CV NEWS FEED // According to a recent Pew Research study titled “How Parents and Teens Approach Screen Time,” a significant percentage of teens reported feeling “happy” or “peaceful” when they don’t have their phones.
While the report of the study notes that “Teens encounter a range of emotions when they don’t have their phones,” 74% said they often or sometimes felt happy, and 72% said they often or sometimes felt peaceful when they did not have access to their phones.
The survey conducted by Pew Research included results from 1,453 US teens ages 13 to 17, between September 26 and October 23 2023.
“Smaller but notable shares of teens equate not having their phone with more negative emotions,” the report continued. “Teens say not having their phone at least sometimes makes them feel anxious(44%), upset (40%) and lonely (39%).”
A small minority of teens ranging from 7% to 32% said they “often” felt these emotions.
The report found that older girls, aged 15 to 17 are more likely than younger girls, and teen boys older or younger, to say they “at least sometimes” feel anxious when they don’t have their phones.
In addition, the report also found that “45% of teen girls say not having their phone makes them feel lonely regularly, compared with 34% of teen boys.”
Overall, the majority of teens, about 70%, said they believed “the benefits of smartphones outweigh the harms for people their age,” while 30% said the opposite.
