Whether it’s TikTok or Instagram, many of us are so obsessed with social media apps that we feel lost without our smartphone in our hand.
Now, an online calculator has been developed that reveals just how much screen time you’ve endured in 2021.
The calculator, by Sortlist, asks you to enter your daily screen time, before calculating how much that equates to over the course of the year.
You’ll also be told how your results compare to the average amount of screen time for 16-64-year-olds this year, which was a whopping 52,925 minutes – the equivalent of 36 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes!
Nicolas Finet, co-founder and CMO at Sortlist, said: ‘Without even knowing, we spend a lot of time behind a screen and because of this, we wanted to create the calculator to enable users to fully understand the extent of our digital lives and where the majority of our time is spent and how this compares to countries across the world.’
Whether it’s TikTok or Instagram, many of us are so obsessed with social media apps that we feel lost without our smartphone in our hand
The calculator, by Sortlist, asks you to enter your daily screen time, before calculating how much that equates to over the course of the year. You’ll also be told how your results compare to the average amount of screen time for 16-64-year-olds this year, which was a whopping 52,925 minutes – the equivalent of 36 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes
Time | Time spent on social media (minutes) | Time spent on social media |
---|---|---|
Per day | 145 | 2 hours, 25 minutes |
Per week | 1,015 | 16 hours, 55 minutes |
Per month | 4,410 | 3 days, 1 hour, 30 minutes |
Per year | 52.925 | 36 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes |
As part of the research, Sortlist analysed the daily time spent on the internet and social media, based on data from Hootsuite’s Global State of Digital 2021 report.
The data shows that the average person now spends 145 minutes a day on their smartphone – up from an average of 142 minutes in 2020.
This adds up to 1,015 minutes a week, 4,410 minutes a month and a huge 52,925 minutes a year spent online!
‘Over the past 18 months or so we have spent more time behind a screen than ever,’ Mr Finet said.
Delving deeper into the data, Sortlist found that YouTube was the app that we tend to spend the most time on, racking up an average of 23 hours, 12 minutes per month
‘As a result of the pandemic, many people have been forced to work from home, spend copious amounts of time on Zoom calls and used their free time to scroll social media and utilise the array of apps at our disposal, but all of this time spent online can build up.’
Delving deeper into the data, Sortlist found that YouTube was the app that we tend to spend the most time on, racking up an average of 23 hours, 12 minutes per month.
This was followed by Facebook (19 hours, 30 minutes per month), WhatsApp (19 hours, 24 minutes per month), VK (113 hours, 54 minutes per month) and TikTok (13 hours, 18 minutes per month).
Breaking down the results by country, Sortlist found that people in the Philippines spent the most time scrolling (10 hours, 56 minutes per day).
This was followed by Brazil (10 hours, 8 minutes per day) Colombia (10 hours, 7 minutes per day), and South Africa (10 hours, 6 minutes per day).
Based on the findings, Sortlist advises that it might be wise for some users to take a digital detox over the festive period.
‘In today’s world the majority of day to day tasks are completed online and this isn’t a bad thing, but it’s important that we remind ourselves that there is more to enjoy than just social media and online browsing, ‘ Mr Finet added.
‘Taking a digital detox isn’t always easy and temptation can get the better of us, but if you’re persistent and enjoy some time away from your screen, it’s very likely you’ll reap the benefits from doing so.’