- Many Americans spend excessive time emailing, texting, monitoring social media and surfing the internet on smartphones.
- Prolonged and consistent social media use can lead to depression, stress and anxiety among users of all ages.
- To reduce the time you spend online, set time limits, plan activities, and remove distractions.
- This article is for people who want to reduce the time they spend online, and boost their productivity and wellness.
Staying up to date on emails, social media and online communication methods is a bigger time requirement than people may realize. According to Adobe's 2019 email usage study, people at work spend more than three hours a day checking and sending email, adding up to 15.5 hours weekly.
Further, a study from Provision Living found that the average American spends roughly 38 hours per week on their phone. That number represents nearly 23% of the total time in a week. Most Americans spend this phone time texting, using social media and browsing the internet.
How people spend their time online
Between sending emails at work and using social media at home, all this screen time is taking a toll on users' mental health, according to a report from AdventHealth.
This mental toll is nothing new. A previous eMarketer report found that 54% of survey respondents tried to decrease their reliance on technology in favor of more in-person contact, and 62% of web users said they hoped to decrease their overall tech usage in the coming year.
Additionally, a recent Pew Research Center report found that 31% of American adults say they're online "almost constantly." This finding has increased by 10% since 2015. Survey respondents use their online time visiting social networks, emailing, watching online videos, playing online games, and reading or writing blogs.
The platforms used most often
A study from Uswitch found that the average American spends almost seven hours per week on Facebook and more than five hours on YouTube.
Users check their social media platforms with varying frequency. According to SlickText, most Americans look at their phones up to 63 times per day to check email, texts, Facebook, Instagram, and other sites and apps.
The eMarketer report cited mobile-optimized photo sites as especially popular, with 70% of Instagram users and 67% of Snapchat users logging in daily.
Another Pew report found that 54% of people with YouTube accounts use the site daily, and 36% of these users access the platform multiple times per day.
For professional social media sites, about 30% of mobile users in the U.S. visit LinkedIn more than once per day.
Even though many respondents reported wanting to disconnect and decrease their time online, they may just be swapping one site for another.
"Even as web users report a desire to disconnect, and discussion circulates about Facebook users decreasing time spent, it remains to be seen whether social users will follow through on that promise to log off, or perhaps simply translate their time spent on social to the sites that best suit their communication needs," said the eMarketer report.
Why users should reduce their screen time
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), prolonged and consistent use of social media can lead to depression, stress, and anxiety among users of all ages. Health researchers have also found that many users experience social media addiction.
This effect is driven by a constant urge to check and interact with the content on these platforms. Spending less time on social media can help you focus on the real world and curate tangible, productive experiences beyond your screen.
More than 60% of Americans spend five or fewer hours outdoors in nature every week, according to research by the Nature of Americans initiative. This is less than one-fifth the amount of time the average American spends on their phone each week. If you reduce the time you spend on your phone every day, you can allocate a few more hours to outdoor activity. Research shows many positive health effects of outdoor activity, such as lower blood pressure and stress.
Reducing your screen time also allows you to foster better in-person relationships. According to MercyCare, positive social interactions release mood-boosting neurochemicals that promote feelings of contentment and overall happiness.
Tips to reduce time online
Picking up a phone takes just a couple of seconds, yet it starts an endless experience of entertaining, personalized content. Consequently, spending less time using digital devices can take conscious effort, but setting screen time limits can yield many benefits.
Here are a few tips to reduce your screen time:
- Set limits. Many mobile devices and social media apps can record the amount of time you spend on your device. For example, you might decide you only want to spend three hours online each day. From there, you can track your time to ensure you don't exceed the limit.
- Plan activities. Accessing the internet takes seconds, so this pastime can easily become a convenient habit. However, making specific plans to see friends or go outside can help you deliberately break away from the screen.
- Remove distractions. Whenever you're working on something else, try placing your phone in another room or closing your laptop. This way, you're less tempted to pick up your phone each time the screen lights up. You might also be less inclined to conduct an internet search that turns into an extended browsing session.
- Create a habit. Reducing your screen time might mean reminding yourself that there are other sources of entertainment besides your device. For example, instead of grabbing your phone first thing in the morning, leave a pen and paper beside your bed and spend a few minutes journaling when you wake up. This way, you can train your brain to enjoy other sources of happiness and lessen the urge to log on to social media immediately.
David Mielach contributed to the writing and reporting in this article.