What parents say about their teen’s uses of social media

X Facebook Threads LinkedIn WhatsApp Mail Add Us On Google By Michelle Faverio, Eugenie Park and Jeffrey Gottfried Table of Contents Teens’ Experiences on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat How teens’ experiences on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat vary by race, ethnicity and gender What parents say about their teen’s uses of social media Appendix: Detailed table Acknowledgments Methodology About this research This study is Pew Research Center’s latest effort to explore the landscape of teens and technology today. It focuses on social media and how the views and experiences of teens vary across sites. This study focuses on three widely used sites by teens: TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. And it unpacks their parents’ views, too.

The Center conducts research to inform the public, journalists and decision-makers. Tracking the use of social media and understanding the experiences of teens and their parents today have been key priorities for us over the years. This study brings those two areas together.

Teens are often at the forefront of technology use, and social media sites are no different: Our December report showed that most teens use social media. It’s important to understand how social media play a role in teens’ daily lives – as well as how their parents feel about it.

We surveyed 1,458 U.S. teens and their parents online from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9, 2025. Our data collection partner Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents, who were part of its KnowledgePanel.

Findings about teens’ views and experiences represent the views of all U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with their parents.

Findings about parents’ views and experiences represent the views of all U.S. parents of teens ages 13 to 17.

For both teens and parents, the overall margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. For the margin of errors of subgroups, refer to the methodology.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra. An IRB is an independent committee of experts that helps to protect the rights of research participants.

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and the survey methodology­­­.

Warnings about the potential harms of social media for youth are everywhere – some even targeting specific apps.

To see if parents’ outlook shift by platform, we surveyed 1,458 U.S. parents of teens ages 13 to 17.

We asked parents about how they think social media generally impact their teen. And for the first time, we followed up with their views on three widely used platforms: TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Here are our key questions:

This is part of a larger study about teens and social media. For teens’ own experiences and views on these three platforms, check out the main report.

In general, parents lean more negative than positive when it comes to social media’s impact on their teen’s lives.

Sleep and productivity: Roughly four-in-ten parents say social media hurt the amount of sleep their teens get and their productivity. Relatively few think it helps in these areas.

Mental health: Parents are also more likely to think social media hurt rather than help their teen’s mental health (24% vs. 8%).

Friendships: By contrast, parents are more positive about the role these platforms play in teen friendship. About one-in-five say social media help their teen’s friendships, compared with 13% who say it hurts.

Still, it’s worth noting that about a quarter or more don’t think they have much impact on their teen in these ways.

Related: Teens, Social Media and Mental Health

Do parents and teens see screen time the same way?

To find out, we asked parents about the amount of time their teens spend on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. And we asked teens about their own screen time.

Parents are more likely to label their teen’s screen time as “too much” than teens themselves.

Among parents whose teen uses TikTok, 44% think their teen spends too much time on the app, compared with 28% of teens who say the same.

The share of parents who say the same of Snapchat and Instagram is lower. But the same pattern continues for both, with parents being more likely than teens to describe their teens’ use of these sites as excessive.

Few parents say the time their teen spends on any of the sites is too little. And about four-in-ten or more across each say the amount of screen time is about right.

Additionally, we asked parents about their comfort level with their teen using these sites.

Parents are most comfortable with their teen using Instagram. About six-in-ten parents whose teen uses Instagram say so. Still, roughly half say the same of TikTok and Snapchat.

Additionally, among those whose teen uses TikTok, about three-in-ten say they’re uncomfortable with their teen being on the site. And a similar share say this of Snapchat. This figure drops for Instagram (16%).

Parents whose teen doesn’t use each platform are most uncomfortable with TikTok. Among parents who say their teen doesn’t use each platform or doesn’t know if they do:

Social media are no longer the new technologies on the block. And parents have long expressed concerns about how social media may impact their teens.

In fact, most parents (85%) say they talk with their teen about using social media. Far fewer say they don’t have these conversations.

And this is common practice for parents regardless of gender, race and ethnicity, or household income.

In some ways, parents’ views of their teen using social media differ by household income. Higher-income parents are more likely to say their teen spends too much time on TikTok. Among parents of a TikTok user, about half of parents living in households earning $75,000 or more a year say their teen spends too much time on the app. This drops to 36% among those in households earning less than $75,000 annually.

We see a similar pattern when it comes to parents’ views about Snapchat. Those in the highest earning households are more likely to describe their teen’s use of it as excessive.

There are no statistically significant differences by income for parents who say this of Instagram.

Go to: What parents say about their teen’s AI use to read about how parents experiences also vary by household income.

There are also differences in how parents view its impact on their teen’s productivity. Parents in households earning $75,000 or more annually are more likely than those earning less to say social media negatively impact their teen’s productivity (41% vs. 29%).

A similar pattern emerges when it comes to mental health and friendships. But there are no income differences for sleep.