How Many Teens Use Social Media Every Day? New Federal Data Gives an Answer Education Week
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For the first time in its history, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey asked teens about their social media use.
In 2023, 77 percent of high school students used social media several times a day, according to the survey, which was conducted in the spring and had responses from more than 20,000 high school students.
The new survey question was added in response to the rising concerns about the youth mental health crisis and conversations about the role social media use has played in that, said Kathleen Ethier, the director of adolescent and school health for the CDC, in an interview.
Addressingadolescents’worseningmentalhealthhasbeenatoppriorityforschooldistrictsandpolicymakersinrecentyears.Manyofthesolutionsdealwithlesseningtheimpactofsocialmediaplatforms,whichareoftencalledoutasthedrivingforcebehindthesurgeinyouthmentalhealthchallenges.
Morethan200schooldistrictshavesuedmajorsocialmediacompaniesovertheirplatforms’roleintheyouthmentalhealthcrisis.Schoolsacro
