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.

During the third quarter of 2024, internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) spent an average over five and a half hours per day accessing the internet via any device. UK online audiences spent approximately 1 hour and 37 minutes per day on social media, while an additional 50 minutes were devoted to using a gaming console daily. Traditional media - is usage declining? Some forms of traditional media in the country are in decline more than others when it comes to usage, which is especially visible in the case of TV. In recent years the number of TV households in the UK has remained fairly unchanged; however, the time spent watching television has been constantly decreasing. Interestingly, radio listenership has not followed this trend. Digital radio format usage is growing as per some studies. Yet, live radio dominates the time spent with any audio in the UK by a large margin.British radio is a showcase for the loyalty of its fans. In mid-2023, after 30 years of employment at BBC, Ken Bruce, one of the highest-earning presenters of the company, left to work at a rival radio station. He took both of his signature programs to his new employer. Even though BBC Radio 2 remains the leading radio station in the UK by audience numbers, Bruce’s departure meant a loss of 1 million listeners for the BBC between the first and second quarters of 2023.

It starts with a familiar flick of the thumb. A notification pops up during breakfast, a reel plays in the background while brushing teeth, and before we know it, half the morning has disappeared into a scroll. This isn’t just anecdotal, it’s a digital behavior woven into the daily routine...

In 2020, the average daily time spent on social media by U.S. users amounted to ** minutes. This duration is set to stay stable in the upcoming years. The daily minutes in 2020 are strongly related to social distancing due to COVID-19 and thus spending more time with social platforms in order to stay connected.

As of January 2021, the average time spent by day by American users on Facebook was ** minutes, ******** was the platform with the largest amount of time spent daily, followed by ****** and *******. A factor that played a major role in the time spent on social media was the coronavirus outbreak.

Nearly every fourth of teenagers in Poland spent from *** to **** hours a day on social media in 2022.

In 2021, adults in the U.S. spent an average of *** minutes (eight hours and five minutes) with digital media each day. This figure marked an increase of ** minutes compared to the previous year. Traditional vs. digital media usage amid COVID-19 The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic boosted media consumption across the globe. It also rapidly accelerated the shift from traditional to digital media consumption that has been unfolding in the United States and other markets for the better part of a decade. In 2020, consumers in the U.S. spent less than *** minutes per day using analog media and entertainment formats such as television, radio, or print media. In contrast, they devoted an estimated *** minutes to digital media and entertainment channels. Even though some traditional formats saw a temporary uptick in demand in 2020, the latest forecasts distinctly show that the media usage gap will continue to widen. How do users spend their time online? There has been a great influx of digital media and entertainment formats in recent years. According to a survey carried out in the early days of the pandemic, online video streaming ranked among the most popular digital media activities in the United States. This finding still holds true in 2022, as platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, or Disney+ continue to add highly anticipated titles to their extensive content catalogs. Other popular digital media categories include online audio, social media, and gaming. Not only did online gaming traffic skyrocket in 2020, but young internet users in particular also spend more time watching gaming video content on services like Twitch nowadays.

In 2020, media consumers in India spent as many as *** minutes per day on average on YouTube, making it the most popular online media that year. Meanwhile, the short video format app TikTok had the least frequent consumption with users spending a little over ** minutes on the platform per day.

In 2023, most of the time spent on media in Sweden was attributed to traditional television (** minutes), music (** minutes), and social media (** minutes). The least used media in the country included e-books, teletext, and digital magazines.

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.

In June 2024, adults in the United States spent an average of ** minutes on Facebook per day and ** minutes on Instagram. Overall, around ***** minutes per day were spent on Snapchat and ** minutes on TikTok. Moreover, TikTok saw much higher daily time spent by U.S. users aged between 18 and 24 than any other platform.

