Pew Research has returned with another episode of “Here’s What Americans Are Doing on Their Phones Instead of Living Their Actual Lives.” This time, they surveyed 5,000 people to figure out which social apps we “ever use.” Yes. Ever.
Not “love,” not “depend on,” not “lose hours of your life while ignoring responsibilities.” Just: “Have you opened it at least once this year?”
A scientific masterpiece.
According to Pew, YouTube and Facebook still run the United States like overworked mall Santas, tired, outdated, but somehow impossible to avoid. A solid 71% of Americans say they “never use” Facebook, which is hilarious considering the number of people who swear they “never go on there anymore.”
But we all know what happens. You delete the app in a wave of self-righteousness, spend two weeks feeling superior, and then reinstall it because your cousin had a baby or someone started drama in your neighborhood group.
And Pew has a whole chart proving YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram lead the pack, while TikTok, WhatsApp, and Reddit quietly plot their takeover. You can see the chart on Pew’s site, if graphs excite you more than human friendship.
Of course, Pew’s question, asking only if you ever open an app, basically means Facebook gets points simply because people check it like some dreary, socially-obligated chore. If Instagram is a party and TikTok is a casino, then Facebook is the family reunion you endure once a week out of guilt.
Pew tries to get fancy by asking Americans how often they visit each app. Not how much time they sacrifice. Not how many brain cells they lose. Just… how often they tap the icon. So again, Facebook comes out looking like the nation’s favorite child, when in reality it’s the child people “visit” daily out of habit, not love.
And honestly, of course Facebook gets daily traffic. It’s where people go to spy on high school classmates, check if their uncle has gone full conspiracy theorist yet, and skim through a feed full of Reels jammed in there by Meta like a toddler aggressively stuffing toys into a backpack.
But without actual time spent data, this “daily use” metric is about as meaningful as counting how many times you walk into your kitchen. It doesn’t mean you cook.
Pew also added Threads to the survey for the first time. And according to the results, a noble 8% of Americans now use Threads, while Bluesky wrangles a humble 4%, and X (yeah, okay, Twitter) still commands 21%.
Threads is basically the golden retriever puppy of social apps, adorable, energetic, and confused. X is more like the raccoon rummaging through your trash at 3 a.m., you don’t love it, but you keep checking the window anyway.
Is X losing ground? Maybe. Is Threads catching up? Slowly. Is Bluesky relevant yet? Only if you enjoy apps where everyone is still pretending to enjoy the vibe.
Pew also reports that younger users are all-in on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. In other news: water is wet.
Teens treat Facebook the way they treat landlines, something their parents cling to while reminiscing about “simpler times.” Meanwhile, they’re living in three different apps simultaneously, communicating through filters, memes, and cryptic emoji patterns.
Pew’s results give us a general sense of what people “ever use,” which is adorable, but also wildly incomplete. Without measuring time spent, aka the true indicator of digital addiction, this report is basically a census of apps that Americans tap by accident or out of obligation.
Sure, Facebook may look like the undefeated heavyweight champion. But until Pew asks, “Which app eats the most hours of your life and gives nothing back?” We're still living in data fantasy-land.
Spoiler: TikTok would destroy everyone.
