Social media is undoubtedly the best way to connect and communicate with people across the globe. If you visit social media anytime, you’ll see social butterflies buzzing around and updating people with their every move.
In previous days, people used to write letters or send telegrams to communicate, but now with this new invention, the distance is reduced massively. You can get in touch with anyone and anywhere in nanoseconds.
That’s a huge accomplishment.
However, it’s often said after social media came into existence, people started building their life around it. They have become so obsessed with it that putting their phones down is so complicated now.
Which raises the question, ‘how much time people spend on social media?’
Well, previously, there was no definite answer, but now things have changed.
In March 2020, when the deadly virus broke out and forced us to stay at home, what do you think people did sitting at their home?
Well, they were using social media to stay connected.
Some users solely use messaging applications like WhatsApp, Line, Telegram, and WeChat. Comparatively, some are glued to social networking sites including, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.
Others are seen surfing on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn to broaden their professional connections to get decent career opportunities and advice.
Now let’s look at some statistics on how much time people spend on social media. We assure you these stats will blow your mind.
The average time adults spend on social media is growing at a rapid pace.
Yeah, that’s surprising, but it’s true. During recent research discovered in 2012, an adult used to spend 90 minutes on social media. By 2016 it leaped to 126 minutes. Well, this leap in 5 years is acceptable; however, after the pandemic, stats escalated pretty quickly and reached 180 minutes per day.
That’s insane. This massive leap in time is not only because of the pandemic but people’s obsession with it.
Now we wonder in upcoming years how much people will spend on social media.
When we compare all the continents’ statistics, the average time a user spends on social media differs. It’s no surprise that South Americans win the game by spending 3 hours and 29 minutes per day. Africans take second place as they spend 3 hours and 10 minutes, North Americans spend 2 hours and 6 minutes.
Whereas Asians spend 2 hours and 16 minutes and lastly 1 hour and 53 minutes by Europeans.
The amount of time people spend on social media also reflects the unemployment status in a country.
People who belong to the age group of 16-24 spend most of their time using social media. They are the ones who are highly obsessive and influenced by it. They are always trying to compete with each other.
They try to click aesthetic and impressive pictures of literally anything and everything. And post them on social media using catchy captions and hashtags.
It’s like a war of hashtags!
Older people or people who fall in 55 to 64 years usually spend 1hour and 53 minutes on social media every day.
Millennials or you may call Gen-Y, spend 2 hours and 37 minutes on Social Media each day. This varies as some spend 2 hours and 4 minutes to 1 hour 39 minutes.
Coming back to Gen-Z, they are the one who spends the most time on social media. This shows their love and extreme attachment to social media.
The progression indicates as the age increases, the usage time decreases.
Currently, over 2.2 billion people are actively using Facebook every month.
The 15-year-old platform founded by Mark Zukerberg is still commonly used by people across the globe. Though there are speculations that people have started abandoning this platform, it’s always popular among people aged 18 and 34.
Eight billion videos are viewed by Netizens every day. They make hefty contributions as they upload 300 million pictures every day on Facebook.
Average of 58 minutes a user spends on Facebook per day.
Facebook is leading the scoreboard. However, after the advent of Snapchat and Instagram, people say Facebook is on the decline.
Well, for now, it’s winning the game.
With over 30 million active viewers, YouTube stands in second place.
YouTube has billions and trillions of videos in its database. More than 1.5 billion people use this platform to watch videos of their favorite YouTubers.
The content creators are the reason behind the success of this social media platform.
The average user time on YouTube is 40 minutes per day.
It isn’t easy to exit before streaming 7 to 10 videos, thanks to the fantastic content creators.
Instagram is primarily a networking app, but B2C and B2B eCommerce industries are taking advantage of it for marketing purposes.
It is undoubtedly a versatile app with remarkable features including, IG Reels, IGTV, memories, stories, and much more.
64% of social media users actively use Instagram. A user spends an average of 53 minutes on Instagram.
Twitter has 330 million active users each month.
1.3 billion users are registered on Twitter. The hashtag phenomenon now famous on Gram was initiated by Twitter.
Most of the political debates take place on Twitter. Even heads of the states actively use Twitter.
A user spends 1 minute on Twitter per day.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps used by 2 billion active users each day.
The average time spent on WhatsApp is 28 minutes. Moreover, an average user is more likely to open WhatsApp 23-25 times per day.
WhatsApp is now not only used for personal communication but business purposes as well.
Conclusion
After going through the statistics, we have to conclude that people spend a lot of time on social media. From updating statuses on Facebook to booking orders on WhatsApp, everything is now happening on social media. Our excessive obsession with social media is turning into an addiction. Using social media is advantageous, but with increasing screen time, we are getting more involved in it. However, an average user spends 2 hours and 24 minutes every day on social media globally.
