GB/US: Around a quarter of the public now spend more than 11 hours a week on social media

According to the latest data from YouGov Profiles, users in both US and Great Britain are most likely to spend between 1 to 10 hours per week on social media.

While 44% of Britons pick 1-10 hours as the approximate time they spend reading, posting or interacting on social media, slightly fewer Americans (42%) report similar online habits.

Over one in ten consumers (12%) in both countries say they spend less than one hour every week on social media platforms.

Yet a sizeable proportion of users in both markets pick 11-20 hours, dedicating the equivalent of more than a working day to social media every week (14% in GB; 15% in US).

Americans are slightly more likely than Britons to say they spend over 31 hours every week on social media (6% in US; 4% in GB).

To put that into context, 8% of Americans and 8% of Brits spend an equivalent time watching TV.

Breaking down the data by generation quantifies something widely held to be true – that younger people on both sides of the Atlantic are likelier to be heavier users of social media.

In both markets, members of Gen Z are most likely to say they use social media for 11 hours per week or more – with the proportion of these heavier users declining as you go up through the generations. Almost half of Gen Z Brits (48%) are on social media for 11 hours or more a week, while for American Gen Zers, it’s 40%.

Meanwhile, more than one in ten older users spend less than one hour per week on social media in both markets – Gen X (15% in GB; 15% in US), Baby Boomer (15% in GB; 16% in US) and Silent Generation (13% in GB; 14% in US).

However, these three older demographics are just as likely as Millennials to spend 1-10 hours per week reading, posting and interacting on social media. With the exception of Gen Z, all generations register over two in five users with similar social media usage patterns.

Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for US and Great Britain is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.

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