of both boys and girls use Instagram, but girls
are more likely to (78% vs. 62% of boys), while boys are more
likely to use YouTube (86% vs. 80% of girls) (Table 15, page 32).
In this wave of the survey, we asked teens about their use of
specific online platforms. Among the 79% of teens who are
regular users of social media and online video sites (that is,
they use them at least once a week), we asked which sites they
ever use, which site they use “the most,” and which site they
wouldn’t want to live without if they were forced to choose
(Figure 5).
The top four sites among teens are YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat,
and Instagram, with YouTube the clear top choice. When asked
to pick the one site they wouldn’t want to live without, about
a third (32%) of teens chose YouTube, with Snapchat coming
Top Video and Social Media Sites Among Teens
FIGURE 5. Top video and social media sites, 2021
Among the 79% of 13- to 18-year-olds who are regular users of social media and online videos (at least once a week),
percent who …
Ever use … Use … the most Wouldn't want to live without …
Tumblr
Reddit
Pinterest
Twitter
Discord
Facebook
Snapchat
TikTok
Instagram
YouTube
83%
70%
68%
64%
40%
23%
22%
19%
11%
*
Tumblr
Reddit
Pinterest
Twitter
Facebook
Discord
Instagram
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
24%
22%
21%
15%
8%
6%
2%
1%
1%
*
Tumblr
Reddit
Pinterest
Twitter
Facebook
Discord
Instagram
TikTok
Snapchat
YouTube
32%
20%
13%
13%
6%
6%
3%
2%
2%
1%
* Indicates more than zero, but less than one-half percent.
32 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Black teens are the most likely to use Twitter (36%) compared
with 21% of Hispanic/Latino teens and 20% of Whites. And it
is interesting to note that the only differences in likelihood of
using Facebook are by household income: No differences
were found by gender or race/ethnicity, but teens from lower-
and middle-income households are more likely than their
peers from higher-income households to ever use Facebook
(46% and 45%, respectively, compared with 31% of teens from
higher-income households).
Similarly, there are some differences in use of specific sites
based on race/ethnicity and on income. Lots of young people,
whether White, Black, or Hispanic/Latino, use TikTok and
YouTube, and there are no differences by race/ethnicity in
the likelihood of ever using those sites. (There are also no
significant differences by race/ethnicity in the percent of
teens who use Facebook.) Many teens across racial and ethnic
groups use Instagram, but Black and Hispanic/Latino teens
are more likely to do so than White teens (81% and 77%,
respectively, vs. 65% of Whites). And teens of all races use
Snapchat, but Whites are more likely to do so than Blacks
(68% vs. 54%; use compared with Hispanic/Latino teens does
not differ significantly) (Table 15).
TABLE 15. Online sites used by teens, by demographics, 2021
Among the 79% of all 13- to 18-year-olds who
use social media and online videos at least once
a week, percent who say they ever use …
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
YouTube 86%
a
80%
b
82% 89% 81% 81% 85% 81%
Instagram 62%
a
78%
b
65%
a
81%
b
77%
b
66% 74% 67%
TikTok 66% 70% 67% 77% 73% 68%
ab
73%
b
62%
a
Snapchat 62% 66% 68%
a
54%
b
68%
a
54%
a
67%
b
64%
ab
Facebook 40% 40% 39% 44% 39% 46%
a
45%
a
31%
b
Discord 29%
a
18%
b
26%
a
14%
b
24%
ab
11%
a
24%
b
27%
b
Twitter 23% 20% 20%
a
36%
b
21%
a
16%
ab
27%
b
18%
a
Pinterest 8%
a
30%
b
19% 14% 19% 16% 19% 20%
Reddit 14%
a
7%
b
11% 10% 8% 2%
a
9%
b
15%
c
Tumblr 1% 2% 2% 3% 1% 1% 2% 1%
Other 1% 1% 2% 1% 1% 2% 1% 1%
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b, c) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 33© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Thirty-eight percent of tweens and 84% of teens use social
media, including 18% of tweens and 62% of teens who say they
use it every day (Table 16). Tweens spend an average of 18
minutes a day using social media, while teens say about an
hour and half (1:27) on average.
There have been some interesting changes in social media use
since before the pandemic. Use of social media among tweens
has gone up, with an increase of 5 percentage points among
those who say they use social media “every day,” and the
average amount of time spent using social media among this
age group increased accordingly by eight minutes a day.
Tweens are also more likely to say they enjoy using social
media than they were in 2019.
During the coronavirus pandemic, social media has been an
especially important way for tweens, teens, and adults to stay
in touch. There has also been growing concern from some
experts about the possible negative impact of social media on
young peoples’ mental health (Twenge et al., 2018). Other
researchers have pointed to possible beneficial impacts, espe-
cially during the pandemic (Rideout et al., 2021). There has
also been discussion about the possible creation of new social
media platforms designed specifically for those younger than
13 (Instagram for kids, 2021).
In this survey, we focus on tracking the proportion of young
people who use social media, the frequency of use, the amount
of time devoted to social media, how much young people enjoy
using social media, and which specific sites they use. We also
explore demographic differences in social media use, and how
young people’s social media practices have or have not
changed since 2019. Social media was defined in the survey as
being sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or
Facebook; platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch
were considered online video sites.
