Left to their own devices: How much time do teens spend on social media?

Left to their own devices: How much time do teens spend on social media?

10/15/23 8:00PM

Left to their own devices

‍Device-dependent teenagers are far from phoning it in: a Gallup poll has found that over half (51%) of US teenagers report spending at least 4 hours per day on social media apps.

Indeed, while US teens overall spent an average 4.8 hours per day on the 7 popular social media platforms tested in the survey — YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, and WeChat — it appeared that, statistically, teenage girls were more chronically online than their male counterparts, racking up 5.3 hours per day versus 4.4.

‍YouTube was popular with Gen Z boys, averaging ~24% longer per day on the platform than girls, who reported spending more time on TikTok and Instagram. Meanwhile, messaging services like WhatsApp accounted for less than 15 minutes a day across both genders.

The survey also revealed that 17-year-olds were most likely to pass the 4-hour mark every single day. What surprised us most, however, was the 42% of 13-year-olds who also met the 4-hour threshold, given they’re only just old enough to meet the minimum sign-up age for most of these platforms.

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The most watched soccer match in US history got less than a third of the views the Super Bowl did

Between a top-spot finish in the group stage, a sweeping performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and the president’s controversial intervention, Monday evening’s USMNT game against Belgium had, to put it lightly, shaped up into a box-office clash.

And though the US players’ performance on the pitch might not have lived up to the high drama off it, American soccer fans certainly showed up. According to early estimates, the 4-1 defeat against Belgium was the most watched soccer telecast in US history, hauling some 40 million viewers on average across the coverage on Fox and Telemundo.

That may be a record tally in the US for the sport that much of the world calls some variant of “football” — besting the 36.2 million who tuned in to watch the team’s previous knock-out match — but it’s still peanuts in comparison to the sport that shares the same name in the States.

World cup viewers chart — Sherwood News

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