Nearly three-quarters of U.S. teens say they feel happy or peaceful when they do not have their phones with them, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

In a new survey, Pew also found that despite the positive associations with going phone-free, most teens have not limited their phone or social media use.

The survey came as policymakers and children’s advocates are growing increasingly concerned with teens’ relationships with their phones and social media. Last fall, dozens of states, including California and New York, sued Instagram and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children. In January, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about their platforms’ harms to young people.

Despite the increasing concerns, most teens say smartphones make it easier to be creative and pursue hobbies, while 45 percent said these devices help them do well in school. Most teens said the benefits of having a smartphone outweigh the harms for people their age. Nearly all U.S. teens (95 percent) have access to a smartphone, according to Pew.

Most teens say smartphones make it a little or a lot easier for people their age to pursue hobbies and interests (69 percent) and be creative (65 percent). Close to half (45 percent) say these devices have made it easier for youth to do well in school.

Here are some of the survey’s other findings.

• About half of parents (47 percent) say they limit the amount of time their teen can be on their phone, while a similar share (48 percent) do not do this.
• Roughly 4 in 10 parents and teens (38 percent each) say they sometimes argue with each other about how much time their teen spends on the phone.
• Forty-two percent of teens say smartphones make learning good social skills harder, while 30 percent said it makes it easier.

About half of the parents said they spend too much time on their phones. Higher-income parents were likelier to say this than those in lower income buckets.

Teens, we understand that balancing your smartphone use is challenging. For some tips on how to wisely navigate this, read the Ambassador Youth article “Manage Your Screen Time.”

This report contains information from The Associated Press.