Social Media
TABLE 16. Social media: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy social media “a lot” 8%
a
12%
b
41%
a
34%
b
Frequency: Percent who use social media …
• Every day 13%
a
18%
b
63% 62%
• Ever 31%
a
38%
b
82% 84%
• Never 68%
a
62%
b
17% 16%
Time spent: Average daily time spent using social media (among all)* :10
a
:18
b
1:10
a
1:27
b
* The 2019 survey included time spent on an iPod touch, which accounted for less than half a minute; the 2021 survey did not include iPod Touch.
Notes: In 2019, social media was defined as sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. In 2021, Discord and Reddit were added to the list of examples.
Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
34 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Because social media usage is so much higher among teens
than tweens, our exploration of demographic differences in
social media usage focuses on young people age 13 to 18. Teen
girls enjoy using social media much more than boys do: Forty-
two percent say they enjoy it “a lot,” compared with 27% of
teen boys (Table 17). Girls are also more likely to use social
media every day (68% vs. 57%). However, boys who do use
social media do so for almost as long as girls do, meaning the
difference in overall average daily time devoted to social
media between boys and girls is not statistically significant
(1:20 among boys and 1:36 among girls).
Black teens also enjoy social media much more than White or
Hispanic/Latino teens (51% enjoy it “a lot,” compared with 36%
of Hispanic/Latino teens and 30% of White teens). Looking at
social media use by household income reveals some counter-
vailing trends: Teens in lower-income households use social
media less frequently than others their age, but once online
they spend more time there. In the end, teens in higher-income
households average the least daily time with social media
(1:14), and teens in middle-income households the most (1:39),
with teens in lower-income households in between (1:25, not
significantly different from either group).
Among teens, on the other hand, the proportion who say they
use social media every day stayed about the same, and enjoy-
ment of social media actually went down by 7 percentage
points; but the average amount of time spent on social media
sites went up to nearly an hour and a half a day (from 1:10 to
1:27). Only a third (34%) of teens say they enjoy using social
media “a lot,” compared with 62% who say they enjoy watching
online videos that much.
Only a third (34%) of teens say they enjoy
using social media “a lot,” compared with
62% who say they enjoy watching online
videos that much.
It seems that initiation into social media may indeed be trending
younger, at a relatively modest rate thus far, and that while the
time devoted to social media among teens may be increasing,
enjoyment is not.
Among all tweens, 13% have ever used Snapchat, 10% have
used Instagram, 8% Facebook, 5% Discord, and 4% have used
Pinterest (Figure D). Among all teens, about half have ever
used Instagram (53%) and Snapchat (49%), 30% have ever used
Facebook, 17% have used Discord, and 16% have used Twitter
(Figure E).
TABLE 17. Social media: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent among teens, by demographics, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy social media “a lot” 27%
a
42%
b
30%
a
51%
b
36%
a
37% 35% 33%
Frequency: Percent who use social media “every day” 57%
a
68%
b
64% 68% 60% 46%
a
66%
b
65%
b
Time spent: Average daily time spent using social media …
• Among those who use 2:04 2:16 2:05
a
2:50
b
2:19
ab
2:33
a
2:19
a
1:50
b
• Among all 1:20 1:36 1:23 1:50 1:38 1:25
ab
1:39
a
1:14
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 35© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
spend some time reading for their own pleasure every day,
about the same as in 2019. Nearly two-thirds of tweens (63%)
and nearly half (48%) of teens say they read for pleasure at
least once a week or more (including those who read daily).
But about one in 10 tweens (12%), and nearly one in five teens
(18%) say they never read anything other than what is
required for school or homework.
But about one in 10 tweens, and nearly one in
five teens say they never read anything other
than what is required for school or homework.
The survey also included questions about reading for plea-
sure, on digital devices as well as on other platforms. There
were no notable differences in reading habits between 2019
and 2021.
We asked young people how often they read “for your own
enjoyment (not for school or homework)” as well as how much
time they spent reading the previous day. We also asked
respondents to specify whether they read books or material
in shorter formats (such as articles), in print or online, and on
which digital devices (such as a computer or a smartphone).
Finally, we asked participants how much they enjoy reading.
About a third of tweens (33%) and a quarter of teens (23%) say
they enjoy reading “a lot,” with no statistically significant
changes since before the pandemic (Table 18). Similarly, about
a third of tweens (34%) and one in five teens (21%) say they
Reading
TABLE 18. Reading for pleasure: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy reading “a lot” 38% 33% 24% 23%
Frequency: Percent who read for pleasure …
• Every day 35% 34% 22% 21%
• At least once a week 31% 29% 29% 27%
• At least once a month 11% 12% 17% 14%
• Less than once a month 9% 12% 17% 20%
• Never 13% 12% 15% 18%
Time spent: Average daily time spent reading (among all) :29 :34 :29 :34
• Print books :21 :23 :12
a
:16
b
• Ebooks (e-reader, phone, tablet) :05 :06 :08 :08
• Online (articles, stories, poems, news, blogs)* :01
a
:03
b
:07 :07
• Print magazines or newspapers :02 :03 :02 :03
* In 2019, participants were asked about reading online on iPod Touches, but averaged less than half a minute a day doing so; this item was dropped from the survey in 2021.
