--- title: Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones description: Half of teenagers feel they spend too much time on their smartphones, and many are worried about their social media and video game use. canonical: https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-22T14:57:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:51:48.705Z article:section: Health og:title: More Than Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones og:description: And girls are worried about their social media use og:url: https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f9a1de93bba74b/698938398fd2ee426335c6c7/gettyimages-944229224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5700 og:image:height: 3206 og:image:alt: Rear view of family sitting on sofa at home og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More Than Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones twitter:description: And girls are worried about their social media use twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f9a1de93bba74b/698938398fd2ee426335c6c7/gettyimages-944229224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More Than Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 22, 2018 2:57 PM UTC  Getty Images/Maskot  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 22, 2018 2:57 PM UTC Parents aren’t the only ones worried about how much time teens spend on their phones, a [new Pew report](http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/08/22/how-teens-and-parents-navigate-screen-time-and-device-distractions/) suggests. Teens aren’t crazy about it either: More than half (54%) think they spend too much time on their smartphones. Girls also tend to think they spend too much time on social media while boys are more likely to think they spend too much time playing video games. The report drew its results from two surveys in March — one of almost 750 adolescents 13 to 17 years old and one of more than 1,000 parents. The results indicate that some less-than-optimal behaviors are developing around smartphones, which [95% of teens now use](http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/). Almost 45% of teens say they often checked their phones for notifications and messages as soon as they wake up. More than 30% of teens say they sometimes lose focus in class because they’re distracted by their phones. And almost half of girls (49%) that age report feeling anxious if they don’t have their phones with them. But it also revealed a modicum of self-awareness about the [perils of too much screen time](http://time.com/4974863/kids-smartphones-depression/). A full 17% of teens say they feel happy and relieved when they don’t have their phones with them. More than half (52%) say they have taken steps to ease up on mobile phone use, and even more have attempted to limit their use of social media (57%) and video games (58%). Almost two thirds of parents worry about their kids’ screen time, and more than half have put [limits](http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/01/07/how-parents-monitor-their-teens-digital-behavior/) in place. That’s encouraging, says Devorah Heitner, author of [_Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in a Digital World_](https://www.raisingdigitalnatives.com/about/) (who was not involved with the study). She says that looking at the effect of media on your life is more important than measuring the quantity. For teens who in a prior era would have spent hours talking on the landline, a lot of time on social media may not be much of a difference. “But if getting on social media or playing lots of video games is having an effect on your mental health, sleep or your relationships, you should think about making some changes,” she says. While it’s too soon to tell what the effects of carrying around such a highly powered and effective communication-information-entertainment device will have on young minds, [not everybody has Heitner’s optimistic outlook](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/). Even [some of those](http://time.com/5298442/apple-software-iphone-addiction/) who participated in the creation and refinement of smartphones and the apps and websites that feed them have [begun to have second thoughts](http://time.com/5139859/smartphone-addiction-solutions/). However, while the study found that 72% of parents sometimes find it hard to get their kids’ attention away from their screens, more than half of teens say it’s the parents who can be hard to talk to when they are on their phones. And more parents than teens feel obligated to respond to any messages that come in on their phones immediately. Parents are also more likely to be distracted by phones than kids are during the working day. Heitner suggests that families have a discussion about how to be less distracted in a constructive, non-accusatory way. “Look at the problem of distraction together,” she says. “The most important thing is that nobody feels guilty or defensive.” And if changes are called for, don’t try to be radical, like throwing out everybody’s phones. Perhaps start by plugging in the phone away from the bed. “Just change one small habit,” says Heitner. “All the research suggests that’s the most effective way.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/"},"headline":"More Than Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones","datePublished":"2018-08-22T14:57:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:51:48.705Z","description":"And girls are worried about their social media use","url":"https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Tech","Living","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f9a1de93bba74b/698938398fd2ee426335c6c7/gettyimages-944229224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f9a1de93bba74b/698938398fd2ee426335c6c7/gettyimages-944229224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rear view of family sitting on sofa at home","caption":"Rear view of family sitting on sofa at home","creditText":"Getty Images/Maskot","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5373159/teens-smartphones-anxiety/","name":"More Than Half of Teens Think They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones"}}]}] ```