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.

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.

In February 2024, adults in the United States aged between 18 and 24, spent 186 minutes per day engaging with social media platforms. In comparison, respondents aged 65 and older dedicated approximately 102 minutes of their day to social media. TikTok was the most engaging social media platform for U.S. consumers aged between 18 and 24 years. The popular video was also the most engaging among users aged 35 and 54 years, commanding between 45 and 50 minutes of users' daily attention. Respondents aged between 55 and 65, reported to spending between 45 minutes daily on Facebook.

Hong Kong internet users spent an average of *** hour ** minutes each day on social media, according to a 2024 digital usage survey. YouTube gained the highest attention with monthly usage time averaging ** hours and ** minutes per user, which means that users spent about ** minutes a day on the platform. Facebook came in second with ** hours and ** minutes in the monthly screen time, down by ***** hours. Instagram, on the other hand, up by *** hour to ** hours and ** minutes.

As of March 2020, social media users in the United States were staying online more. According to a survey of U.S. social media users, **** percent of respondents were using social media *** hours additional hours per day. A further **** percent used social media ** minutes to *** hour more than usual per day. Only *** percent of users were adding ******************** to their usage. Additional social media usage was a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused stay home orders and social distancing to be put in place in the country.

Between October 2020 and March 2021, users aged between 40 and 44 years were the demographic spending the largest amount of time engaging with social media apps, with an average of 59.85 minutes per day. Global users aged 19 or younger spent the least amount of time on social media apps, while users aged 50 years or older spent approximately 56.43 minutes per day on social media apps.

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 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.

YouTube was the **** used social media app in India as of November 2024, with each user spending an average of ** hours and ** minutes per month on the online video platform. Facebook and Instagram were the ****** and ********** used apps.

In 2024, TikTok was the social media app with the highest user engagement by far, with 45 hours and 25 minutes spent on the platforms per month on average. Besides being the platform with the second highest usage reach in Mexico during the analyzed period, Facebook ranked third in monthly usage, with 17 hours and 55 minutes monthly on average.

Social media usage in the Asia-Pacific region varies significantly across countries, with the Philippines leading in daily time spent at ***** hours and ** minutes in the third quarter of 2024. This was a stark contrast to Japan's ** minutes per day. Penetration rates and user bases Among Asia Pacific countries, South Korea boasts the highest social media penetration at **** percent, followed closely by Hong Kong at **** percent. However, populous countries like Indonesia, China, and India show lower penetration rates, indicating significant growth potential. Despite this, China leads in absolute numbers with more than *********** active social media users, while India and Indonesia rank second and third in this category. These figures suggest that despite lower penetration rates in some countries, the sheer population size translates to massive user numbers. Platform preferences Facebook remains the dominant social media platform across Asia; however, competitors have gained ground in some markets. For example, Chinese network WeChat is the most popular platform in China, offering integrated services beyond social media. In Thailand and Laos, X (formerly Twitter) accounts for more than ** percent of social media traffic.

In June 2024, Reddit, Facebook Messenger, and X saw a slight increase in engagement with their audience in the United States. Messenger users have engaged with the chat app for approximately *** minutes in June 2024, compared to June 2023 when U.S. users spent approximately *** minutes using the app. In comparison, Facebook users in the U.S. spent around *** minutes on the social media app, compared to *** minutes registered the year before.

According to a global survey conducted in 2021, respondents who belonged to Generation Z reported spending on average three hours per day on social media. Overall, Millennials stated that they spent 2.25 hours per day on online social platforms. Those belonging to the Baby boomer generation spent an average one hour on social media, daily.

In 2024, TikTok was the app on which users in the United States spent the most time. On average, users spent 43 hours and 53 minutes per month on the app. Overall, U.S. internet users spent over 24 hours per month on the YouTube app, and 16 hours and 24 minutes on Facebook's app.

As of February 2023, TikTok users in the United States spent ** percent of the time they dedicated to social media engagement with the popular short-video platform. Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram commanded ** percent of the online social time of TikTok users in the U.S., respectively. In comparison, the YouTube mobile app kept users engaged for ** percent of all the time they chose to dedicate to social media.

People in Japan on average spent 38.9 minutes per weekday on using social media in fiscal year 2023. The usage time decreased for the first time in five years.

In 2024, TikTok was the most popular social media app in Australia, based on average time spent, with users dedicating 42 hours and 13 minutes per month to the platform. This figure was nearly double the time spent on YouTube, which was 21 hours and 36 minutes, and Facebook, at 20 hours and 15 minutes.

According to a survey of users in aged between 15 and 24 conducted in the United Kingdom in August 2023, respondents spent approximately 120 minutes daily engaging with TikTok. The most popular social media platforms was Instagram, with a reach of approximately 53 percent across the examined demographic, despite users engaging with the platform for less than 30 minutes per day on average.

Even though TikTok was the social media app with the highest user engagement in Brazil in 2024, generating 28 hours and 34 minutes of average monthly usage, WhatsApp was the most used and second favorite social network in the country, with an average user engagement of more than 24 monthly hours. Instagram followed with 23 hours and 35 minutes of average use time per month.

In June 2024, adults in the United States spent an average of 20 minutes on Facebook per day, and 16 minutes on Instagram. Overall, around eight minutes per day were spent on Snapchat, and 18 minutes on TikTok. Moreover, TikTok saw a much higher daily time spent by U.S. users aged between 18 and 24 than any other platform.