Notes: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Totals
are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of rounded times.
36 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
In general, girls enjoy reading more than boys, and they do so
more frequently (Table 19). For example, 65% of girls enjoy
reading “a lot” or “somewhat,” compared to 48% of boys; and
30% of girls read every day, compared with 24% of boys. Girls
also average more time reading than boys do (37 minutes a day
vs. 29 minutes for boys).
Tweens read for pleasure more frequently than teens do (34%
do so every day, compared with 21% of teens), which may be
because teens have so much more required reading for school,
or because they have other media activities available to them,
such as using social media. Both tweens and teens average a
little more than half an hour a day reading for fun (34 minutes
each), not a statistically significant difference from pre-pan-
demic reading levels (29 minutes for each group).
TABLE 19. Reading for pleasure: Enjoyment, frequency, and time spent, by demographics, 2021
Among 8- to 18-year-olds
Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Enjoyment: Percent who enjoy reading* …
A lot/somewhat 48%
a
65%
b
56% 55% 56% 52% 58% 58%
• A lot 21%
a
34%
b
31%
a
19%
b
22%
b
26% 28% 28%
• Somewhat 28% 31% 24%
a
35%
b
34%
b
26% 29% 31%
Only a little/not at all 32%
a
23%
b
29% 25% 28% 26% 26% 29%
• Only a little 24%
a
20%
b
22% 22% 25% 21% 21% 24%
• Not at all 8%
a
3%
b
7%
a
3%
b
3%
b
5% 6% 5%
Frequency: Percent who read for pleasure …
• Every day 24%
a
30%
b
29%
a
22%
ab
21%
b
21%
a
26%
ab
31%
b
• Less than monthly 37%
a
26%
b
34% 31% 32% 35% 32% 30%
Time spent: Average daily time spent reading for pleasure …
• Among those who read 1:30 1:27 1:21
a
1:33
ab
1:50
b
2:02
a
1:27
b
1:20
b
• Among all :29
a
:37
b
:34 :29 :32 :42 :31 :34
* Doesn’t total 100% because it excludes those who say they “never” read.
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Net percentages are rounded after summing unrounded sub-items. As a result, net
totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of individual items.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 37© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
FIGURE 6. Frequency of podcast listening, teens, 2021
Percent of 13- to 18-year-olds who listen to podcasts …
◼
Every day
◼
At least once a week
◼
At least once a month
◼
Less than once a month
◼
Never
16%
11%
14%
54%
6%
Nearly half of all teens have listened
to podcasts, and one in five say they
do so at least once a week.
In recent years, podcasts have taken off in popularity, and
with this survey we wanted to see the degree to which young
people were participating in this trend. Many tweens and teens
have indeed listened to podcasts, but most do so infrequently.
About one in four tweens (23%) and just under half (46%)
of all teens have listened to podcasts (Table 20). Boys and
girls are equally likely to have listened (35% of each). Tweens
and teens in lower-income households are the most likely to
have listened to podcasts (43% have done so, compared to
35% of those middle-income families and 32% of children
in higher-income households). By race/ethnicity, Hispanic/
Latino young people are the most likely to have ever listened
to a podcast (39%, compared with 30% of White children).
Six percent of teens say they listen to podcasts every day,
and a total of one in five (20%) say they listen at least once a
week (Figure 6).
One in 10 tweens (11%) and two in 10 teens (22%) say they
enjoy listening to podcasts a lot or somewhat. Children in lower-
income households are the most likely to enjoy listening.
Podcasts
TABLE 20. Podcasts: Use and enjoyment, by demographics, 2021
Percent who …
Age Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
8 to 12 13 to 18 Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Have ever listened to podcasts 23%
a
46%
b
35% 35% 30%
a
37%
ab
39%
b
43%
a
35%
b
32%
b
Enjoy podcasts “a lot” or “somewhat” 11%
a
22%
b
18% 15% 14% 20% 18% 23%
a
15%
b
15%
b
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
photo
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 39© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Three percent of teens say they use virtual reality every day,
and a total of 9% say they do so at least once a week (Figure 7).
At this point, only 13% of tweens or teens say they enjoy using
virtual reality “a lot” or “somewhat”; boys (17%) are more likely
than girls (9%) to enjoy it.
FIGURE 7. Frequency of virtual reality use, teens, 2021
Percent of 13- to 18-year-olds who use virtual reality …
◼
Every day
◼
At least once a week
◼
At least once a month
◼
Less than once a month
◼
Never
13%
5%
6%
73%
3%
Virtual reality (VR) headsets are used to fully immerse users
in a 360-degree experience of movies or gaming, blocking
everything else from the user’s field of vision and hearing but
the content being engaged with. Over the years there have
been expectations for a substantial uptake of virtual reality by
young people, which have yet to materialize. Nonetheless,
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues to believe strongly
in a future in which many young people engage with the “meta-
verse” through virtual reality (Brown, 2021).
The proportion of 8- to 18-year-olds with a VR headset in the
home did nudge up from 2019 to 2021, from 14% to 17%,
although that was not a statistically significant change. One in
six young people now have access to virtual reality in their
home. About one in five tweens (22%) and one in four teens
(27%) have ever tried virtual reality, with boys and young
people from lower-income families more likely to do so than
girls or young people from middle- or higher-income house-
holds (Table 21). Nearly three in 10 of 8- to 18-year-old boys
(29%) have tried virtual reality, compared with two in 10 (20%)
girls. Use is highest among young people in lower-income
households (37%, compared with 21% among those in middle-
income and 23% of those in higher-income homes).
