Americans are spending more than half of their day consuming media; according to a recent report from eMarketer.
The average time that Americans are spending on their consumption of media has increased slightly since last year, where it was estimated that the average was somewhere around 10.8 hours per day. The average now is seen to be at least 12 hours every day spent consuming media.
The number of hours that children are spending on their consumption of media has also increased dramatically over the last few years. It's estimated that kids 8 years old or younger now, spend roughly 2 hours every day consuming media. The rates for children have tripled in the last four years.
And the main focus of that media consumption? Smartphones.
The time that people are spending on their smartphones has been seen to be increasing steadily. Previous surveys have suggested that roughly 98 percent of households with children who are 8 years old or younger, have smartphones in the home.
Technology today makes it very easy for us to consume media from just about anywhere that we want to go and that makes it a lot easier for us to increase that consumption time when we're just going about our daily business.
Thoughtful Consumption...
Researchers have previously suggested that increased smartphone activity might be linked to depression, anxiety, and unhappiness. Estimating that if you spend between 6-9 hours every week on social media that you could be about 47 percent more likely to be unhappy, compared with those who use it less frequently.
However, not everyone is going to find that they see the same results with excessive amounts of screen time and media consumption of course.
For some it might foster depression and anxiety, yet for others they might find that it only improves their quality of life; proving to be a helpful and useful tool. It's clear that the trend has been growing, and that the average time that we spend consuming media today is slowly increasing to the point where we are spending 300+ hours every month on that media consumption.
At the moment, Snapchat and Instagram are said to be the most popular platforms for teens today when it comes to consuming media, according to a recent study. And those sites are followed by Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. According to Statista, Facebook is still regarded as the most popular social media platform for now (see chart below).
And when it comes to YouTube, Americans are watching millions of hours of content every year.
Cisco Forecast previously estimated that in 2017, that video content would account for roughly 69 percent of all consumer-based internet traffic. But video content isn't the only thing that viewers are interested in these days and that was made pretty clear after several well-known sites altered their strategy opting for a lot more video only to see their viewers dramatically fall. Consumers still want a mix of both.
We are incredibly privileged with all that technology has to offer us today; it's helped to improve our lives in many ways. Yet, for many it has also posed a risk of fostering dependence and possibly contributing to some negative and unwanted side effects like anxiety or depression. The tool itself shouldn't be blamed though. When we allow ourselves to become a slave to the tool then that is when we put ourselves at risk of starting to foster those sorts of negative results in our lives.
No doubt there are many who, when they reach the latter years of life, won't want to be harboring regret for all of the hours that they didn't spend doing something more enjoyable than watching endless videos on Youtube or chatting with friends over Facebook. Though, we can't judge all media consumption the same, can we? Much might be mindless but surely not all. It's up to the individual to decide what brings them value in their life.
Pics:
Dreamstime/Vocativ via vocativ.com/279756/sorry-americans-but-your-smartphone-is-a-little-on-the-slow-side/index.html
Simpsons via Giphy
Giphy
Southpark via Giphy
Statista via Business Insider
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/children-smartphone-tablet-use-report/index.html
http://marketrealist.com/2017/10/american-adults-spending-half-day-media/
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2017/10/10/smartphones-harms-should-not-be-ignored
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html
https://qz.com/1103166/american-kids-daily-mobile-screen-time-is-almost-10-times-higher-than-it-was-in-2011/
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/10/teens-like-snapchat-the-most.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sirenabergman/2017/02/28/we-spend-a-billion-hours-a-day-on-youtube-more-than-netflix-and-facebook-video-combined/#3d3099405ebd
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-dominates-most-popular-social-media-apps-chart-2017-7