This graph shows the typical daily online activities of internet users in the United States as of February 2017. During the survey period, 56 percent of respondents checked the weather online on a daily basis. E-mail was the most popular daily internet activity.

As of 2024, 99 percent of adults in the United States between 18 and 49 years were internet users, making it the age group with the highest level of internet penetration in the country. A further share of 97 percent of adults using the internet were between 18 and 29 years old. Mobile internet usage Mobile internet usage continues to surge in the United States, with 96.2 percent of internet users accessing the web via phones as of the third quarter of 2023. In April 2024, YouTube's mobile app led with a 74 percent audience reach, while TikTok topped weekly engagement among social apps. Mobile apps and privacy Mobile apps became an essential part of mobile users, this high usage raised new concerns about data privacy. By June 2023, three in four internet users supported data localization to protect their information. Additionally, As of September 2024, 13.5 percent of paid iOS apps stated that they collected user data, with 88 percent of this data used to enhance app functionality.

As of February 2025, there were 5.56 billion internet users worldwide, which amounted to 67.9 percent of the global population. Of this total, 5.24 billion, or 63.9 percent of the world's population, were social media users. Global internet usage Connecting billions of people worldwide, the internet is a core pillar of the modern information society. Northern Europe ranked first among worldwide regions by the share of the population using the internet in 2024. In The Netherlands, Norway and Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of the population used the internet as of April 2024. North Korea was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with virtually no internet usage penetration among the general population, ranking last worldwide. Asia was home to the largest number of online users worldwide – over 2.93 billion at the latest count. Europe ranked second, with around 750 million internet users. China, India, and the United States rank ahead of other countries worldwide by the number of internet users. Worldwide internet user demographics As of 2023, the share of female internet users worldwide was 65 percent, five percent less than that of men. Gender disparity in internet usage was bigger in the Arab States and Africa, with around a ten percent difference. Worldwide regions, like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe, showed a smaller gender gap. As of 2023, global internet usage was higher among individuals between 15 and 24 years across all regions, with young people in Europe representing the most significant usage penetration, 98 percent. In comparison, the worldwide average for the age group 15–24 years was 79 percent. The income level of the countries was also an essential factor for internet access, as 93 percent of the population of the countries with high income reportedly used the internet, as opposed to only 27 percent of the low-income markets.

As of January 2024, around 331.1 million people in the United States accessed the internet, making it one of the largest online markets worldwide. The country currently ranks third after China and India by the online audience size. Overview of internet usage in the United States The digital population in the United States has constantly increased in recent years. Among the most common reasons is the growing accessibility of broadband internet. A big part of the country's digital audience accesses the web via mobile phones. In 2024, the country saw an estimated 97.1 percent mobile internet user penetration. According to a 2024 survey, over 51 percent of U.S. women and 43 percent of men said it is important to them to have mobile internet access anywhere, at any time. Another 41 percent of respondents could not imagine their everyday life without the internet. Google and YouTube are the most visited websites in the country, while music, food, and drinks were the most discussed online topics. Internet usage demographics in the United States While some users can no longer imagine their life without the internet, others do not use it at all. According to 2021 data, 25 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older reported not using the internet. Despite this, online usage was strong across other age groups, especially young adults aged 18 to 49. This age group also reported the highest percentage of smartphone usage in the country as of 2023. Due to a persistent lack of connectivity in rural areas, more online users were based in urban areas of the U.S. than in the countryside.

As of February 2024, over a third of online users worldwide were aged between 25 and 34 years. Website visitors in this age bracket constituted the biggest group of online users worldwide. Also, 19 percent of global online users were aged 18 to 24 years. The global digital population aged 65 or older represented approximately 4.2 percent of all internet users worldwide. Social media usage and Meta Social media is a major driver of internet use, with a global penetration rate of 62.2 percent. On average, internet users spend 143 minutes per day on social media, highlighting its significant impact on daily online activities. The usage of social media is mostly dominated by Meta platforms, which own four of the largest social media platforms. Facebook leads the ranking with over three billion active users, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp. Instagram's global popularity Meta’s social video platform, Instagram, had long been one of the most engaging social media platforms worldwide, and it was projected to reach 1.44 billion monthly active users. Instagram was particularly favored by users aged 18 to 34, thanks to its ability to offer a variety of interactive content, from images and carousels. This diverse range of content types was a key factor in its popularity among its young user base.

A 2023 survey found that around 42 percent of adults in the United Kingdom (UK) sought help from someone else to buy something online for them. A further 30 percent said they asked for assistance regarding the usage of health services online, followed by 26 percent of those who asked someone to access public services online for them.

According to a 2023 survey of internet users in the United States, 91 percent of users between 30 and 49 years regularly use a smartphone to go online. Young adults between 18 and 29 years ranked second with 89 percent. Laptops were the second most used device named by the respondents, enabling more than half of the respondents between 30 and 49 years to connect to the internet.

Over 90 percent of internet users in the United States were e-mail users, according to an August 2019 survey about the most popular digital activities in the United States. Online search was also one of the most widespread digital activities with an 85.4 usage reach among the U.S. online population.

In a survey conducted in June 2023 about the activities performed online by internet users in Australia, 95 percent of respondents stated that they used the internet to access the news. 87 percent of respondents also used the internet for shopping. According to the source, the participation in online activities by internet users was stable in the previous year.

As of November 2021, it was found that the most popular online activity in the United States was text or instant messaging - overall, 92.3 percent of online users in the country used messaging services. Another share of over 91 percent of the online population in the United States used email, while nearly 75 percent accessed social networks.

