Social

Social media

Feeds, stories, and messages. The apps differ. The habit is the same: other people’s eyes, and no last page.

Looked at November 10, 2026.

What a parent needs to know

Most of them are on YouTube first
Pew’s 2023 count of U.S. teens, 13 to 17, put YouTube at about 93 percent. After that came TikTok (63), Snapchat (60), and Instagram (59). A house that only watches one app is watching the wrong door.
Thirteen is a legal line
Many apps ask for 13 because of a privacy law. That is not a finding that the child is ready. Readiness is judgment, sleep, and whether they can put it down.
The feed does not end
A show has a last scene. A feed asks for the next one. Temperance is the measure that fails first.

What counts?
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and the group chats inside games. If other people perform for your child, and your child can perform back, it is this.
Are they ready?
Look at the rest of the day. If they keep a promise, sleep, and can be bored, you have something to build on. If they cannot leave a game, they cannot leave a feed.
What do you set?
A private account, no messages from strangers, a time, and a room in the house where the phone does not go. The settings matter less than the reason you give.

More than two thirds of teens in recent counts say they struggle to put the phone down. The ones who use the short-video apps report it most.
- The phone charges outside the bedroom.
- No app in the hour before sleep.
- If mood, food, or friends change after a new app, the app pauses.

Under 13
No social account. YouTube, if at all, on a profile you own, with search limited and autoplay off. The TV is in the room with you.
13–15
One app, private, time-boxed, phone out of the bedroom. You can open it. They know that.
16 and up
More trust, same rooms and same sleep. The agreement gets rewritten with them, not thrown away.