Quick answer: internet users worldwide spend about 19 hours 18 minutes a week on social media and video platforms, 42 minutes more than a year earlier (GWI via DataReportal, October 2026). A typical US teen spends about 8 hours a day on screen media for entertainment (Common Sense Media, 2026). Looking for numbers by age? See average screen time by age.
Every figure in the tables has the year it was measured and links to the source that published it. Where an older edition of the same survey gave a different number, the section notes it. Different sources define “time” differently, so compare a figure only with others from the same row’s source.
Screen time overall
Daily and weekly time with screens, from the two largest recurring surveys: GWI (through DataReportal) for internet users worldwide and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for how Americans spend a day.
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily time online, internet users worldwide | 6 hours 38 minutes | 2025 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2025 |
| Weekly time with all online media, including streaming TV | About 33½ hours | 2025 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2026 |
| Leisure and sports time per day, US (age 15 and over) | 5.2 hours | 2025 | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
| Watching TV per day, US (age 15 and over) | 2.6 hours | 2025 | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
Time on social media
GWI changed the survey questions behind this measure, so DataReportal now reports weekly time on social media and video platforms together (YouTube and TikTok included) instead of a daily social media figure. There is no US-only social media time figure here, because we found no source that measures it on its own.
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly time on social media and video platforms, internet users worldwide | 19 hours 18 minutes | 2026 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| Weekly time on social media and video feeds, ages 16 to 24 worldwide | Well over 24 hours | 2026 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
Earlier DataReportal editions reported a daily figure for social media alone: 2 hours 27 minutes in the January 2022 report, 2 hours 23 minutes in January 2024 and 2 hours 21 minutes in February 2025. DataReportal says GWI recently revised the questions it uses to measure time spent with media, so there is no complete timeline linking those daily figures to the weekly one. The weekly figure for 2025 was 18 hours 36 minutes (October 2025), and the 2026 figure is 42 minutes higher.
The same report puts the daily online figure at 6 hours 38 minutes in its February 2025 edition, down 2 minutes on the year before, and 6 hours 40 minutes in January 2024 and 6 hours 37 minutes in January 2023. The 2026 report gives weekly online media time instead.
Time per platform
Average daily time per active user inside each platform’s native mobile apps (web use is not counted), measured by Similarweb in August 2026. DataReportal notes that Similarweb introduced a new methodology for this dataset and advises against comparing it with figures from earlier reports, so no earlier figures are shown. We found no source with a comparable per-user time for X or Snapchat. For teens in the US, Pew reports how many use each platform every day.
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok, daily time per user | 1 hour 55 minutes | 2026 | Similarweb via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| Instagram, daily time per user | 1 hour 40 minutes | 2026 | Similarweb via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| YouTube, daily time per user | 1 hour 28 minutes | 2026 | Similarweb via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| Facebook, daily time per user | 59 minutes | 2026 | Similarweb via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| US teens using YouTube every day | Roughly three-quarters | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens using TikTok every day | 61% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens using Instagram every day | 55% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens using Snapchat every day | 46% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens using Facebook every day | 20% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
Short-form video and Reels
Short-form video is where much of the feed time goes. These figures cover online video overall and how teens describe their use of TikTok and YouTube.
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly time watching online video, internet users worldwide | 12 hours 5 minutes | 2026 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| Weekly time watching TV in all formats, internet users worldwide | 9 hours 58 minutes | 2026 | GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2027 |
| US teens on TikTok almost constantly | 21% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens on Instagram almost constantly | 12% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
| Daily time US teens spend on feeds built to keep them scrolling | Nearly 2 hours | 2026 | Common Sense Media, 2026 Census |
Pew reports that the TikTok share ticked up slightly from 16% in 2022. Its 2024 report put Instagram at 12%, up from 8% in 2023. For the habit itself, see Reels addiction.
Doomscrolling and compulsive use
Doomscrolling has no single standard definition, so surveys ask people to rate their own habit. Morning Consult asked US adults who use social media whether they doomscroll “a lot” or “some” (a survey of 2,200 US adults, 17 to 19 February 2024).
