People Reached

How Much Time Do People Spend on Facebook, Instagram, and Social Media?

Time is the most important resource we have.

You could say that we are largely what we spend our time doing.  Think about it, for a moment.  If you spend most of your time playing music, you're probably a musician.  If you spend most of your time drawing, you're probably an artist.  If you spend most of your time writing, you are probably a writer.  What if you spend most of your time on Facebook, Instagram, and/or other forms of social media?  What does that make you?

A social media addict. 

Today, while researching material on social media usage for a book that I am working on, I came across some very disturbing numbers.  These numbers are related to how long people spend on social media and Facebook.  You see, I wanted to know just how much time people spent on these sites on average.  I knew it would be big, but even I was surprised by what I read.  Therefore, I decided to share that information here in a short post about how much time people are spending on Facebook and other such sites.

    •The average US adult spends 38 minutes on Facebook and 53 minutes per day on Instagram.
    •16 to 24-year-olds spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media.

Source:  Review 42

Those are some incredible (and shocking) numbers, but I decided to break them down a bit more.  

    •For 16 to 24-year-olds, that's 1095 hours, which is 45 full 24-hour days per year!
    •For all internet users, that's 861.4 hours, which is 35 full 24-hour days per year!

Furthermore, these are average figures and some people use these sites far more than the average amounts listed here!  Recently I wrote a piece about the Old Man and Facebook who spends far more than 38 minutes per day logged onto Facebook!  

we spend 10% of our life on social media

Imagine, spending almost 10% of your entire life, counting the time you sleep, on social media.  This should come as a shock to anyone who reads it!  This should make one think about how they spend their time.  Furthermore, this should cause one to question if their seemingly-harmless social media use is actually an addiction.  

More startling is that these numbers have climbed year to year.  People spend more and more time on social media as time passes.  When I started writing this site, social media looked far different than today.   It was far less hostile, and politics played a more back-seat role.  Now, Facebook is more hostile than ever, resembling more of an ideological battleground than a social media site.  If there has ever been a time for this website, it is now.  In fact, I would say that this website is now more relevant than ever before.  

Facebook Growth Chart

Imagine for a moment what you could do if you freed up 10% of your life for other productive endeavors.  Time is the most valuable resource we have.  This is true no matter how wealthy you are.  We have all been granted an equal 24 hours per day.  Imagine the power that lies in 10% of that.  Imagine the things you could accomplish!  You could learn and create so much!  You could work towards the body you wanted, improve relationships, learn new skills, start new income streams, and make your life improve by leaps and bounds.  I have written here many times how when I left Facebook, I invested the free time into personal pursuits and my quality of life increased exponentially as a result.  There is no doubt in my mind that anyone else on earth could do the same.  

spending your life on your phone - taking a picture of a coffee cup

Not only will your productivity increase, but so will your mindset!   Once you remove negative posts and the angry feelings that result, you will have far improved mental clarity and peace of mind.  Once you stop comparing yourself to your friends and acquaintances, envy will peel away.  Once you learn that being on social media is not required to live a good life, you will see that there is a better way that Mark Zuckerburg and Co. don't want you to know about.  

The choice is yours.  It has always been yours.  I get nothing for you making that choice.  But, I have taken it upon myself to share the truth with you.  That truth is that you do not have to be chained down to anything in life that doesn't do you any good.   Unchain yourself from social media, or at least think about how it affects you.  

Do you use Facebook, Instagram, and social media a bit too much?  How did you climb out of your addiction?  Tell me in the comments.  If you have any stories you want to share, e-mail me at  Thank you for reading!  


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