Virtual Reality
TABLE 21. Virtual reality: Use and enjoyment, by demographics, 2021
Percent who …
Age Gender Race/Ethnicity Family income
8 to 12 13 to 18 Boys Girls White Black
Hispanic/
Latino Lower Middle Higher
Have ever used virtual reality 22%
a
27%
b
29%
a
20%
b
21% 28% 26% 37%
a
21%
b
23%
b
Enjoy virtual reality “a lot” or “somewhat” 13% 13% 17%
a
9%
b
14% 11% 10% 15%
a
10%
b
16%
a
Notes: Lower income is <$35,000; middle is $35,000 to 99,999; and higher is $100,000 or more. Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences between groups
are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly.
One in six young people now have access to virtual reality sets in their homes.
About one in five tweens and one in four teens have ever tried it.
photo
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 41© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
these uses are very important to many young people, they are
not the activities tweens and teens do anywhere near as fre-
quently, or for anywhere near as long, as they watch, play, or
scroll through content created by others. From 2019 to 2021,
there were only modest changes in the amount of time
devoted to content creation using digital devices.
In any given day, about one in 10 tweens and teens will use
their digital devices to create some type of art or music (11%
of tweens and 13% of teens) (Table 22). Those who do engage
in these activities devote about an hour (1:05 among tweens)
or an hour and a half (1:29 among teens) to them. Therefore,
on average among all young people, tweens devote seven
minutes and teens 12 minutes a day to creating digital art or
music. Overall, there was an increase of four minutes a day
among teens, on average, in the amount of time devoted to
making digital art or music between 2019 and 2021, but this
change was not statistically significant.
One special affordance of digital technology is that it allows
young people to become content producers instead of just
consumers. We know from previous research that using social
media for creative expression is very important to many teens
(Rideout et al., 2021), and that some use their digital devices
to create content, such as taking photographs, creating
graphic arts, producing videos, using art-based apps, making
beats, composing music, recording songs, or writing lyrics,
poetry, articles, or stories. Naturally lots of art, music, and
writing are created offline, using pen and paper, paint, clay,
and traditional musical instruments. But computers, tablets,
and smartphones have offered young people new ways to
learn to produce or create their own content and share it with
others.
Research conducted in spring 2021 indicated that many
tweens and teens used their digital devices during the lock-
downs to learn to create and share art and music (Rideout &
Robb, 2021). But the current survey indicates that although
Content Creation
TABLE 22. Content creation: Time spent writing or making art or music on digital devices, by age, 2019 vs. 2021
Among 8- to 12-year-olds Among 13- to 18-year-olds
2019 2021 2019 2021
Creating art or music on a digital device
• Percent who did the previous day 10% 11% 10% 13%
• Average time among those who did 1:14 1:05 1:18 1:29
• Average time among all :07 :07 :08 :12
Writing for pleasure on a digital device
• Percent who did the previous day 1%
a
2%
b
5% 4%
• Average time among those who did # # # #
• Average time among all
*
a
:01
b
:04 :03
# Indicates sample size too small for analysis.
* Indicates more than zero but less than one-half minute.
Notes: Superscripts (a, b) are used to denote whether differences over time are statistically significant (p < .05). Items with different superscripts differ significantly. Totals
are rounded to the nearest minute after summing unrounded times. As a result, totals shown in the table may differ slightly from the sum of rounded times.
42 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TABLE 23. Writing for pleasure, by method, 2019 to 2021
Among all 8- to 18-year-olds, on any given
day, percent who spend any time writing … 2019 2021
By hand 5% 7%
On a computer 2% 2%
On a smartphone 2% 1%
On a tablet 1% 1%
Other
* *
Total who wrote something 8% 10%
* Less than one-half of one percent but greater than zero.
In any given day, 10% of 8- to 18-year-olds write something for
pleasure, such as a poem, story, or blog post (Table 23). In
2019, 8% did, not a statistically significant difference. When
they do write, young people are most likely to do so by hand
(7% in any given day), rather than on a digital device (4%).
When looked at by age, on any given day 2% of tweens and 4%
of teens spend at least some time writing on digital devices; on
average, tweens spend one minute and teens three minutes a
day using their digital devices to write something other than
schoolwork.
From 2019 to 2021, there were only modest
changes in the amount of time devoted to
content creation using digital devices.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 43© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
In some ways, it was surprising to see a lack of change where
we might have expected it. For example, video gaming didn’t
increase dramatically during the pandemic, even though we
might have expected to see more homes getting gaming con-
soles and more time spent gaming. We also might have
expected more tweens and teens to get their own tablets or
smartphones during this time, but the survey does not indi-
cate that this happened.
We are beginning to see a modest trend toward the use of
social media at earlier ages; this is especially interesting given
the ongoing debates about the impact of social media on
young people’s well-being, and Facebook’s plan (now delayed)
to create an Instagram platform for kids (Santariano & Mac,
2021). The other new media product pushed by Facebook
(now operating under the corporate name Meta) is immersive
media, accessed through virtual reality. At this point, use of
the new medium has been slow to catch on; slower, in fact,
than the growth of podcasts. Time will tell whether Meta is
able to generate a demand for their new product(s), and if so,
the impact they have on the company’s young customers.