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| US adult social media users who doomscroll “a lot” or “some” | 31% | 2024 | Morning Consult |
| Gen Z adult social media users who doomscroll “a lot” or “some” | 53% | 2024 | Morning Consult |
| US teens who say they spend too much time on social media | 45% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| US teens on at least one of five major platforms almost constantly | 36% | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
If you want your own number, the doomscrolling test scores your habits and the doomscrolling calculator turns daily minutes into hours per year. For ways to cut the habit, see how to stop doomscrolling and what doomscrolling is.
Teens and young children
Common Sense Media’s 2026 census covers ages 9 to 17 and describes a typical teen and a typical tween, while its 2021 census reported averages for ages 13 to 18 and 8 to 12, so treat the two as separate editions rather than a trend line.
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily screen media for entertainment, US teens | About 8 hours | 2026 | Common Sense Media, 2026 Census |
| Daily screen media for entertainment, US tweens | About 5 hours | 2026 | Common Sense Media, 2026 Census |
| US teens aged 12 to 17 with 4 or more hours of daily screen time | 50.4% | 2021 to 2023 | CDC National Center for Health Statistics |
| Daily time on social media, US adolescents (Gallup reports ages 13 to 17) | 4.8 hours | 2023 | Gallup |
| Daily screen time, US children up to age 8 | About 2.5 hours | 2025 | Common Sense Media, 2025 Census (26 Feb 2025) |
For the full age breakdown, including how much screen time is too much and what the CDC found about anxiety and depression, see average screen time by age. For a self-check on attention, try the attention span test.
Cite this page
Stillfeed, “Screen Time & Social Media Statistics (2026)”, updated 6 November 2026. https://stillfeed.pro/social-media-statistics/
Each row has its own link: add #stat- and the row id, for example https://stillfeed.pro/social-media-statistics/#stat-social-video-time-weekly. A machine-readable list of the figures with their sources is at stats-map.json.
Sources
- DataReportal and GWI, Digital 2027 Global Overview Report (21 October 2026): weekly time on social and video platforms, online video and TV time, per-platform time (Similarweb, August 2026, native mobile apps, new methodology).
- DataReportal, Digital 2026 Global Overview Report (15 October 2025): the 2025 weekly figure, weekly online media time.
- DataReportal and GWI, Digital 2025 Global Overview Report (5 February 2025): daily time online and on social media in early 2025.
- DataReportal, Digital 2024, Digital 2023 and Digital 2022: the earlier daily figures quoted above.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey 2025 results (25 June 2026; Table 1 gives 5.16 hours of leisure and sports and 2.61 hours of TV a day) and the 2024 results (26 June 2025).
- Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (9 December 2025) and 10 facts about teens and social media (10 July 2025).
- Common Sense Media, The 2026 Common Sense Media Census: Tech and Media Use by Tweens and Teens (27 October 2026), the 2021 census and the 2025 census for ages 0 to 8.
- CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Daily Screen Time Among Teenagers: United States, July 2021 to December 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 513, October 2024).
- Gallup, Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day (13 October 2023; survey of adolescents, 26 June to 17 July 2023).
- Morning Consult, How Doomscrolling Is Impacting Social Media Users’ Mood (20 March 2024).
For the addiction side of the numbers, see social media addiction statistics.
Common questions
How much time does the average person spend on social media?
Internet users worldwide spend an average of 19 hours 18 minutes a week on social media and video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, according to GWI data published in DataReportal's Digital 2027 report (October 2026). That is 42 minutes more than the weekly average a year earlier.
How much time do people spend on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook?
In August 2026, the average TikTok user spent 1 hour 55 minutes a day in the app, the average Instagram user 1 hour 40 minutes and the average Facebook user 59 minutes, according to Similarweb data in DataReportal's Digital 2027 report. These counts cover native mobile apps only.
How many hours a day do teens spend on screens?
Common Sense Media's 2026 census found that a typical US teen spends about 8 hours a day on screen media for entertainment, outside school and homework, and a typical tween about 5 hours. More than 4 in 10 teens (43%) spend 10 or more hours a day.
How many people doomscroll?
Morning Consult found in 2024 that 31% of US adults who use social media doomscroll "a lot" or "some", rising to 53% of Gen Z adults and 46% of millennials. Doomscrolling has no standard definition, so this reflects how people describe their own habit.
