How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media? [63+ Facts to Like, Share and Comment]

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This is the manifest of social media.

But here’s the interesting thing.

Do you actually know the answer to how much time do people spend on social media?

What about the average time spent on social media?

Carry on, then.

The information you seek is right in front of you.

Fascinating Facts:

  • The average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook.
  • 16-24-year-olds spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media.
  • Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019.
  • The average daily time spent on social in 2018 was 142 minutes a day.
  • By 2021, more than 3 billion people are expected to be on social media.
  • Projections for social media use estimates the average adult will spend 6 years and 8 months of their life on social media.
  • Facebook has 1.4 billion active users on a daily basis.

1. People spent 135 minutes per day on social media in 2017.

(Source: Statista)

  • In 2016, users spent 126 minutes per day on social media.
  • It’s estimated that we spend 153 minutes per day on social media in 2019.
  • In 2012, the average was 90 minutes daily.

Time spent on social media has increased over the last years. In fact, each year we are investing more and more of our time being online on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

In just seven years’ time, we went from spending 90 minutes per day on social media to spending around 153 minutes on it. At this rate, we will pretty soon be giving 3 hours of social media time every day.

It makes you wonder what we were doing before that.

2. US adults use media for an average of 12 hours and 9 minutes per day.

(Source: eMarketer)

  • South America is the continent where social media time is the highest – 3 hours and 29 minutes.
  • People in Europe spend an average of 1 hour and 53 minutes on social media.
  • North Americans use social media for around 2 hours and 6 minutes daily.
  • In Asia, the usage of social media is 2 hours and 16 minutes daily.
  • Africans utilize social media for 3 hours and 10 minutes a day.

Social media has set the world on fire. Adults in Africa and South America appear to be the most addicted, spending more than 3 hours on social media every day.

The average social media use in Europe is the lowest – a little less than 2 hours daily. There has been a significant increase in time spent on social media in certain countries since 2017. The Philippines, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, to name a few.

Question time: How much time do people spend on social media per day?

In 2019, the average amount of time spent on social media is 2 hours and 22 minutes per day.

3. People aged 16 to 24 spend the most time on social media – 3 hours and 1 minute daily.

(Source: Digital Information World)

  • 55-64-year-olds’ average time on social media is 1 hour and 13 minutes.
  • Adults of ages between 25 and 34 use social media for 2 hours and 37 minutes each day.
  • 35 to 44-year people spend 2 hours and 4 minutes of social media time.
  • The average time spent on social media for people aged between 45 and 54 is 1 hour and 39 minutes.

Logic dictates the younger generations spend the most time on social media. So, in case you’re wondering: how much time do millennials spend on social media – the quick answer is around 2 hours and 30 minutes. Meanwhile, 59% of Gen Z-ers admit they couldn’t go a single day without texting. If you have younger kids and worry they spend too much time online, there are software pieces designed to solve that issue.

Still, time spent on social media by age also indicates older generations enjoy scrolling through Facebook and Twitter, as well.

4. Facebook has more than 2.2 billion active users in 2019.

(Source: Hootsuite)

  • On average, users spend 58 minutes per day on Facebook.
  • 300 million photos are uploaded on the platform every day.
  • 8 billion videos are being viewed on Facebook daily.
  • Over 300 million Facebook users play Facebook games every month.
  • Facebook has 1.4 billion active users every day.
  • It also has over 2.41 billion users every month.

Despite some recent studies that say Facebook is starting to decline, the platform developed by Mark Zuckerberg is still number 1 in terms of popularity. The average time spent on Facebook is close to an hour daily, which is pretty good for a “declining” website.

1.4 billion people log in to Facebook on a daily basis, which is quite impressive. Furthermore, can you imagine the number of videos being uploaded every day – 8 billion? Тhat’s more than you can watch during the course of your whole life.

5. The average viewing session on YouTube is 40 minutes.

(Source: Broadband Search)

  • YouTube has 30 million active users daily.
  • People watch 5 billion videos a day on YouTube.
  • There are 1.5 billion active users every month on the platform.
  • YouTube has 15 million content creators, and the number is growing every day.

YouTube may be the second most popular social media platform, but it’s way behind Facebook. However, the big advantage YouTube has is the average length of visits. It’s just so hard to control yourself and not watch 10 videos in a row.

All these hours spent on social media may not be a complete waste of time, as well. After all, there are tons of educational videos on YouTube, so you can actually learn a lot.

Question time: How much time did the average person spend on social media in 2018?

According to time spent on social media statistics, people used 142 minutes of their everyday routines to stay on social media, which is great news for those advertising their business on one of the platforms.

6. 58% of people use Facebook Messenger on a monthly basis.

(Source: Global Web Index)

  • It’s expected that by 2022 there will be 138.1 million Messenger users.
  • More than 38.4% of the US population is currently using Messenger.
  • Messenger is the second most popular iOS app of all time – only the main Facebook app surpasses it.

Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular apps of all time. It has 1.3 billion monthly users and 70 million daily users. One of its biggest competitors, WeChat, boasts 1 billion active users a month.

People around the world accommodate thousands of hours spent on social media and other apps. The Messenger app of Facebook is a top choice to spend those hours in countries like the USA, Australia, UK, and France.

Question time: How much time do teens spend on social media?

Teens spend an average of nine hours a day online. A lot of teens admit they overdo their time on social media. Kids aged 8 to 12 spend an average of 6 hours daily, which is still too much.

7. In 2018, users spent an average of 53 minutes daily on Instagram.

(Source: Vox)

  • 73% of US internet users aged 13 to 24 are on Instagram.
  • By 2020, Instagram is expected to reach 120.3 million monthly active users in the US.
  • In 1 second there are 870 Instagram photos uploaded, in 60 seconds – 49,380 photos.
  • There are about 25 million business profiles on Instagram. If you’re planning to open yours, too, make sure you have a good business plan software and quality lead generation services at your disposal.

