Social media dominates the digital landscape. Recent data shared by Statista shows that the majority of the world’s population is online. As of February 2025, there are 5.56 billion internet users worldwide (63.9% of planet Earth’s population).
A jaw-dropping 5.24 billion people (63.9% of the world’s population) are social media users. This number is expected to grow as mobile device usage should gain more traction in new markets.
Meta owns four of some of the biggest social media platforms globally, including Instagram (2 billion monthly active users as of February 2025), Facebook (over 3 billion monthly active users), Messenger (947 million monthly active users), and WhatsApp (2 billion monthly active users).
Other globally popular social media platforms include YouTube (over 2.5 billion monthly active users, right behind Facebook), TikTok (nearly 1.6 billion monthly active users), WeChat (almost 1.4 billion monthly active users), and Telegram (950 million monthly active users). 850 million people actively use Snapchat each month, while 606 million people do the same with Reddit.
Statista notes that in 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users around the world came out to 143 minutes (2 hours and 23 minutes) each day.
This was a drop from an average of 151 minutes (2 hours and 31 minutes) per day in 2023. The average time was 147 minutes (2 hours and 27 minutes) in 2022 and held steady at 145 minutes (2 hours and 25 minutes) between 2019 and 2021.
In 2024, Brazilians spend the most time on social media globally, with an average of 3 hours and 49 minutes per day. In the United States, this was ‘just’ 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Typically, people use social media to enjoy funny and entertaining content, to stay in touch with friends and current events, and to share photos and videos with their social group.
Many individuals love the fact that social media makes communication easy, allows them to express themselves freely, and gives them easy access to information. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
Many social media users also hate the fact that these platforms have worsened their personal privacy, increased political polarization, and led to a spike in everyday distractions.
According to UC Davis Health, social media use can actually increase a person’s feelings of anxiety and depression. This effect is especially pronounced in teenagers, as well as young adults.
When someone interacts with the content we post on social media in a positive way, your brain’s reward center releases dopamine. However, when you don’t get likes or views or comments, you don’t get that boost and this can impact your sense of self and adequacy.
