# Social media break statistics (2026)

> About 5.66 billion social media identities exist worldwide, and people spend more than 2.5 hours a day on social and video platforms. Randomized studies consistently find that stepping away, even for a week, improves wellbeing modestly, frees up roughly an hour a day, and often leads to lasting reductions in use.

We collected the most reliable numbers we could find on how much time people spend on social media, how many of them take breaks, and what happens when they do. Every figure links to its original source. We've favored large surveys and randomized controlled trials over vendor reports, and we explain the limits where they matter.

Feel free to cite this page. We update it when new research comes out. You can also [download the full table as a CSV file](/data/social-media-break-statistics.csv) (free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with a link back to this page).

## Key statistics at a glance

| Statistic | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social media user identities worldwide | 5.66 billion (68.7% of the world's population) | DataReportal, Digital 2026 |
| Average platforms used per month | 6.75 | GWI via DataReportal |
| Daily time on social and video platforms | More than 2.5 hours (18h 36m a week) | DataReportal, Digital 2026 |
| UK adults' daily time online (outside work) | 4 hours 30 minutes | Ofcom, Online Nation 2025 |
| UK 18 to 24 year olds' daily time online | 6 hours 20 minutes | Ofcom, Online Nation 2025 |
| US Facebook users who've taken a break of several weeks or more | 42% | Pew Research Center, 2018 |
| US teens who say they spend too much time on social media | 45% | Pew Research Center, 2025 |
| US teens who've cut back on social media and smartphones | 44% | Pew Research Center, 2025 |
| Free time gained by quitting Facebook for four weeks | About 60 minutes a day | Allcott et al., 2020 |
| Time saved during a one-week break from four platforms | About 8 hours a week | Lambert et al., 2022 |

## How much time people spend on social media

- **5.66 billion** social media user identities exist worldwide, equal to **68.7%** of the global population. "Identities" aren't the same as unique people, since some people have more than one account ([DataReportal, Digital 2026](https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2026-global-overview-report)).
- The typical internet user is active on **6.75** different social platforms each month (GWI data, reported by DataReportal).
- Online adults spend **more than an hour a day** on networks like Facebook and X, and **more than 2.5 hours** once you include video platforms like YouTube and TikTok. That's about 18 hours 36 minutes a week ([DataReportal](https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2026-global-overview-report)).
- In the UK, adults spend **4 hours 30 minutes** online a day outside work, up 10 minutes on the previous year. For 18 to 24 year olds it's **6 hours 20 minutes** ([Ofcom Online Nation 2025, via ISPreview](https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/12/ofcom-finds-uk-adults-now-spend-over-4-5-hours-online-each-day.html)).
- UK adults spend an average of **51 minutes** a day on YouTube, about **43 minutes** on Facebook and Messenger, and **20 minutes** on Instagram (Ofcom, Online Nation 2025).

## How people feel about it

- Only **29%** of UK adults say being online has a positive effect on their mental health, down from 33% a year earlier (Ofcom, Online Nation 2025).
- **45%** of US teens say they spend too much time on social media, up from 36% in 2022 ([Pew Research Center, 2025, via WTTW](https://news.wttw.com/2025/04/22/nearly-half-american-teens-say-social-media-bad-young-people-s-mental-health-new-report)).
- **48%** of US teens say social media has a mostly negative effect on people their age, up from 32% in 2022. Just **14%** say it has a mostly negative effect on them personally (Pew, 2025).

## How many people take breaks

- **42%** of US adult Facebook users had taken a break from checking the platform for several weeks or more in the previous year, and **26%** had deleted the Facebook app from their phone ([Pew Research Center, 2018](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/09/05/americans-are-changing-their-relationship-with-facebook/)).
- **44%** of US teens say they've cut back on their time on social media and smartphones (Pew, 2025).

## What happens when people take a break: the research

Surveys tell us how people feel. Randomized controlled trials, where some people are randomly asked to quit and others carry on, tell us what quitting actually does.

| Study | Who and how long | What they found |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Allcott, Braghieri, Eichmeyer & Gentzkow (2020)](https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.20190658), *American Economic Review* | 1,661 US Facebook users, paid to deactivate for 4 weeks | About 60 minutes a day freed up; subjective wellbeing up 0.09 standard deviations; Facebook use stayed lower after the study ended |
| [Lambert et al. (2022)](https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.0324), *Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking* | 154 UK adults, stopped Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok for 1 week | Wellbeing improved and depression and anxiety scores fell versus controls; use dropped from about 8.5 hours a week to about 20 minutes |
| [Hunt et al. (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751), *Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology* | 143 US students, limited Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to about 30 minutes a day for 3 weeks | Significant drops in loneliness and depression |
| [Allcott et al. (2025)](https://www.networkscienceinstitute.org/publications/the-effect-of-deactivating-facebook-and-instagram-on-users-emotional-state), NBER working paper | Large US experiments, deactivating Facebook or Instagram for 6 weeks | Emotional state improved by 0.060 SD (Facebook) and 0.041 SD (Instagram) |

## What the numbers suggest

Reading these studies together, a few things stand out:

1. **The benefits are real but modest.** Effects of a few hundredths to a tenth of a standard deviation won't transform anyone's life. But they turn up again and again, across countries, platforms and study designs.
2. **Time is the biggest, most reliable gain.** An hour a day, or eight hours a week, comes back every time. That's where most people notice the difference.
3. **Breaks tend to stick a little.** In the largest study, people kept using Facebook less after the experiment ended. A break works partly as a reset.
4. **Short breaks count.** Effects appeared after just one week. You don't have to vanish for months.

## Limits worth knowing

- Most trials pay or recruit volunteers, who may be keener than average to cut back.
- Several rely on self-reported time use.
- Participants are often young, students, or from the US and UK.
- "Social media" covers very different things, from messaging a close friend to scrolling a stranger's videos. Quitting the feed while keeping your close conversations may well be the best of both, which is the idea behind our guide to [taking a break without losing your people](/guides/how-to-take-a-break-from-social-media).

## Frequently asked questions

### How much time does the average person spend on social media per day?

According to DataReportal's Digital 2026 report, online adults spend more than 2.5 hours a day on social and video platforms combined, or about 18 hours 36 minutes a week.

### What percentage of people take breaks from social media?

Pew Research found 42% of US Facebook users had taken a break of several weeks or more in the past year, and a 2025 Pew survey found 44% of US teens had cut back on social media and smartphone time.

### Does taking a break from social media improve mental health?

Randomized trials suggest it does, modestly. A one-week break improved wellbeing and reduced depression and anxiety scores in a 2022 UK study, and a four-week Facebook break raised wellbeing in a large 2020 US study.

### How much time do you save by quitting social media?

Studies found about 60 minutes a day for people who deactivated Facebook, and about 8 hours a week for people who stopped using four major platforms for a week.

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Source: https://talklio.app/guides/social-media-break-statistics · Updated 2026-10-10