As of the third quarter of 2024, internet users spent six hours and 38 minutes online daily. This is a slight increase in comparison to the previous quarter. Overall, between the third quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2024, the average daily internet use has increased by 19 minutes. Most online countries Internet users between 16 and 64 years old in South Africa spent the longest time online daily, nine hours and 27 minutes, followed by Brazil and the Philippines. These figures include the time spent using the internet on any device. In Japan, internet users spent around three hours and 57 minutes online per day. Users in Denmark also spent relatively less time on the internet, reaching about five hours daily. Most common online activities According to a 2024 survey, more than six in 10 people worldwide used the internet to find information. Furthermore, the usage of communication platforms was also a common reason for going online, followed by online content consumption, such as watching videos, TV shows, or movies.

While Indians between 12 and 34 years dominated internet use from 2013 to 2019 with about 65 percent of the total market, this was projected to change by 2025. Between 2019 and 2025, it was estimated that age group 35 years and older would make up 66 percent of internet usage in India.

Gender and internet

Among the total internet users in the country, it was found that around 70 percent users were male and only about 30 percent were female users. While this was expected to change to 60 percent male users and 40 percent female users by 2020, it still showed a gender gap of internet accessibility in the south-Asian country. While several factors lead to this digital gender gap, economic and socio-cultural barriers stand out as the most compelling reasons.

Older Indians part of digitalization

The median age of India’s population was around 27 years in 2015, echoing the range of the country’s majority internet user base. The estimated shift, however, in the years to come would be the successful efforts towards digitalizing India. If done right, this would propel older adults to adopt and master new media technologies in their daily activities beyond social media and communication, including the use of financial services.

In December 2024, OnlyFans.com saw approximately 468 million monthly website visits from users worldwide. Launched in 2016, OnlyFans is a social and video platform that allows creators to monetize their content via paid subscriptions and tips. In recent years, the London-based platform has become increasingly popular for hosting adult content.

Pornhub, which is owned by the Canadian entertainment conglomerate Aylo, saw over three billion visits to its website from users based in the United States in January 2024. Web visits from Indonesia ranked second, as almost 765 million visits from the country were registered to Pornhub in the examined period. Brazil followed, with around 503 million visits to the popular pornographic website. France users generated approximately 470 million visits to the website during the measured month.

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 143 minutes per day, down from 151 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of three hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just two hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively. People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general. During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

In Saudi Arabia, about 98 percent of the youth of both genders used the internet to access social media networks in 2019. In comparison, about 32 percent of both genders used the internet to download software and applications. The youth population between the age of 15 to 34 was the highest in Saudi Arabia in 2020 among all age groups.

As of the third quarter of 2023, approximately 96.2 percent of internet users in the United States went online via any kind of mobile phone, while 94.6 percent reported doing so via smartphones. By comparison, laptop or desktop internet access was reported by around 72.8 percent of respondents. Additionally, 65.3 percent of U.S. internet users reported going online with their laptop or desktop device, while more than 28 percent reported doing so with a work laptop. Smartphone usage in the United States During the past years, the number of smartphone users in the United States has increased. According to recent data, 85 percent of the adults in the country own a smartphone. This has led to high competition between the biggest manufacturers in the field. Apple is the leading manufacturer in the U.S., with a market share of 53 percent, followed by Samsung and Motorola/Lenovo. Meanwhile, there is more competition when it comes to operating systems. Apple iOS, which is used on all devices created by Apple, and Google Android, which is used for Samsung devices, have the biggest user share. Usage of other devices in the U.S. Smart home devices have become popular in recent years. It is projected that in 2025 the penetration rate for Smart Home segments like control and connectivity, as well as security, will grow up to 50 and 35 percent respectively. For users in the United States, the most common device for watching shows or movies was a TV set. According to the research, more than 30 percent of the respondents spent more than 20 hours weekly in front of a TV. In comparison, the majority of those who watched shows or movies on a computer, tablet, or smartphone spent less than an hour weekly on such activity.

From September to November 2023, Google.com was the leading website in Italy, with more than 3.36 billion total monthly visits. The search engine was also popular in its Italian top-level domain, with Google.it reaching 232 million views. YouTube.com ranked second, with approximately 1.17 billion visits from users in Italy, while adult website Pornhub ranked fourth. Several online newspapers, Repubblica.it, Corriere.it, Gazzetta.it were also among the most visited websites during the month. Mediaset.it, which is the online streaming platform of one of the country's major television broadcasters, collected more than 126 million visits.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the main traffic source for false information online is social media, which generates 42 percent of fake news traffic. The nature of social networks, most notably the ease of sharing content, allows fake news to spread at a rapid rate – an issue further exacerbated by the fact that many U.S. adults sometimes believe fake news to be real.

Fake news: an ongoing problem

The presence of fake news would be less of an issue if users were more aware of how to identify it and were aware of the risks of sharing such content. Many U.S. news consumers have shared fake news online, and worryingly, ten percent did so deliberately. Adults who are part of that ten percent are just a small portion of people in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, who are responsible for spreading false information. More than 30 percent of U.S. children and teenagers have shared a fake news story online, and over 50 percent of adults in selected countries worldwide have wrongly believed a fake news story.

The result of adults and young consumers alike not only believing fake news, but actively sharing it, is that small, illegitimate websites producing such content are able to grow more successful. Such websites have the potential to tarnish or seriously damage the reputation of any persons mentioned within a fake news article, promote events or policies which do not exist, and mislead readers about important topics they are trying to keep up with. A 2019 survey revealed that most adults believe that fake news and misinformation will get worse in the next five years, and the sad truth is that this will likely be the case unless news consumers grow more discerning about what they post and share online.

A survey, conducted in April 2024 among adults in the United Kingdom (UK), found that younger individuals were more likely to report having seen ads containing illegal activity, such as fraud or cyber-crime. Around 13 percent of respondents, aged 16 to 34 years, stated having encountered such ads online, whereas six percent of those 55 years and older reported the same.