According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United States, teenagers spent an average of 4.8 hours every day on social media platforms. Girls spent 5.3 hours on social networks daily, compared to 4.4 hours for boys. YouTube and TikTok were the most popular online networks among those aged 13 to 19, with 1.9 and 1.5 hours of average daily engagement, respectively. The most used platform for girls was TikTok, while the most used platform for boys was YouTube. Are teens constantly connected to social media? YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are the most attractive and time-consuming platforms for young internet users. A survey conducted in the U.S. in 2023 found that 62 percent of teenagers were almost constantly connected to Instagram, and 17 percent were almost constantly connected to TikTok. Overall, 71 percent of teens used YouTube daily, and 47 percent used Snapchat daily. Furthermore, YouTube had a 93 percent reach among American teens in 2023, down from 95 percent in 2022. Teens and their internet devices For younger generations especially, social media is mostly accessed via mobile devices, and almost all teenagers in the United States have smartphone access. A 2023 survey conducted in the U.S. found that 92 percent of teens aged 13 to 14 years had access to a smartphone at home, as well as 97 percent of those aged 15 to 17. Additionally, U.S. girls were slightly more likely than their male counterparts to have access to a smartphone.

As of June 2020, ** percent of parents to U.S. teens aged 14 to 17 years stated that their kids were spending more than four hours per day on electronic devices since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only ** percent of responding parents stated that their teens had used electronic devices daily for more than four hours before the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the pandemic triggered a rise in the use of electronic devices among American children under 13 and teenagers with screentime now double that of what it used to be across all age groups. YouTube, Netflix and Instagram dominateIn an ongoing survey between 2015 and 2020 it was reported that the most popular video platforms among teens in the U.S. were Netflix and YouTube, and the pandemic has done little to shift that. Cable TV viewership continued to decline throughout 2020, while Hulu rose in popularity during this time. Meanwhile, despite a slight drop in viewership Netflix and YouTube retained their positions as the top two video services after the onset of the pandemic. YouTube and Instagram were also named the most popular social media channels among teens and young adults, as of the third quarter of 2020. Due to their booming popularity, it is no wonder that advertisers have been increasingly targeting these networks, with social media add spend having been on the rise each year since 2017. The biggest growth surge has come from mobile advertising, while spend on desktop advertising has remained nearly the same. Texting and phone calls most preferred during lockdownAs most of the world entered lockdown during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, teens in the U.S. were asked which technologies they had used to virtually connect with friends and family during this time. 'Texting' was the most preferred method, named by over ** percent followed by phone calls. Meanwhile, video chat and social media came in third.

In 2024, children in the United States spent an average of *** minutes per day on ******. ********* ranked second, with young users engaging with the popular video messaging app for approximately ** minutes per day. By comparison, children in the United States spent ** minutes on average on *********, while the ****** mobile app only saw approximately ***** minutes of daily usage by children and teens in the country.

In 2024, children in the United Kingdom spent an average of *** minutes per day on TikTok. This was followed by Instagram, as children in the UK reported using the app for an average of ** minutes daily. Children in the UK aged between four and 18 years also used Facebook for ** minutes a day on average in the measured period. Mobile ownership and usage among UK children In 2021, around ** percent of kids aged between eight and 11 years in the UK owned a smartphone, while children aged between five and seven having access to their own device were approximately ** percent. Mobile phones were also the second most popular devices used to access the web by children aged between eight and 11 years, as tablet computers were still the most popular option for users aged between three and 11 years. Children were not immune to the popularity acquired by short video format content in 2020 and 2021, spending an average of ** minutes per day engaging with TikTok, as well as over ** minutes on the YouTube app in 2021. Children data protection In 2021, ** percent of U.S. parents and ** percent of UK parents reported being slightly concerned with their children’s device usage habits. While the share of parents reporting to be very or extremely concerned was considerably smaller, children are considered among the most vulnerable digital audiences and need additional attention when it comes to data and privacy protection. According to a study conducted during the first quarter of 2022, ** percent of children’s apps hosted in the Google Play Store and ** percent of apps hosted in the Apple App Store transmitted users’ locations to advertisers. Additionally, ** percent of kids’ apps were found to collect persistent identifiers, such as users’ IP addresses, which could potentially lead to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations in the United States. In the United Kingdom, companies have to take into account several obligations when considering online environments for children, including an age-appropriate design and avoiding sharing children’s data.