We know from previous research that many young people
used their digital devices during the pandemic to socialize with
friends online, learn about things they were interested in, and
create and share their own content (Rideout & Robb, 2021).
This work reminds us that we should be careful of demonizing
“screen time” as it’s clearly played an important role for many
tweens and teens during the pandemic.
But what we learn from the current survey is that while activi-
ties like content creation, video-chatting, and reading online
occur frequently among young people and are important and
meaningful to them, they also still constitute a tiny fraction of
overall screen use. In the end, the amount of time young
people devote to content produced by others still dominates
overwhelmingly, whether it is content they watch, read, play
with, or scroll through. Given the huge amounts of time chil-
dren give to media, it’s all the more important to elevate
quality media by creating and highlighting the shows, games,
apps, and books that engage, inspire, and provide positive
representations.
In our report on the 2019 wave of this survey, we wrote, “For
the first time, this wave of the survey indicates that the pace
of change in young people’s media lives may have slowed …
[W]e are now in a period of (perhaps temporary) relative sta-
bility. And that may give researchers, parents, and educators
a chance to catch up.” Little did we know the changes that
were in store for all of us in 2020, and what a central role
screens would play in our lives that year.
The primary purpose of this survey is to explore whether and
how the use of screen media for entertainment changed
among 8- to 18-year-olds from shortly before the coronavirus
pandemic hit the United States to a point about a year and a
half into the pandemic (in the fall of 2021), as schools and
other in-person activities were opening up again. What we
found is that the use of screen media did indeed increase
during this time, by about three-quarters of an hour a day
among tweens, and an hour and a quarter a day among teens.
How should we assess the size of the increase in screen use
among tweens and teens? In the two years from 2019 to 2021,
screen use increased far faster than it had in the previous four
years. In fact, the increase in screen use among tweens was six
times as large in the past two years as it had been in the four
years before that. While the pandemic was likely a major con-
tributor to changes in screen use, it’s also worthwhile to note
that platforms like TikTok have continued to swell in popular-
ity, and that may also be driving increased use. Would there
have been such dramatic shifts if the pandemic had not
occurred? It’s impossible to say, but it’s certainly possible that
multiple factors are contributing to increases in screen use.
And yet, despite the radical changes imposed on many young
people’s lives during the first year and a half of the pandemic,
there haven’t been dramatic changes in the overall patterns of
media use by tweens and teens. The amount of time they
devote to many of these activities has indeed risen; social
media use has begun to spread somewhat among younger age
groups; and online videos have cemented their place at the top
of young people’s media hierarchies. But the top activities
have remained the same—online videos, gaming, and social
media—and the general patterns between tweens and teens,
or boys and girls, have continued.
Conclusion
photo
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 45© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
activities except reading print (physical books, magazines, or
newspapers) and listening to podcasts are considered part of
screen media use. E-reading (e.g., online articles, ebooks) is
considered part of screen use.
Media devices. The media devices covered in the survey
include: TV sets, computers, tablets, smartphones, books,
newspapers, magazines, video game consoles, portable/hand-
held video game players, and virtual reality headsets.
Changes in media-related questions from 2019 to 2021. By
2019, it had become clear that the iPod Touch was an aging
technology that was no longer a significant part of tweens'
and teens' lives. Tweens reported an average of three minutes
of total screen media use on an iPod, and teens reported less
than half a minute of iPod use, on average, in any screen activity.
Therefore in 2021 questions specific to iPod Touches were
dropped from the survey. In 2019, the survey included ques-
tions about time spent attending movies in movie theaters,
which did not manifest as a major part of tweens' and teens'
daily screen use, accounting for just four minutes a day, on
average; in 2021 those questions were also dropped from
the survey.
Survey sample
The survey was conducted online among a nationally repre-
sentative, probability-based sample of 1,306 young people in
the United States, age 8 to 18 years old. Black respondents
were over-sampled to ensure a total sample size of at least
200. Unlike members of most other online survey panels,
KnowledgePanel
©
members were recruited using scientifi-
cally based methods such as address-based sampling and
random-digit-dial telephone calls. Households that were not
already online were provided with a device and internet
access for the purpose of participating in the surveys. The use
of a probability sample means the results are substantially
more generalizable to the U.S. population than are results
based on so-called “convenience” or “opt-in” samples.
This report presents the results of a nationally representative,
probability-based online survey of 1,306 8- to 18-year-olds in
the United States. The survey was conducted from September
29 to October 25, 2021. The purpose of the survey was to
examine changes in screen media use among young people
during the coronavirus pandemic, comparing the 2021 results
to a baseline survey conducted in spring 2019. The 2019
survey included a sample of 1,677 respondents age 8 to 18
years old and used the same methodology as described below
for 2021. To the extent possible, the current survey duplicates
questions asked in the previous survey; changes in specific
questions are noted below and in relevant tables.
The project was directed by Michael Robb, senior director of
research at Common Sense Media, and Vicky Rideout, presi-
dent of VJR Consulting. Data analyses were conducted by Ms.
