Average Time Spent on Social Media Per Day in 2025

In 2025, the average time a user spends on social media is 2 hours and 21 minutes a day. Time passes while browsing updates, viewing brief clips, sending messages inside applications, also interacting with content made by creators and influencers. Still, how much it’s used depends strongly on age, location, and platform choice. Yet this worldwide average offers a clear point to grasp shared online routines.

In this guide, we'll break down the latest social media statistics for 2025, explore who's spending the most time online, and share strategies for managing your screen time without going completely offline.

Key Takeaways: Time Spent on Social Media

• Average daily social media time (global): 2 hours 21 minutes per day. 
• Average daily internet time (global): 6 hours 38 minutes per day. 
• Social as a share of online time: about 35% of daily online time (based on the two averages above). 
• Global social media scale: about 5.66 billion social media user identities as of October 2025. 
• Multi platform behavior: people use an average of 6.83 social platforms per month globally. 
• Social media for work: 38.3% of active social media users say they use social platforms for work related activities. 
• Remote work is still big (U.S.): 34.0 million people age 25+ teleworked or worked from home in the first quarter of 2024 (24.9% of those at work). 
• Why it matters: if social checks leak into work and rest time, it can reduce focus and sleep quality. 

How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media Each Day in 2025?

There’s a lot of different reporting out there, but the most realistic global average of how much time people spend on social media is over two hours per day. That's nearly 15 hours per week, or about 32 days a year. That's more time than many people spend exercising, reading, or cooking combined. It’s interesting to note that this daily average is down slightly from two years ago. 

But here's the thing: this average contains huge differences. A teenager scrolling TikTok before bed has a completely different usage pattern than a business owner checking LinkedIn twice a week. Your average may be very different. 

What Counts as Social Media Time?

Social media time includes any activity within social networking apps and platforms. That means: 

• Scrolling through your Instagram feed 
• Watching YouTube Shorts 
• Replying to comments 
• Sending DMs on Facebook Messenger 
• Doom-scrolling X at midnight. 
• Keep in mind, though, that measurement methods vary. Some stats come from self-reported surveys where people estimate their usage (and we're notoriously...inconsistent...at guessing this accurately). Others come from device tracking tools that measure actual usage. The numbers you see can differ based on which method was used, but the overall patterns are consistent. 

How Many People Use Social Media in 2025?

As of October 2025, there were over 5 billion social media user identities. (Keep in mind that this counts user identities, not individual people, since many folks have multiple accounts across different platforms.) This number has grown by about 260 million users from October 2024 to October 2025. 

Who Spends the Most Time on Social Media?

Women spend more time than men on social media. (DataReportal, Feb 2025) That’s a pretty broad statement, so let’s get a little granular. From the same DataReportal source: 

• Women ages 16 to 24 spend just under 3 hours per day using social platforms. 
• Among 16 to 24 year olds, the gender gap remains about 25 minutes. 

Age Group Social Media Usage Patterns

It’s hard to not overgeneralize when looking at demographic stats, so keep these in mind: 

• Life stage matters. Students, early career workers, new parents, and retirees tend to have different routines. 
• Platform mix matters. Video-first social media has a way of blurring our perception of time. 
• Your purpose matters. If you use social mainly for messaging, your time might look very different than someone who watches short-form video nightly. 

Why Do People Use Social Media So Much?

There’s not just one reason why people use social media, but with it we can connect and communicate with others, be entertained, find jobs and establish professional networks, gather news and information, and shop. And those are just a few of many more reasons why we’re so attracted to social media. 

Then there are the habits around social media use: 

• Notifications train us and divert us to quick check-ins. 
• Algorithmic feeds foster doom scrolling. 
• Multitasking makes social feel harmless because it happens alongside TV, meals, or work breaks. 
• Bedtime scrolling is common because it feels like an easy way to decompress. 

Plus, social media is not only personal anymore. 38.3% of active social media users say they use social platforms for work related activities. That can include networking, research, posting for a business account, or keeping up with industry news and conversations. 

How Many Social Platforms Does the Average Person Use Each Month?

Globally, people use an average of 6.83 social platforms per month. Among young women (16 to 24), that average rises to about 7.76 platforms per month. (DataReportal, Feb 2025) Why are people on so many platforms? Different apps serve different purposes: Instagram for photos, TikTok for entertainment, LinkedIn for professional networking, Twitter/X for news and commentary, and so on. 

Multi-platform use affects your overall time on social media. Each additional platform multiplies your notifications, fragments your attention, and makes it harder to set boundaries. If you're constantly getting pulled into six different apps, your social media time creeps up without you even noticing. 

If you’re feeling consumed or overwhelmed by your social feeds and want to take a step back from it, start by reducing your platform count first. Cutting one app often cuts dozens of small check-ins and immediately reduces time spent on social media. 

Which Social Media Platforms Do Americans Use Most?

In the U.S. YouTube and Facebook are used the most by a wide margin. Here’s a breakdown of platform use by U.S. adults: 

• YouTube: 84% 
• Facebook: 71% 
• Instagram: 50% 
• TikTok: 37% 
• WhatsApp: 32% 
• Reddit: 26% 
• Source: Pew Research Center 

Let’s not forget about how often people use the platforms. In a separate 2025 survey on usage frequency, Pew found that: 

• About half of U.S. adults visit Facebook and YouTube at least once a day 
• 37% visit Facebook several times a day 
• 33% use YouTube several times per day 
• 24% are daily TikTok users 
• 10% report daily use of X 
• Source: Pew Research Center 

When considering how much time people spend, the type of platform plays a role. 

