American Teens' 4.8 Hours Per Day On Social Media Is Addictive, Destructive
BATH, UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 25: In this photo illustration a a 12-year-old school boy looks at a ... More iPhone screen A 12-year-old boy looks at an iPhone screen showing various social media apps including TikTok, Facebook and X on February 25, 2024 in Bath, England. This week the UK government issued new guidance backing headteachers in prohibiting the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, including at break times. Many schools around the country are already prohibiting mobile phone use over concerns. The amount of time children spend on screens each day rocketed during the Covid pandemic by more than 50 per cent, the equivalent of an extra hour and twenty minutes. Researchers say that unmoderated screen time can have long-lasting effects on a child's mental and physical health. Recently TikTok announced that every account belonging to a user below age 18 have a 60-minute daily screen time limit automatically set. (Photo by)
It's staggering. American teens spend 30% of their waking lives – 4.8 hours per day – on social media platforms (assuming they sleep eight hours and that they spend 16 hours doing … stuff). This is based on data compiled by Gallup in 2023, the most recent data available.
What's so social about social media?
In a study published in JAMA, it was reported that this led to addictive behavior and, in the extreme, suicidal thoughts or even attempts. We could add a few behavior categories easily enough: sociopathic, psychopathic, obsessive, compulsive, and impulsive, to name a few. It is striking that none of these approaches social behavior like affiliative, interpersonal, or supportive.
U.S. daily averages (poll of polls) show universal usage across platforms, including 59 minutes on TikTok, 59 minutes on YouTube, 39 minutes on Facebook, 30 minutes on Snapchat, 32 minutes on X, 33 minutes on WhatsAp, and 33 minutes on Instagram.
What's going on here?
In 2013, I wrote a commentary piece called 'Obsession with Technology.' In it I cited G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), the inimitable English writer, philosopher, poet, and journalist, who observed, 'We are perishing for lack of wonder, not for lack of wonders.'
One of the few characteristics human beings can claim as distinctly ours – separating us from all other species – is our capacity to wonder. We don't even have exclusivity in creating wonders, as certain species not only use tools but make them, proving the capacity to invent. But to wonder? Yes.
Why, then, do so many of us disengage from the process of wondering? That doesn't mean flipping over dazzling new technologies, but wondering at simple things: an idea, a melody, a theory, an opportunity, synergy, or fantasy.
The short answer is today's obsession with technology. The long answer requires us to follow that stream of thought.
So, let's be crystal clear. What is an obsession? It is a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea. Next question: what do we mean by preoccupation? To preoccupy is to dominate or engross the mind to the exclusion of other thoughts. Repeat: the exclusion of other thoughts.
Doesn't that put the 4.8 hours per day into perspective?
It may also go a long way in explaining why, in recent surveys, 54% of American teens replied that they'd like to have a career as an influencer.
Just sayin'.
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