Social media trends

What do we know about social media trends?  There is a fair amount of research illustrating social media use within the US and globally.

We know a lot about how different populations use social media, and how often they use it depending on their age, gender, nationality, and other factors.  We know which social media sites are the most popular. We know what different populations like to create and watch and share.

This being said, it is more difficult to determine how much social media young children and youth are creating and watching. This age group is a protected population, which means they can't be surveyed directly without parental consent.  As such, what we know about children and youth is often data reported by parents and caregivers.

In general though, trends suggest that social media use is increasing in all populations which means youth in NH schools are probably using it with greater frequency, and will continue to use it with greater frequency.

Below is some data and screen shots of national data showing average social media use. 

• North America: 2.6 hours
• South America: 3.24 hours
• Africa: 3.10 hours
• Europe 1.15 hours
• Asia/Oceania: 2.16 hours

The graph below shows the average daily time spent by users worldwide on mobile social media apps from October 2020 to March 2021, by age group. Adults spend more time on social media apps than youth!

Source of data: Average Time Spent Daily on Social Media (2022 Data) Links to an external site.

What are the most popular social media apps in the US?

On 2022, Facebook continues to be be the most popular social media site.  It is followed by YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram.  

• Most used social media 2021 | Statista Links to an external site. 

In the next module, we will look at what NH students reported in the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) about their social/digital media use.