We all love it. The bright screen. That update bell notification. It’s intoxicating. And, it’s highly addicting. For context, let’s look at the following:
- The world’s population is roughly 7.7 billion
- The internet has about 4.4 billion users
- There are roughly 3.5 billion active social media users
- On average, people have 7 and a half social media accounts
- The average daily time spent on social is 140 minutes a day
- 92% of retail brands use 2 or more social media channels
- 80% of all small and medium businesses use some kind of social platform
- Social media users grew by 201 million between March 2018 and April 2019
- That works out at a new social media user every 6.4 seconds.
- Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp handle 60 billion messages a day
- When asked 81% of teenagers felt social media has a positive effect on their lives
Check out this graph from Brandwatch.com
On the record, there are an estimated 210 million people who suffer from social media addictions worldwide and this number will only increase as our dependency on technology, the cellphone in particular, grows. One might ask, “How bad is this, really?” However, when we consider that people, teens primarily, who spend at least five hours on their phone a day are two times more likely to show signs of depression. In this group, young, single females are the most addicted.
We’re Sleep Deprived
47 million Americans do not get the recommended amount of sleep per night, with teens being 55% higher in this study (that’s a 55% increase from 1997 to 2015). It is said that 10-15% of teens check their phones 10 times a night, and 45% of people in general check their social media when they should be sleeping. There’s no wonder, then, that a USA Today study found there to be a 386.5% spiked increase in midlife mortality.
Deadly Driving Habits
50% of Americans use their cellphones (not so smart) for social media while driving. 90% of those who do drive admit to using the phone while driving (I’ve seen cops doing it too). The CDC reports that 9 people are killed a day due to these numbers and more than 1,000 people injured because they were swiping left.
