Have you noticed how much time you spend on the screen every day? Maybe you’re watching videos, chatting with friends, or doing homework. Screen use has changed a lot over time.
We used to use the screen mostly for TV, but now we use it for so much more. But what does this change mean for us and how does it affect our lives? In this article, we have included statistics from the annual report published by https://wearesocial.com and https://www.hootsuite.com.
Increasing screen and internet use
World population and internet users
The world has almost 8 billion people. Over 62% of us use the internet. That’s almost 5 billion people! Think about it, so many people use screens every day.
Mobile users around the world
Two-thirds of the world owns a mobile phone. There are over 5 billion mobile users. Mobile phones make it easy to use screens almost everywhere.
Growth in social media users
There are more than 4 billion social media users. That’s over half the world! In the past year, over 424 million new users have started their social media journey.
What do you do on the internet?
Time Spent on Screen
Checking symptoms about your own health
More than 1 in 4 check their health symptoms online every week.
Social media explodes
An overview of screen time since 2013
We have gradually spent more and more time in front of the screen since 2013. In 2013, we spent just over 6 hours on average each day. In 2021, that’s almost 7 hours! In other words, we spend almost a full hour more in front of the screen today than we did eight years ago.
How much of our waking time do we spend in front of a screen?
Did you know that we spend almost 40% of our waking hours in front of a screen? That’s a lot of time! And it seems to be increasing. From 2019 to 2021, mobile screen time has increased by 30%. So it looks like we will continue to spend more time on our screens.
How much of your screen time is productive?
Not all screen time is productive. In fact, one survey showed that less than half of the time we spend on screens is useful.
Challenges with screen time management.
Many people, almost 41%, find it difficult to manage their screen time. It can be hard to turn off the screen when there’s so much to see and do.
Feeling guilty about your children’s screen time.
Many parents, 21%, feel guilty about the amount of time their children spend in front of the screen. They worry about how it affects children’s development.Health impacts of screen time
Welfare benefits of limited social media use.
It’s not all bad. Limited use of social media can reduce depression and improve wellbeing.
Screen usage has increased dramatically, what does that mean for our future?
With all the time we spend in front of the screen, it’s important to think about how it affects us. There can be both good and bad effects. The most important thing is to find a good balance.
Nordic countries at the top
As the internet reaches more parts of the world, the statistics even out. But the Nordic and Western countries are clearly in the lead.
Doubling in ten years?
This is the global trend. If we had figures on Norwegians’ usage, it would probably have been higher.
What do we use the most?
Facebook and YouTube together account for by far the most traffic
