Are Americans spending too much time on social media?

If you’ve ever fretted about the amount of time you’ve spent scrolling through an endless amount of posts, reels or tweets, you are not alone. Nearly half of all Americans say they worry they spend too much time on social media (47%).

This share is particularly high among younger audiences, with as many as two-thirds of those aged 18-29 agreeing with that statement (66%). The number dips with each progressing age category, but holds at a still substantial 31% of those aged over 65. Women are slightly more likely to agree with the statement than men (49% vs 45%).

Unsurprisingly, the more hours people log on social media, the more they worry about the time they spend on it. While three-fifths of those who spend over five hours a day on social media express this worry (60%), this share drops by half among those who keep themselves to less than half an hour of usage per day (31%).

But does the level of worry vary by the platform that the consumers use? For the purposes of answering this question, we look at only those users who use a given platform at least once a day. Those who use Facebook once or more per day are among the least likely to express concern about the amount of time they are spending on social media (49%).

Those who use Snapchat daily are the most likely to express this worry (62%), with rates being similar among daily TikTok users (61%). Daily Instagram users are next on the list (58%), while over half of X (55%) and Reddit (53%) users also say they worry about how long they are using social media.

These findings highlight a growing concern about social media usage across demographics, especially among younger audiences and frequent users. As social media continues to play a significant role in daily life, it might be of interest to both policymakers and social media companies about the impact extended usage can have on consumers.

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