Findmykids data from teenagers ages 13\u201318 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia shows that nighttime phone activity is widespread, but it is concentrated at the edges of the night. Video and streaming account for the largest share of nighttime screen time, while activity between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. is the lowest point of the night.<\/p>\n
Across all four countries, most teenagers with app-usage telemetry opened at least one app between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at least once during the week. The rate was 93.6% in the United States, 91.5% in Canada, 89.6% in Australia, and 89.4% in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
These figures should not be read as the share of teenagers who stay awake all night. The study defines \u201cnight\u201d as an eight-hour window beginning at 10 p.m., so a teenager is counted even if they briefly use a phone before bed or after waking early.<\/p>\n
\u201cActive at night\u201d means at least one app opening between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. during the week. It does not mean the teenager stayed awake through the night.<\/p>\n
The non-overlapping two-hour windows reveal a clearer nighttime profile. In the U.S., among nights when a teenager was active, 75.9% included activity between 10 p.m. and midnight, 39.2% between midnight and 2 a.m., 28.4% between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., and 57.7% between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.<\/p>\n
The same broad shape appears in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia: activity is high before midnight, falls toward the middle of the night, and then rises again in the early morning.<\/p>\n
Teen phone use at night is not evenly distributed. The data shows two active edges \u2014 bedtime and early morning \u2014 with the lowest activity between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.<\/p>\n
The weekday\/weekend comparison helps explain the rise in activity between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. In the United States, that window appeared in 66.7% of active weekday nights but only 35.7% of active weekend nights. The same pattern appeared in the U.K. (47.2% vs. 24.0%), Canada (48.9% vs. 24.0%) and Australia (27.0% vs. 18.9%).<\/p>\n
By contrast, activity between 10 p.m. and midnight was higher on weekend nights in every country. In the U.S., the window appeared in 89.0% of active weekend nights compared with 70.6% of active weekday nights.<\/p>\n
This suggests two different behaviors at the edges of the night: later evening phone use is more characteristic of weekends, while much of the 4\u20136 a.m. activity is associated with weekday morning routines.<\/p>\n
The high 4\u20136 a.m. figures should not be described as teenagers \u201cstaying up until morning.\u201d The weekday pattern indicates that much of this activity reflects early wake-ups.<\/p>\n
Among the four countries, U.S. teenagers recorded the highest share with any nighttime activity: 93.6%. Teenagers with nighttime activity had a median of 256 minutes of nighttime screen time per week and 12.9 nighttime sessions per week, across an average of 5.6 nights.<\/p>\n
The mean was substantially higher than the median \u2014 441 minutes per week in the U.S. \u2014 indicating that a smaller group of very heavy nighttime users pulls the average upward. For describing a typical teenager, the median is therefore the more appropriate measure.<\/p>\n
Comparable median nighttime screen time was 209 minutes per week in Canada, 218 minutes in Australia, and 186 minutes in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Average nighttime screen time is strongly influenced by a smaller group of heavy users. Median values better represent the typical teenager in this dataset.<\/p>\n
What teenagers do on their phones at night is also important. Video and streaming were the largest identifiable category in every country, accounting for 43.4% of nighttime hours in the U.S., 50.7% in the U.K., 45.8% in Canada, and 46.6% in Australia.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., social media accounted for 13.7% of nighttime hours, messaging for 10.8%, games for 4.4%, browser\/search for 6.2%, and education for only 0.2%. A further 13.4% remained unclassified because rare, system, local, or ambiguous apps could not be assigned reliably from app names alone.<\/p>\n
The pattern suggests that nighttime phone use is driven more by watching video and streaming content than by messaging or gaming.<\/p>\n
Across all four countries, video and streaming accounted for 43\u201351% of nighttime screen time \u2014 far more than messaging, social media or games.<\/p>\n
Nighttime activity was already very common among younger teens, leaving little difference between age groups. In the United States, 93.5% of 13\u201315-year-olds and 93.7% of 16\u201318-year-olds were active after 10 p.m. at least once during the week \u2014 a difference of only 0.2 percentage points.<\/p>\n
The gap was somewhat larger elsewhere but remained small: 2.1 percentage points in the U.K., 2.4 in Canada and 2.7 in Australia.<\/p>\n
The data therefore does not support a strong age gradient in whether teenagers use their phones at night. It does not show whether older and younger teens use them for the same purposes or for the same amount of time.<\/p>\n
The strongest finding is not simply that teenagers use phones after 10 p.m. It is that the label \u201cnighttime phone use\u201d can hide very different behaviors.<\/p>\n
This distinction matters when interpreting statistics based on broad nighttime windows or thresholds such as \u201cafter midnight\u201d or \u201cafter 4 a.m.\u201d Overlapping thresholds can include early-morning activity and should not be translated directly into claims about teenagers staying awake.<\/p>\n
A high percentage of teens with activity \u201cafter midnight\u201d does not tell us how long they were awake or whether they stayed up continuously. Timing windows measure app activity, not sleep.<\/p>\n
This research is based on aggregated and anonymized Findmykids app-usage telemetry from teenagers ages 13\u201318 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.<\/p>\n
Findmykids<\/a> is a family safety app that combines parental controls and GPS tracking to help families protect children\u2019s online and offline safety. The app provides parents with information about their child\u2019s location and device activity, including app usage and screen time.<\/p>\n Teen phone activity after 10 p.m. is widespread, but the data does not show teenagers uniformly staying awake through the night. The nighttime pattern is concentrated around bedtime and early-morning routines, while 2\u20134 a.m. is the quietest period.<\/p>\n Need additional statistics for your story? We may be able to provide another country, age group, time period, or related aggregated Findmykids data.<\/p>\nStudy Period and Population<\/h3>\n
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Definition of Nighttime Activity<\/h3>\n
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How the Time Windows Should Be Read<\/h3>\n
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App Categories<\/h3>\n
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Limitations<\/h3>\n
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