Rideout and Alanna Peebles, assistant professor of communi-
cation, media, and technology at San Diego State University,
with assistance from Supreet Mann, research manager at
Common Sense Media.
The survey was fielded by Ipsos, using their KnowledgePanel
©
,
a probability-based web panel designed to be representative
of the United States. Respondents were offered the opportu-
nity to complete the survey in English or Spanish. A copy of the
English language questionnaire is included in the Appendix to
this report.
Media included in the study
The survey concerns the use of media for entertainment pur-
poses, therefore all questions focus on non-school-related
activities.
Media activities. The media activities covered in the survey
include watching television, watching online videos, playing
video games (including computer, mobile, or console games),
using social media, browsing websites, video-chatting, creat-
ing digital art or music, reading (print or digital), writing (on
digital devices), listening to podcasts, and using digital devices
for other purposes, such as emailing, shopping, or using func-
tional apps such as for weather or directions. All of the above
Methodology
46 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Weighting. The use of probability-based recruitment methods
for the KnowledgePanel
©
is designed to ensure that the result-
ing sample properly represents the population of the United
States, including geographically (e.g., Northeast, Midwest,
South, and West, and urban/suburban/rural); demographi-
cally (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and family income); and
in terms of home internet access. Study-specific post-stratifi-
cation weights were applied once the data was finalized, to
adjust for any survey nonresponse and to ensure the proper
distributions for the specific target populations (in this case,
8- to 18-year-olds). For this study, the benchmark distribu-
tions presented in the table below (from the U.S. Census
Bureau’s March 2019 American Community Survey and the
March 2020 Supplement of the Current Population Survey)
were used for the ranking adjustment of weights.
Parental consent and respondent compensation. For all respon-
dents, a parent or legal guardian was contacted first, and
permission was received for the tween or teen to participate.
No compensation was provided to participants.
Outliers. Twenty-two respondents were identified as outliers,
and removed from the data set. These participants reported
either more than 24 hours spent in any one media activity (e.g.,
social media, video gaming) or on any one media device (e.g.,
smartphone, computer).
U.S. BENCHMARKS AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF SURVEY SAMPLE
Benchmark Unweighted n
Unweighted
percent Weighted n
Weighted
percent
Age
• 8- to 12-year-olds 46% 560 43% 598 46%
• 13- to 18-year-olds 54% 746 57% 708 54%
Gender
• Boys 51% 657 50% 660 51%
• Girls 49% 635 49% 635 49%
Race/Ethnicity
• White 50% 672 52% 659 51%
• Hispanic/Latino 25% 261 20% 331 25%
• Black 14% 211 16% 177 14%
• Other/2+ races 11% 162 12% 138 11%
Family income*
• <$25,000 12% 145 11% 154 12%
• $25,000 to $49,999 18% 207 16% 229 18%
• $50,000 to $74,999 16% 227 17% 215 17%
• $75,000+ 54% 727 56% 707 54%
*Income breaks used in data analysis were less than $35,000, $35,000 to $99,999, and $100,000 or more. Source of demographic benchmarks: March 2019 American
Community Survey, and March 2020 Supplement of the Current Population Survey, U.S. Census Bureau.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 47© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Measuring media use
All data in this report is based on self-reports. Because of the
range of media activities covered, such as playing video games
on a console player or watching television on a TV set, there is
no “passive” method of data collection that could provide
these reports (e.g., a time measurement app on a smartphone).
In this survey, we asked respondents to focus on the media
activities they engaged in on the previous day, and then we
asked them to estimate the time they spent in each activity on
each type of device. Responses were collected evenly over the
seven days of the week. The primary time-based finding pre-
sented in the report is the average (mean) time spent in each
activity among all tweens or teens. The average reflects how
many young people engaged in the activity, and how much
time they spent doing so. This gives us a quick way of assessing
broad national trends.
Data
Margin of error. The margin of error in the full sample is +/-
3.2%. The margin of error for subgroups is higher.
Statistical significance. Where relevant, differences between
demographic groups (e.g., Whites, Blacks, and Hispanic/
Latinos, or lower-, middle-, or higher-income households), and
changes over time (e.g., changes between video game use in
2019 and video game use in 2021) have been tested for statis-
tical significance. Unless otherwise noted, findings are
referred to in the report in a comparative manner (e.g., “more
than,” “less than”) only if the differences are statistically sig-
nificant at the level of p < .05 (meaning that there is a 95%
chance that the difference is “real,” and not a result of chance).
In tables where statistical significance has been tested, super-
scripts are used to indicate whether results differ significantly.
Items with different superscripts differ significantly; those
that share a common superscript, or that do not have a super-
script, do not differ significantly.
Notation of hours and minutes. Throughout the report, time
spent with media is presented in hours:minutes. For example,
two hours and 10 minutes is represented as 2:10.
Rounding. Percentages will not always add up to 100 due to
rounding, multiple response options, or because those who
marked “don’t know” or who skipped a question were not
included. Times for individual media activities are rounded to
the nearest minute. Time estimates for categories that
combine multiple activities (e.g., total gaming, which includes
console, computer, and mobile gaming) are summed from
unrounded data; the total is then rounded.
