--- title: 5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology description: A new study reveals some surprising facts about kids and tech canonical: https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/ author: Heather Jones article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-03T05:01:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:18.262Z og:title: 5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology og:description: And five facts that explain how they really do og:url: https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology twitter:description: And five facts that explain how they really do twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology by [Heather Jones](https://time.com/author/heather-jones/) and [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/) Nov 3, 2015 5:01 AM UTC by [Heather Jones](https://time.com/author/heather-jones/) and [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/) Nov 3, 2015 5:01 AM UTC You’re not imagining it. According to a robust new study from [Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/), both tweens and teens spend an inordinate amount of time on their screens, an average of four and half hours for tweens (from 8 to 12 years of age) and six and half hours for teens (13 to 18 years of age). But those numbers hide a more complex picture, one with some obvious truths and some surprises. The study looked at a wide range of media-related activities, from old school faves like reading and listening to the radio, through more recent arrivals, such as using social media and video chatting. More than 2,600 kids were surveyed, using a large national sample. The researchers asked the kids about what devices they used and how much time they spent on them. They also looked at how differences in gender, wealth and race were reflected in media consumption. And they asked how the kids got their media, where they were most likely to turn for videos or music or print. Here’s a handy graphical representation of what they found:  ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/"},"headline":"5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology","datePublished":"2015-11-03T05:01:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:18.262Z","description":"A new study also reveals five surprising facts about kids and tech","url":"https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/","keywords":["Living","Parenting","Teens","Media","Tech","screens"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Heather Jones","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/heather-jones/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096797/teens-media-phone-use-myths-truths/","name":"5 Myths About How Teens Use Technology"}}]}] ```