Social media has given teens the ability to instantly connect with others and share their lives through photos, videos and status updates. Teens themselves depict these platforms equally a key tool for connecting and maintaining relationships, beingness creative, and learning more well-nigh the world. But they also must contend with more negative aspects of social media employ, such as drama and bullying or feeling pressure to present themselves in a sure way.

Teens post about a range of topics on social media, with posts well-nigh their accomplishments or family playing an especially prominent role

While about half of teens post their accomplishments on social media, few discuss their religious or political beliefs Older girls especially likely to post a variety of subjects on social mediaWhen asked what topics they post virtually on social media, roughly one-half of teens say they post virtually their accomplishments on social media, while 44% say they post most their family. Around i-third (34%) say they share things related to their emotions and feelings on these sites, while 22% study posting most their dating life. Relatively few teens – around ane-in-10 – say they share things related to their personal problems or their religious or political beliefs on social media.

At that place are some age and gender differences in the topics teens share on social media. Older teens are more than probable than their younger counterparts to mail service well-nigh their romantic relationships: 26% of teens ages 15 to 17 say they post almost their dating life on social media, compared with 16% of 13- to 14-year-olds.

Meanwhile, girls are more likely than boys to say they postal service about their family (53% vs. 36%), their emotions and feelings (40% vs. 29%) or their religious behavior (14% vs. 7%). And older girls are especially probable to post almost a diversity of subjects – including their dating lives, their family, their emotions and their religious or political beliefs, compared with older boys or younger teens.

Selfies may be popular on social media, but effectually half of teens say they rarely or never mail these images

Although the proliferation of smartphones has given teens the ability to constantly share dissimilar aspects of their lives, this survey finds that many teens regularly forego posting selfies, videos or other updates of their lives to social media.

selfies and things only their closest friends would understand, but relatively few say they do this oftenSome 45% of teens say they often or sometimes post selfies on social media, with 16% proverb they do this often. Similar shares of teens say they at least sometimes post things only their closest friends would understand (l%), updates on where they are or what they're doing (42%) or videos they've recorded (41%). A smaller share of teens written report regularly posting things that they want to get viral (29%). Notably, in each example close to half or more of teens say they rarely or never share these types of posts on social media.

There is some demographic variation in the types of content teens say they mail service to social media. Girls are much more than likely than boys to post selfies: Six-in-ten girls say they often or sometimes do this, compared with 30% of boys. And while two-thirds of black teens and almost one-half (51%) of Hispanic teens report regularly sharing selfies on social media, that share drops to 39% among white youth. Black teens are also much more likely than whites to say they at least sometimes post things they desire to go viral (41% vs. 25%).

Teens mostly believe social media helps deepen friendships and are more probable to equate their social media use with positive emotions – but this positivity is far from unanimous

Most teens say social media better connects them to their friends' lives and feelings, but some also feel overwhelmed by the drama on these sitesA central chat surrounding social media and young people is the impact these platforms may be having on the emotional well-being of teens. A majority of teens believe social media has had a positive bear on on various aspects of their lives, the survey finds. Fully 81% of teens say social media makes them feel more than connected to what's going on in their friends' lives, with 37% saying information technology makes them experience "a lot" more connected. Similarly, almost vii-in-ten teens say these sites make them feel more in bear on with their friends' feelings (69%), that they accept people who volition support them through tough times (68%), or that they have a place to bear witness their creative side (71%).

But although sizable shares of teens run into positive experiences on social media, some report encountering drama or feeling pressure to present themselves in a certain way. Some 45% of teens say they feel overwhelmed by all the drama on social media, while roughly 4-in-10 say they experience pressure to only post content that makes them look good to others or that will get lots of comments or likes. Others believe social media has had a negative impact on their self-esteem: 26% of teens say these sites make them feel worse about their own life. Still, just 4% of teens indicate these platforms make them feel "a lot" worse about their life.

Teens are more likely to say social media makes them feel more included and confident rather than excluded or insecureThe survey also presented teens with 4 pairs of words and asked them to cull the sentiment that most closely matches how they feel when using social media. In each instance, teens are more likely to acquaintance their social media use with generally positive rather than negative feelings. Past relatively large margins, teens indicate that social media makes them feel included rather than excluded (71% vs. 25%), confident rather than insecure (69% vs. 26%), authentic rather than false (64% vs. 33%) and outgoing rather than reserved (61% vs. 34%).

