• by Wayne Friedman , January 16, 2014

Teens' online use of tablets, smartphones and connected TVs, is growing -- now it's up to some four hours a day.

Research company GfK’s MultiMedia Mentor report says that for teens 13-17, time on online grew 37% in the spring of 2013 compared with the first months of 2012. By contrast, online usage in terms of minutes remained essentially flat for other consumers: 18-64, 18-54, and 18-49.

Time on tablets grew 157% to more than a half-hour a day for teens; smartphone time was 72% higher to over an hour a day; and connected TV usage added 86% to 13 minutes a day.

Teens' smartphone ownership jumped to 55% from 35%, with tablet ownership improving to 37% from 18% on year-to-year comparisons.

GfK says much of the growth has been due to inexpensive pricing on tablets and smartphones, as well as a broader array of capabilities for those devices -- streaming video, music, and shopping. In addition, it says laptop/desktop computer usage is also a major device area for teens.

The GfK study tracked eight key media platforms and demographic information from 2,642 online interviews of people 13 to 64 between February and July 2013.

"Teenagers looking at mobile phone" photo from Shutterstock.

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