Statistics on time spent on social media indicate the youngest tend to be Instagram fanatics. Around four-fifths of Americans, aged 13 to 24 are on Instagram, and globally 64% of people between 18-29 use this social media.

For comparison, 21% of Instagram users are aged 50-64 and only 10% are 65 years or older. All in all, this means it’s a social media with a youth audience, so remember that whenever you’re trying to engage potential customers.

Fun Fact:

Six Degrees is widely considered to be the first social media platform. It was created back in 1996 by Andrew Weinreich and the site was launched the following year. Six Degrees combined popular features we know today like creating a profile, adding friends, etc.

A couple of similar websites emerged in the next decade. Myspace was launched in 2003 – the same year LinkedIn came to existence – and was the largest social networking site in the world from 2005 to 2008. Kudos to those who remember it and used it back then.

In June 2006, Myspace even surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States. How much time do people spend on social media wasn’t even a question back then, and the idea of 63,000 searches per minute was simply unimaginable.

But times changed. Facebook came in 2008 and basically killed the platform, which is now ranked 4,153th by total web traffic.

8. Twitter has 330 million monthly active users.

(Source: Brandwatch)

  • During the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, 618,725 tweets were sent in a single minute.
  • A brand was mentioned in a tweet by 80% of Twitter users.
  • The 140 million tweets posted daily would fill a 10 million page book.
  • There are currently more than 1.3 billion registered users on the platform.

Do you tweet or do you leave it to the birds? Currently, more than 330 million people use Twitter every month, although the figures dropped compared to mid-2018 and late 2017.

Social media time people spend on Twitter is an average of 1-minute per day, but don’t let that fool you. Twitter is a very influential social media. According to a 2018 study, 187 governments and heads of state maintain an official presence on Twitter.

9. As of March 2019, Snapchat reached 90% of all 13-24 year-olds and 75% of all 13-34-year-olds in the US.

(Source: Zephoria)

  • The average number of Snaps created every day grew to more than 3.5 billion in Q2 2019.
  • 10 billion videos are being watched on Snapchat every day.
  • Snapchat has 178 million daily active users.
  • 24% of US social media users are on Snapchat.

It may be a challenge for Snapchat to penetrate older demographics. The main users are currently between 13 and 34 years, with people under the age of 25 spending the most time on Snapchat.

So, it may not be the biggest social media out there, but it’s definitely very popular with teens and young adults. It’s astonishing how much time do teens spend on social media, Snapchat in particular.

10. WhatsApp has 1 billion daily active users.

(Source: Business of Apps)

  • 43 billion messages are sent every day on WhatsApp.
  • The biggest WhatsApp market is in India, with more than 200 million users.
  • 23 million Americans use WhatsApp.
  • WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014.

India has the highest average time spent on social media, amounting to 17 hours per week. A large proportion of that time is spent on WhatsApp. The platform grew in popularity very fast among India’s youth.

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world with 1.5 billion users in 180 countries.

Question time: How many hours should you spend on social media?

The amount of time spent on social media should be kept to a golden standard. Volunteers cut down their social media use to 30 minutes per day total, they experienced a “significant improvement in well-being,” exhibiting reduced loneliness and depression.

11. LinkedIn has over 575 million users.

(Source: Kinsta)

Are you looking for a job? Log in to LinkedIn. Are you looking to recruit? Log in to LinkedIn. Do you want a sandwich? Just a joke, but you get the point.

LinkedIn was created way back in 2003 and came a long way to become what it is right now. Time spent on social media can be very useful on LinkedIn, especially for businesses and job seekers.

12. Pinterest has 175 million active monthly users.

(Source: Skills Lab)

  • 50% of US millennials use Pinterest every month. So if it makes sense for your line of business, use this piece of Millennial marketing info.
  • 80% of Pinterest users prefer to use the app over the desktop version.
  • More than 14 million articles are Pinned each day.

Social media time on Pinterest is really important for millennials. In fact, they say Pinterest inspires them to turn their dreams to reality, more so than any other platform.

Around 63% of millennials also admit Pinterest helps them discover new brands or products. They also use the platform to make purchases.

It’s worth noting that most of the average time spent on this social media comes from mobile devices. Actually, only 20% of people use the desktop version of Pinterest.

13. Almost 4 out of 10 internet users in July 2020 reported being on social media platforms more than before the pandemic.

(Global Web Index)

  • 1 out of 7 surveyed individuals reported posting more on social media than pre-pandemic. 
  • In July 2020, 70% of internet users said they used smartphones more than at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
  • 47% of surveyed people reported using computers/laptops more than in March of the same year.

To show you that people in other parts of the world are as well more present in the online world, we found that 46% of UK individuals who took a survey used smartphones more than in the pre-pandemic period.

To summarize how much time people do spend on social media – it’s an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day. The average time spent on social media in 2019 is around 153 minutes per day. This trend may suggest people are beginning to depend on social media, so it’s only expected many therapy sessions will be dedicated to this issue in the years to come.

Now that you know this information, maybe you can cut your social media time a bit and go for a good old-fashioned walk. Just leave your mobile at home, no distractions are needed.

ABOUT AUTHOR

I've been a tech-addict all my life. I still remember the sound of a successful dial-up connection. I started my writing career at a very young age for a gamers' magazine. I'm fascinated by each new technology, as a kid with a long-anticipated Christmas gift. My hunger for knowledge and child-like fascination with everything with wires or codes helps me cover a wide array of articles here, on Review42.com. Whenever I'm not staring at a display I enjoy exploring new places.

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