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 49© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Santariano, A., & Mac, R. (2021, September 27). Facebook
Delays Instagram App for Users 13 and Under. New York
Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/
technology/facebook-instagram-for-kids.html
Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018).
Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related
outcomes, and suicide rates among US adolescents after
2010 and links to increased new media screen time.
Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376
Wells, G., Horowitz, J., & Seetharaman, D. (2021, September 14).
Facebook Knows Instagram is Toxic for Teen Girls,
Company Documents Show. The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-
is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-
11631620739
Brown, A. (2021, November 3). What is the metaverse — and
why does Mark Zuckerberg care so much about it?, Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/11/03/
zuckerberg-facebook-metaverse-meta-virtual-reality-
oculus/?sh=1f8f15916b69
Chandra, S., Chang, A., Day, L., Fazlullah, A., Liu, J., McBride, L.,
Mudalige, T., & Weiss, D., (2020). Closing the K–12 digital
divide in the age of distance learning. San Francisco, CA:
Common Sense Media. Boston, Massachusetts, Boston
Consulting Group.
Instagram for kids - The social media site no one asked for.
(2021, May 11). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.
com/technology/shortcuts/2021/may/11/instagram-for-kids-the-
social-media-site-no-one-asked-for
Radesky, J. S., Schaller, A., Yeo, S. L., Weeks, H. M., & Robb, M. B.
(2020). Young kids and YouTube: How ads, toys, and games
dominate viewing, 2020. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense
Media.
Rideout, V., Fox, S., Peebles, A., & Robb, M. B. (2021). Coping with
COVID-19: How young people use digital media to manage their
mental health. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense and
Hopelab.
Rideout, V., & Robb, M. B. (2018). Social media, social life: Teens
reveal their experiences. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense
Media.
Rideout, V., & Robb, M. B. (2019). The Common Sense census:
Media use by tweens and teens, 2019. San Francisco, CA:
Common Sense Media.
Rideout, V., & Robb, M. B. (2021). The role of media during the
pandemic: Connection, creativity, and learning for tweens and
teens. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.
Romo, V. (2021, December 8). 4 takeaways from senators’
grilling of Instagram’s CEO about kids and safety.
National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/08/
1062576576/instagrams-ceo-adam-mosseri-hears-senators-
brush-aside-his-promises-to-self-poli
References
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 51© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Appendix: Survey Questionnaire
P1. Which of the following, if any, do you have in your home?
a. Cable TV
b. Satellite TV
c. A subscription to a streaming service like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Hulu
Q1. Which of the following items do you or someone else in your family have in your home?
a. TV set
b. Tablet
c. Smartphone
d. Video game player (such as Xbox, Switch, or PlayStation)
e. Laptop or desktop computer
f. A virtual reality (VR) headset (such as Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, or PlayStation VR)
g. None of the above
Q2. [If have in the home] Which of the following items do YOU PERSONALLY have?
(Not one that belongs to someone else in your house.)
a. Tablet
b. Smartphone
c. Laptop or desktop computer
d. None of the above
Q3. How often do you do each of the following activities?
a. Use social media (such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or Facebook)
b. Play video games on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet
c. Play video games on a console (like Xbox or PlayStation), portable player (like Switch), or computer
d. Watch television
e. Watch videos online (such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch)
f. Listen to podcasts
g. Read for your own enjoyment (not for school or homework), such as books, ebooks, magazines, online articles
h. Use a virtual reality headset
RESPONSE OPTIONS:
1. Every day
2. At least once a week
3. At least once a month
4. Less than once a month
5. Never
52 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Q4. This next question is about what you did YESTERDAY. We want to know whether you did any of the following
activities yesterday. Which of the following activities, if any, did you do YESTERDAY?
a. Use a computer for something other than school or homework
b. Use a tablet for something other than school or homework
c. Use a smartphone for something other than school or homework
d. [If ever do] Play video games on a console or portable player (such as Xbox, Switch, PlayStation)
e. Watch DVDs
f. [If ever do] Watch television on a TV set
g. Write something, such as a story, article, poem or blog (just for fun, not for school or homework)
h. None of the above
Q5. [If wrote something yesterday] When you wrote a story, article, poem, blog, or similar item yesterday
(not for school or homework), what did you use to write it?
a. Computer
b. Tablet
c. Smartphone
d. Wrote it by hand
e. Other
Q6. [If ever read] Did you spend any time reading for your own enjoyment yesterday, not for school or homework?
(Such as books, magazines, online articles, poems, newspapers or ebooks)
a. Yes
b. No
Q7. [If read something for pleasure yesterday] Which of the following did you read for your own enjoyment yesterday?
Do not include anything you read for school or homework.
a. Print books
b. Electronic books, on an e-reader, tablet, or smartphone
c. Online articles, stories, poems, news, or blogs (on a computer, tablet, or smartphone)
d. Magazines (in print)
e. Newspapers (in print)
Q8. Which of the following activities did you do for fun yesterday (not for school or homework)?
