Nearly all American teens—97%—ages 12-17 play computer, web, console, or mobile games. Teens are also playing these games with relative frequency and duration. Nearly one-third (31%) of teen gamers play games every day, and another one in five (21%) play games three to five days a week.
Half of teens who play games do so on any given day. In addition to asking teens how frequently they play games during the week, the Pew Internet Gaming and Civics Survey asked game-playing teens whether or not they played games “yesterday,” and if so, for how long. On any given day, 50% of teen gamers report playing games. About half of those who did play a game “yesterday” (or 24% of all teen gamers) say they played for up to an hour. Another 13% of teen gamers say they played for two hours, and 13% say they played for three hours or more. Race, ethnicity, and family income do not make a difference in the length of time teens spend gaming.