According to a survey conducted in June 2023, adults in the United States spent more time per day on TikTok than on any other leading social media platform. Overall, respondents reported spending an average of 53.8 minutes per day on the social video app. YouTube and Twitter ranked second and third, each with an average of 48 minutes and 34 minutes spent on the platforms per day, respectively.

U.S. teens have time for certain platforms

Different social media platforms attract different demographics, with teenagers in the United States being more drawn to TikTok and YouTube over Facebook. In 2023, teenagers in the United States spent an average of almost two hours on YouTube and 1.5 hours on TikTok every day, 1451257 while Facebook was used by teens for less than half an hour per day. Furthermore, social media habits differ between genders, as teen girls were more likely to spend more time than boys on Instagram.

TikTok is king for teens and Gen Z

Although spending 1.5 hours on the Generation Z app of choice may sound rather modest, some TikTok users devote much more of their time to the platform . According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, around eight percent of teenagers in the United States spent over five hours a day on TikTok. 1417187 whereas another 22 percent reported spending between two and three hours daily on the video-based app.

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2025, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 141 minutes per day, down from 143 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 3 hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just 2 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.

A survey conducted in 2022 revealed that a majority of children aged between 13 and 17 years old in urban India spent more than one hour per day on social media, videos, and games on the Internet, as reported by about ** percent of parents. Contrariwise, parents who reported that their teenagers hardly spent any time on online media accounted for a mere **** percent of respondents during the survey period.

According to a survey in September 2023, about ** percent of urban parents reported that their children spent ***** to *** hours each day using social media, OTT, and online games in India. Comparatively, ** percent of Indian parents stated their kids spent more than *** hours using online media every day.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, ** percent of teenagers spent up to ** minutes per day on social media app TikTok, whilst a further ** percent reported to spend between *** and ***** hours on the video-based app. Overall, ***** percent of teens in the United States spent more than **** hours on TikTok every day.

In 2024, roughly 58 percent of girls surveyed stated they played games on their devices daily or several times a week. This was true for about 87 percent of boys. In general, the majority of German users preferred smartphones and laptops for playing games, as far as devices were concerned.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2022, ** percent of teenagers spent up to ** minutes per day on social media app Instagram, whilst around one in ten spent between ** and ** minutes on the app. Overall, ** percent of teens in the United States spent *** to ***** hours on Instagram.

As of the third quarter of 2024, online users in Hong Kong stated that they spent an average of *** hours every day on the internet, and an hour and ** minutes on social media. The financial hub has about ************* internet users.

As of the third quarter of 2024, the average daily time spent using the internet on mobile phones among people in Malaysia was around **** hours and ** minutes. By comparison, people spent around *** hours and ** minutes on social media every day. These numbers signified the importance of being present on the internet among Malaysians. Internet accessibility in Malaysia Presumably for convenience reasons, almost every internet user in Malaysia preferred accessing the internet on their smartphone. The upward trend of population coverage of 4G LTE mobile network in the country since 2016 may have contributed to this preference. Besides, Malaysia is one of the countries with the highest rates of mobile internet penetration in Asia. Main activities on the internet Malaysia has shown significant improvement in its internet infrastructure in recent years, which has allowed the internet users in the country to be more active online. The internet usage in Malaysia has mostly revolved around personal purposes, such as participating in social networks. As of January 2024, Malaysia recorded around ** million active social media users. A 2020 survey revealed that every internet user in Malaysia had about 9.6 social media accounts on average.