Select all the devices on which you did each activity. If you didn’t do an activity, select “Didn’t do.”
a. [If ever do] Use social media (such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or Facebook)
b. [If ever do] Play video games
c. Browse websites
d. Video-chat with friends and family (such as Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, or FaceTime)
e. [If ever do] Watch videos online (such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch)
f. Watch TV shows or movies online (such as on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Hulu)
g. Make your own digital art or music (such as painting, graphics, photo or video editing, making digital music)
h. [If ever do] Read online (such as articles, stories, news, or blogs)
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 53© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
i. Anything else (don’t count texting, but do count anything else that was not school-related, such as shopping, email,
coding, or using other apps)
RESPONSE OPTIONS:
1. Did on a computer
2. Did on a tablet
3. Did on a smartphone
4. Didn’t do
Now we’d like to know how much TIME you spent doing each activity YESTERDAY. For example, if you spent about a half-hour
doing the activity, you would fill out the boxes like this: [0] Hours [30] Minutes. If you spent about two hours doing the activity,
you would fill out the boxes like this: [2] Hours [0] Minutes. If you spent about an hour and 15 minutes doing the activity, you would
fill out the boxes like this: [1] Hours [15] Minutes
Q9. [If did each activity].Thinking JUST ABOUT YESTERDAY, how much time did you spend doing each of the following:
Hours Minutes
a. Watching television on a TV set
b. Watching DVDs
c. Playing video games on a console or portable player (such as Xbox, Switch, or PlayStation)
d. Reading books in print (for something other than school or homework)
e. Reading ebooks, on an e-reader, tablet, or smartphone (for something other than school
or homework)
f. Reading print magazines (for something other than school or homework)
g. Reading print newspapers (for something other than school or homework)
Q10. [If did each activity the previous day] Still thinking just about what you did yesterday, how much time did you spend
USING A COMPUTER for something other than school or homework:
Hours Minutes
a. Using social media on a computer (such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or
Facebook)
b. Playing video games on a computer
c. Browsing websites on a computer
d. Video-chatting on a computer (such as Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, or Face Time)
e. Watching videos on a computer, such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch
f. Watching TV shows or movies on a computer (such as on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+,
or Hulu)
g. Making your own digital art or music (such as painting, graphics, photo or video editing,
making digital music)
h. Reading articles, stories, news, or blogs on a computer (not for school)
i. Writing something on a computer like a story, diary, blog, poem, or article (not for school)
j. Doing anything else on the computer that wasn’t school-related (such as shopping, email,
coding)
54 THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 © COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Q11. [If did each activity the previous day] Continuing to think just about what you did yesterday, how much time did you
spend using A TABLET for something other than school or homework:
Hours Minutes
a. Using social media on a tablet (such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or Facebook)
b. Playing video games on a tablet
c. Browsing websites on a tablet
d. Video-chatting on a tablet (such as Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, or Face Time)
e. Watching videos on a tablet, such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch
f. Watching TV shows or movies on a tablet (such as on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Hulu)
g. Making your own digital art or music (such as painting, graphics, photo or video editing,
making digital music)
h. Reading articles, stories, news, or blogs on a tablet (not for school)
i. Writing something on a tablet like a story, diary, blog, poem, or article (not for school)
j. Doing anything else on a tablet that wasn’t school-related (such as such as shopping, email, or
using other apps)
Q12. Finally, how much time did you spend using A SMARTPHONE yesterday:
Hours Minutes
a. Using social media on a smartphone (such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, or
Facebook)
b. Playing video games on a smartphone
c. Browsing websites on a smartphone
d. Video-chatting on a smartphone (such as Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, or Face Time)
e. Watching videos on a smartphone, such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch
f. Watching TV shows or movies on a smartphone (such as on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+,
or Hulu)
g. Making your own digital art or music (such as painting, graphics, photo or video editing,
making digital music)
h. Reading articles, stories, news, or blogs on a smartphone (not for school)
i. Writing something on a smartphone like a story, diary, blog, poem, or article (not for school)
j. Doing anything else on the smartphone that wasn’t school-related (don’t count texting, but do
count time spent on other activities such as shopping, email, or using other apps)
THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS, 2021 55© COMMON SENSE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Q13. [If ever do each activity] How much do you ENJOY doing each of the following activities?
a. Reading
b. Watching television
c. Watching videos online (such as on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch)
d. Using social media (such as Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook)
e. Playing video games on a console (like Xbox or PlayStation), portable player (like Switch), or computer
f. Playing video games on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet
g. Using a VR headset
h. Listening to podcasts
RESPONSE OPTIONS:
1. A lot
2. Somewhat
3. Only a little
4. Not at all
Q14. [If use social media at least once a week] Which online sites, if any, do you use?
a. Discord
b. Facebook
c. Instagram
d. Pinterest
e. Reddit
f. Snapchat
g. TikTok
h. Tumblr
i. Twitter
j. YouTube
k. Other (specify)
Q15. Which site do you use the most?
Q16. Which site do you use second most often?
Q17. If you had to pick one online site you didn’t want to live without, which would it be?
© 2022 Common Sense Media. All rights reserved. Common Sense, associated names, associated trademarks,
and logos are trademarks of Common Sense Media, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (FEIN: 41-2024986).
About Common Sense
Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing
the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice
they need to thrive in the 21st century. Our independent research
is designed to provide parents, educators, health organizations,
and policymakers with reliable, independent data on children’s use
of media and technology and the impact it has on their physical,
emotional, social, and intellectual development. For more informa-
tion, visit commonsense.org/research.
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