The mean time spent every day using the internet has been growing year-on-year in Russia. From 2017 to 2024, internet usage time across the country increased by more than *** hours per day on average. At the same time, the mean time spent on social media has experienced fluctuations and reached *** hours and ** minutes in the latest year under consideration. Internet usage in Russia Following continuous growth since 2000, over ** percent of the Russian population had access to the internet in 2023. In terms of location, the penetration rate in urban areas was higher when compared to rural locations. The number of internet users in the country was forecast to increase until 2027 and reach around *** million in 2029.     Social media usage in Russia VKontakte, Facebook's Russian version for some, has remained one of the most popular social media platform across the country throughout the past years and accounted for most publications as of October 2024. Instagram, which was blocked in Russia effective from March 14, 2022, listed as the most popular foreign social media platform by number of Russian-language posts. Female users prevailed across all major social networks, except for X and YouTube, where men constituted over ** percent of all users.

During the third quarter of 2024, internet users in the United States spent over six hours daily using the internet, with over 4.5 hours spent viewing video content on TV (both broadcast and streamed) as well as more than 2 hours devoted to using social media platforms. This substantial amount of time spent with online media reflects a significant trend in consumption habits, which have been influenced by the need for inexpensive, faster, and more accessible entertainment. Media Consumption Trends and Future Plans The average daily time spent with digital media in the United States is expected to increase from 439 minutes (seven hours and 19 minutes) in 2022 to close to 8 hours by the end of 2025. This pivot is dictated by the ease of access of online entertainment and variety of content available on numerous platforms.According to a survey conducted in April 2023, the majority of consumers in the United States were not planning to make any major changes to most of their media habits in the following year. However, a notable 21 percent planned to increase their time spent listening to podcasts. In general, there was an evident shift towards reducing or ending paid subscriptions to numerous media services. Free entertainment is on social A survey conducted in June 2023 highlighted that adults in the United States spent more time per day on TikTok than on any other leading social media platform, with an average of 53.8 minutes per day. The video sharing network gained more popularity with users than YouTube and Twitter. This underlines the growing interest in short form video and fast entertainment options. Today consumers step away from traditional media and dive into online offers.

Introduction

Social Media User Statistics: As of January 2025, it is projected that approximately 5.24 billion individuals globally are engaged on social media platforms, which accounts for 63.9% of the total world population. This indicates an annual increase of 206 million users, connecting to a growth rate of 4.1%. On average, users engage with 6.8 different social platforms each month and spend roughly 2 hours and 21 minutes per day on these platforms.

Mobile devices account for 98% of the time allocated to social media, highlighting the dominance of mobile access. Facebook continues to lead with over 3 billion monthly active users, followed by YouTube with around 2.5 billion users. Instagram and WhatsApp each boast approximately 2 billion users, while TikTok has surpassed 1.5 billion users.

The number of hours spent on social media in Sweden has fluctuated over the past few years. Swedish users spent around two hours and one minute every day on social media as of February 2025, a marginal increase from the previous year. In 2021, an average of one hour and 48 minutes were spent on social networks per day, rising to over two hours in 2022.

How many people use social media?

              Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

              Who uses social media?
              Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions
              when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

              How much time do people spend on social media?
              Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

              What are the most popular social media platforms?
              Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

In the third quarter of 2024, the average daily internet usage time in Singapore was roughly *** hours and ************ minutes. During that time, internet users spent approximately a ****** of hours each day on social media.

As of the third quarter of 2024, Indonesians spent an average of around ***** hours and ** minutes on the internet. Meanwhile, they spent an average of ***** hours and ***** minutes on social media every day. These figures show how the internet has been well incorporated into the daily activities of the population in the country. Internet accessibility in Indonesia  Indonesia has emerged as one of the largest online markets in Asia. The majority of the Indonesians were mobile internet users. This may be due to the affordability and user-friendliness of the mobile devices that are available in the Indonesian market. Embracing the online world The accessibility and affordability of internet data plans made it easier for Indonesians to be more active on social media. As of the third quarter of 2024, Whatsapp and Instagram were the leading social networks in terms of user penetration in Indonesia. In addition, streaming music and podcasts are among the most popular online activities in the country.

Mobile media usage in the United States is set to increase to four hours and 29 minutes per day between in 2022. In 2020, the adult U.S. population spent an average of 49 daily minutes on social networking. Mobile social network usage is projected to increase to 55 minutes per day in 2023.

Users spend an average of 19.6 hours per month on TikTok alone. This works out to be approximately 39 minutes per day.