• Video first platforms can drive longer sessions because content auto plays and recommendations are strong. 
• Messaging and community apps can drive more frequent, shorter check ins. 
• Platforms serve different roles (friends, entertainment, work, news), so your time rises when you use multiple platforms for multiple purposes. 

When considering how much time people spend, the type of platform plays a role. What sets video-focused sites apart - such as TikTok or YouTube - is their ability to hold attention through continuous streams of visual material. Because recommendations adapt quickly, users often stay longer without intending to. In contrast, places built around written words, like Twitter/X or Reddit, see quicker visits that happen many times across a single day. These interactions may lack depth, yet they repeat often. How someone engages depends heavily on whether motion or text drives the experience. 

Patterns of everyday usage differ across platforms. With Facebook, individuals typically visit one or two times each day, spending more time per session. In contrast, those on TikTok or Instagram tend to access their apps repeatedly, drawn by brief moments of distraction spread through the hours. The rhythm shapes how attention unfolds. 

Does Remote Work Change Social Media Use and Productivity?

Yes, remote work has fundamentally changed how and when many people interact with social media. For many professionals, social media has become genuinely work-related. They use LinkedIn for networking and industry news, X for professional community building, Instagram or TikTok for marketing and customer research, and Facebook groups for industry discussions. The line between "wasting time" and "doing research" can get blurry. 

To help conceptualize just how many people work remotely, in the U.S., 34.0 million people age 25 and older worked remotely in the first quarter of  2024. That’s almost 25% of all people age 25+ at work. (Bureau of Labor Statistics , April 2025) Among workers with jobs that can be done from home, 75% are working remotely at least some of the time. 

Now, let’s connect that to social media. 

How social media can support remote work: 

• Networking and professional visibility (especially on role-relevant platforms) 
• Recruiting, job searching, and keeping up with industry news 
• Customer research, community listening, and brand building 
• Break time that replaces some office chatter 

How social media can hurt remote work:

• Checking in can become constant context switching 
• Blurred boundaries make it easy to scroll before work starts or after it ends 
• Stress cycles can push people into doomscrolling instead of real recovery 

Remote Work Snapshot (Why Digital Habits Matter)

How Can You Reduce Social Media Screen Time Without Quitting?

You don't have to delete all your social media apps to get your time back. In fact, small changes can have a big impact on your social media screen time. Here's a practical, step-by-step approach to reducing social media use without quitting it entirely: 

1. Check your usage

• Look at your phone’s screen time or digital wellbeing dashboard 
• Check your average daily time and your top 2 apps 
• Pick an achievable target, like “20 minutes less per day” 

2. Audit notifications

• Turn off non-essential notifications 
• Keep only messages you truly need in real time 
• If your phone supports it, turn on summary mode to bundle notifications 

3. Set time windows, not just time limits

• Set 2 to 3 check-in windows per day, like lunchtime, evening, etc. 
• Use your phone's built-in app timer or screen time features to set daily limits for social media apps. 

4. Remove shortcuts and add friction

• Move social apps off your home screen to make them less readily available 
• Log out of your most time-consuming app 
• Log out of social sites in your desktop browser and remove bookmarks to them 

5. Replace micro scrolls with a default break

• Keep a short list of 60 second alternatives: 
  • Stand up and stretch
  • Drink water 
  • Walk outside for one minute 
  • Send one text to a friend 
  • Stare out the window. Boredom is okay. Not every spare moment needs to be filled with content. 

6. If you work from home, protect the first hour

• No social for the first 30 minutes to build momentum and avoid distractions 
• Schedule one intentional social media break so it does not leak into every break 
• Use focus mode during deep work blocks (even 45 minutes helps) 

Quick Wins vs Long Term Fixes

Changes you can make now for a quick win: 

• Turn off push notifications for your top two most used apps 
• Move social apps off the home screen 
• Set one daily time window for scrolling 

Changes for long-term social media use management:

• Reduce platforms (remove one app you do not truly need) 
• Replace bedtime scrolling with a wind down routine 
• Create separate work and personal accounts if social overlaps with your job 

What These Social Media Time Stats Mean for You

Here’s the bottom line: 2 hours and 21 minutes per day may not seem like a lot, but it adds up over a week, a month, and a year, where it totals over 30 days. That's a big chunk of your waking life that could be spent on sleep, exercise, face-to-face conversation, or hobbies. 

Usage varies dramatically based on age, work situation, and lifestyle. A college student and a retiree will have completely different daily use averages, and that's OK. It doesn’t matter if your usage matches the global average. What matters is if your usage aligns with your values and goals. 

If you want one simple action step to start using social media less, do this: check your weekly average, then pick one boundary for the next seven days. Maybe it’s no social media for the first 30 minutes of work or the first hour of your day, removing one platform, or turning off notifications. Even these small steps begin to, break addictions and habits, make room for new habits, and introduce balance and control over your digital life.