Where the public stands on social media and smartphones in the United States and Europe (May 2024)

Key Findings:

• A majority of adults don’t go more than two hours without checking their phone.

• Around half of all adults feel that they are spending too much time on their phone.

• Concern about social media’s negatives is stronger in the UK and France, and weaker in Germany. The US is in the middle.

• In every country, more people would prefer to live in a world where social media was never invented than believe social has made the world better off, but only one in four wish they lived in a world without smartphones.

• Majorities wish they lived in a world without TikTok in every country except the US (where 47% agree).

• Overwhelming majorities everywhere believe social media is harming children, with the highest levels (79%) in France.

• Only about one in four people think the dangers of social media are often exaggerated, while three in four feel not enough attention is being paid to those dangers.

• A majority feel the government is not doing enough to regulate social media in each country except the US, which may be the result of recent government actions against TikTok.

• Regulation of social media is a unifying issue across the political spectrum – the differences between voters for major parties are small.

• TikTok, ‘X’ and Snapchat are most strongly regarded as a ‘force for bad’. YouTube, WhatsApp and LinkedIn are seen more favorably.

• The strongest public support for regulation centers on age controls and measures to protect children, with majorities in every country supporting a ban on social media for under 15 year olds and for enforcing a total ban on smartphones during the school day for children.

• Young men are the only group to think that the world is better off with social media.

• Support for regulation of social media has increased markedly since 2021 in the UK, Germany and France.

You can find a summary of key comparative findings across the US, UK, France and Germany here 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪

Detailed findings on the US can be found here 🇺🇸

Detailed findings on the UK can be found here 🇬🇧

Detailed findings on France (in French) can be found here 🇫🇷

As ever, we hope this work is helpful to you.

If you’d like to know more about this project and to ask for a complete data set, please contact Ed Hodgson at ed@moreincommon.com

More in Common is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by their rules.