So far in this blog I have been reliant on the internet to give me all my information about social media, its effects, and the way people abuse it. Reading online articles and relying on other people’s research is good for general information on a topic, but I wanted to know specifically how other people my age, 18-25, use social media. To learn more about how social media affects the lives of my peers and fellow Penn State students, I decided to ask around this week about other people’s social media habits and how they use their phone.
So to start a conversation, I approached some friends, and some new faces to get diverse and inclusive data from the environment around me. To start I asked about people’s screen time. What I found from this was very surprising to be honest. A few people I interviewed had screen times over 10 hours! Most common however was anywhere in the range of 7.5-9 hours. Then the second most common time range was 6-7 hours. The lowest screen time I came across was 5 hours and 36 minutes. My personal screen time was 8 hours and 15 minutes… a shocking awakening. So assuming that the average person sleeps for 8 hours a day, that means they spend about 16 hours awake. According to the data I collected, most people my age are on their phones for about 8.5 hours a day. This is incredible to me. We spend more than half the time we are awake fixated on our phones. We literally have access to the entire world in our pockets, and it is easy to lose track of time scrolling or watching. I encourage my readers to stop right now, and check your screen time. Chances are you will be surprised in a bad way. Most people I interviewed were also shocked. This is ok though, you can’t make a change unless you identify the problem first.
After asking about screen time, I asked about what apps people spend the most time on and why. I got pretty consistent answers on this one. Snapchat and Instagram were interchangeably the two most used apps for almost everyone I asked. This makes sense to me and as people explained it is the main way people stay in contact with each other. Other social media apps like Tiktok were also named high up in the rankings because it is an entertaining distraction from reality. The only other apps that people really named were apps used for school, shopping, gaming, and Safari to search on the internet. This interviewing process made me and my peers more aware of our habits. It also gave me a more specific view of what kinds of apps people around our age tended to use. Checking screen time is a great way to manage how time you spend on your phone, and realize any changes you may need to make.
Picture Sources:
Unlocking mobile revenue and audience: New ideas and best practices
https://www.fishbowlapp.com/post/whats-your-average-screen-time-on-your-phone
This was a super interesting post, especially since this data involved actual students from our school, not just random people in a study across the country. I also have found that my screen time is out of hand, and my phone always reminds me that it has “increased by 5% this week”. It is crazy that we are so dependent on our phones that we spend half of our waking hours looking at a screen. I will definitely try to decrease my screen time and do something more worthwhile.
Every time I check my screen time I am thoroughly embarrassed. My average screen time for last week is 6 hours and 25 minutes, which isn’t great but not the worst I’ve had. However, that adds up. My total screen time usage from last week was 44 hours and 55 minutes total. I spent almost two whole days last week on my phone. It’s crazy to think about, and a little bit scary, honestly.