As of the third quarter of 2024, internet users in the Philippines spent an average of **** hours accessing the internet on various devices, according to a global survey. In terms of devices, most Filipinos have used their mobile phones to surf the web. Internet usage of Filipinos Being the population with the most time spent using the internet in the region, Filipino internet users have been taking advantage of the ease of communication and access to information and entertainment that the internet offers. Aside from just browsing the web, accessing social media has been popular among a large share of the Filipino population. As of the third quarter of 2023, Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, along with TikTok, were the most used social media platforms in the country. These platforms were used to connect with friends and family, and to access news and information, stream video content, and find products and services to purchase. Level of internet security in the Philippines Since most activities have been digitalized, cybersecurity threats and online fraud have been a growing concern among internet users. In the Philippines, over ** million web threats have been detected in 2022. Among those who shop on social media, product fraud was identified as the most common fraud type, along with non-delivery of products or services and payment fraud. To address this, the national government amended its cybersecurity laws to ensure better security of internet users in the Philippines.

A survey conducted in Ireland in 2020 asked children and teenagers about their estimated daily online usage. Overall, the average time spent online per day of the weekend was 3.4 hours. For weekdays, the average time spent online was 2.1 hours.

Teen magazine Bravo ranked first with a sales volume of roughly 50,000 copies. Consumer magazine circulation has been dropping significantly in recent years.

This statistic shows the share of children and teenagers in Canada who read books for fun compared to activities involving screen time as of February 2017, broken down by age group. The findings show that ** percent of children between *** and eight years old were reading for fun *** times per week, compared to just ** percent of ***** year olds. Interestingly, whilst the activity of reading for pleasure multiple times each week reduced with age, social media use increased dramatically. Just **** percent of *** year olds were using social media sites and apps *** times per week, whereas ** percent of ***** year olds and ** percent of ***** year olds were doing the same.

A survey of parents conducted in August 2020 found that 72 percent stated overuse of social media/screen time was a health concern for their child during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unhealthy eating, depression, and stress were other health worries for kids mentioned by over half of the respondents. This statistic shows the leading health concerns for children/teens in the U.S. during COVID-19 according to parents as of August 2020.

Estimates suggest that in 2026 U.S. adults will spend around ** percent of their time watching traditional TV each day. This figure has generally fallen in recent years and the downward trend is forecast to continue in the years to come. Screen time Although average daily time spent watching TV appears to be decreasing, this does not necessarily mean that people are spending less time in front of screens; this drop is likely due to an increasing amount of time spent with phones, tablets, and laptops. With on-demand streaming services such as Netflix gaining massive popularity, people can watch a huge range of programming whilst on the go, meaning that screen time is no longer limited to time spent at home in front of the TV. Young people around the world have been especially quick to adopt smartphone-based video streaming habits meaning that television screen time will likely fall even further in the future. Television in the U.S. As mentioned above, the way people are consuming their video entertainment content is rapidly changing in the United States. By 2028, estimates suggest that only **** million U.S. households will pay for traditional TV services, down from over ** million as of 2019. In order to compete for people’s business, cable and satellite providers must find a way to adapt in a way the meets the needs of today’s increasingly mobile consumers. Some are launching their own streaming services in a bid to tackle cord-cutting, most notably Comcast.

In 2018, kids advertising spending amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars worldwide. Expenditure is forecast to reach *** billion U.S. dollars by 2021, out of which an estimated *** billion is projected to stem from digital advertising formats. Advertising to children With the widespread adoption of television, advertising to children has become commonplace around the world. Children represent a huge market to advertisers, and while many youngsters have no money to spend themselves, their preferences largely influence their parents’ shopping decisions. In a 2019 survey, ** percent of parents to kids aged three to 13 from Mexico stated that advertising was the main reason their child picked a specific brand or product, indicating the immense impact of commercial appeals to children. Kids advertising is moving online – but at what cost? Ad spend targeted towards children continues to grow, and while traditional advertising still accounts for the lion’s share of expenditure, there has been a noticeable trend towards digital in recent years. This relocation reflects the changing consumer behavior of kids who are gradually shifting their screen time from TVs to digital devices. However, without parental supervision, children are at risk of being exposed to inappropriate digital media and advertising content such as alcohol promotion. This particular problem has been visible in the television industry for years, and in 2018, over *** million non-compliant alcohol advertising impressions were registered on U.S. cable TV programs alone. As young audiences are more impressionable and cannot always identify ads as such, the rise of advertising platforms calls for stricter regulations in terms of the language and images used. Just as in traditional media formats, digital advertising to children should be legal, decent, and truthful, while also ensuring data protection and privacy relating to children’s personal information.