Interestingly, there are few demographic differences on these questions. For example, teen boys and girls are similarly likely to view their social media employ in these ways, as are older and younger teens.

Roughly four-in-ten teens say they regularly unfriend or unfollow people on social media – citing drama as their nigh common reason for doing so

44% of teens say they at least sometimes unfriend or unfollow people on social media …Just as relationships go forged and reinforced on social media, friendships tin turn sour and require teens to prune their friend or follower lists. More than than iv-in-ten teens (44%) say they at least sometimes unfriend or unfollow people on social media, including xiv% who say they do this often. But a somewhat larger share of teens say they engage in this behavior relatively sparingly. But over half of young people report that they rarely (39%) or never (14%) unfriend or unfollow people on social media.

Teens who at to the lowest degree sometimes unfriend or unfollow people provide several reasons for deleting people from their friend lists on social media. But by far the most common reason (mentioned by 78% of teens who engage in this behavior) is that the person in question is simply creating likewise much drama.

In addition, more than than half of these teens (54%) say they accept unfriended or unfollowed someone because that person posted too much or likewise oftentimes, and a similar share disconnected from someone because the person bullied them or others.

A smaller share of these teens say they unfollow others considering they act differently online than in person (43%) or mail service political views they disagree with (22%).

In general, girls are more agile than boys at disconnecting from others on social media. Roughly half of girls (52%) say they at least sometimes unfriend or unfollow people, compared with 35% of boys. And girls are near twice equally likely as boys to say they ofttimes unfriend or unfollow people on these platforms (eighteen% vs. 10%). Only among youth who do engage in this do, boys and girls largely do so for similar reasons – with one exception. Boys are more than likely than girls to say they've unfriended or unfollowed someone because that person posted too much or too frequently (67% of boys who regularly unfriend say this vs. 46% of girls).

Majorities of teens say social media helps them find unlike points of view and show support for causes, while fewer think of these sites equally a source of trustworthy data

Majorities of teens say social media helps peers talk to a diverse group of people, support causes; fewer think it helps teens find trustworthy informationMajorities of teens believe social media helps people their age diversify their networks, broaden their viewpoints and get involved with issues they care nigh. Roughly 2-thirds of teens say social networking sites helps teens at least some to interact with people from different backgrounds (69%), while a similar share credits social media with helping teens discover unlike points of view (67%) or helping teens show their back up for causes or issues (66%).

But much like older generations, relatively few teens think of social media platforms as a source of trustworthy data. Overall, 37% of teens think that social media helps people their age find trustworthy data – and only 7% remember these sites assistance "a lot" in that respect.

Older teens are more likely than their younger peers to believe social media helps teens interact with people from diverse backgrounds. Fully 76% of xv-to 17-year-olds say this, compared with 59% of those ages 13 to 14. By a slightly lesser margin, older teens are more likely to say these platforms help people their age find diverse viewpoints (71% of older teens say this, vs. 60% of younger teens). Meanwhile, teens of all ages are similarly skeptical about social media's role as a source of trustworthy data.

Only minorities of teens regularly restrict access to their social media posts to prevent parents or other people from seeing the content

Among teens, deleting or restricting their social media posts is relatively uncommonWhile some youth play an active role in controlling the content they see in their social media feeds and preventing various figures of authority from viewing what they post in that location, a big share of teens rarely curate their online presence in this fashion.

At a broad level, 46% of teens say they at least sometimes organize their feeds to only see certain types of content, although only 15% say they exercise this often. Indeed, 29% of teens say they never organize their social feeds in this fashion.

It is even rarer for teens to delete or restrict admission to their posts because they might exist seen by their parents or negatively touch them in the futurity. But one-tertiary of teens say they often or sometimes delete or restrict access to things they share on social media because they are concerned it could negatively impact them later in life. And about iii-in-x teens say they delete or restrict posts because they don't want their parents to view them. In both cases, simply effectually one-in-x young people say they exercise this often – and a plurality says they never exercise so.

In that location are too few demographic differences in deleting or restricting social media posts because it could negatively impact them in the future or because they don't want their parents to see what they've posted. But there are some historic period differences when it comes to taking steps to organize social media feeds. Older teens are more likely than their younger peers to say they regularly organize their feed in this style (51% of 15- to 17-yr-olds do this vs. 37% of those ages 13 to fourteen).