More than 70% of teens feel more peaceful without their phones while some say it makes them feel lonely, Pew research shows

The latest research from Pew showed that nearly three-quarters of teenagers feel at ease without their phones at times, but half of teens surveyed also said they still feel anxiety without their device.

New data from the Pew Research Center titled "How Teens and Parents Approach Screen Time" explored how teens and parents are reacting to the amount of time they use their devices, how it makes them feel, and how they feel without it.

While four in 10 teenagers said they spend too much time on their phones, just 27% of American teens said they spend too much time on social media.

It is generally girls who are more likely to say they have tried to cut back on their use of their phone or social media, although the majority (61.5%) of both genders said they have not.

However, it is teenagers' emotions regarding how they feel when they are not with their devices that is perhaps most telling. When it comes to what they feel when they do not have their smartphone with them, 74% said they often or sometimes feel happy. At the same time, 72% said that they often or sometimes feel peaceful.

The troubling responses come in the form of feelings of anxiety, which 44% said they often or sometimes feel, while becoming upset or lonely was noted by 40% and 39% of teenagers, respectively.

Older girls are the most likely category to feel anxious without their phones. The majority of girls 15 to 17 years old (55%) have felt this, which was 15 points higher than the next closest demographic of younger teen girls ages 13 to 14.

The children believe that their phones' benefit outweighs the harms they may cause, however, with 70% agreeing with that sentiment. Why? They say phones make it easier to pursue their hobbies and interests (69%) or be creative (65%), while around half of the responding teenagers said that it helps them "do well in school" (45%).

Teens and parents have different views on adults' cell phone usage, too. Teenagers who say that their parent is often or sometimes distracted by their phone when having a conversation with them totaled 46%. Parents disagreed, with just 31% saying they were too distracted to carry on conversations with their kids at times.

None of this has stopped parents from looking through their teenagers phones, however.

Half of parents surveyed said they look through their teen's smartphone, and most of the kids have noticed, too. It seems 43% of teens seemed to be aware their parents were looking into what they do on their phones, although that figure could also include kids who were suspicious of innocent parents.

According to Pew, 1,453 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, along with their parents, were surveyed between Sept. 26 and Oct. 23, 2023, for the study.

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