Above Average: Ranking Personal Use of Social Media

Within the past 24 hours, I have picked up my phone 18 times with the intent of browsing or posting something on some sort of social media website.

According to a CNN article from March of 2013, that’s just over average. The article stated that data indicates the average smartphone user, aged 18-44, checks his or her Facebook app via cellular device 14 times a day. Among these users, 79% wake up along-side Facebook with its little blue icon bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and even get into bed with it, as peak hours are in the evening just before bed time. And, if you’re wondering how much time we actually spend on Facebook via our smartphones, to my dismay, the average is only—yes, only—thirty minutes.

But that’s just Facebook. A December 2012 report put out by CNBC reported that in July 2012 alone, the United States spent 6.5 hours per person, or roughly 20% of our personal time, on social media sites including Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, WordPress, and LinkedIn.

During the first full day of my social media hiatus, I have reached for my phone more than the average American, with the intent to Facebook, Instagram or Tweet. Within a small five minute window, I sat with my phone in hand FOUR SEPARATE TIMES, peering into the screen of a very odd-looking front page of my iPhone. Devoid of any social media application icons, my device stared back at me blank and lifeless.

What was so important for my “world” to know, you ask? That I was sick; ordering junk food in; was drinking boiled water with honey and ginger; that it was my first time living completely on my own being sick; and that I was wearing not just one, but two sweatshirts with my heat running. Twice, I intended to post something as uninteresting as a photo of a steaming beverage in one of the three mugs that I own.

But that’s okay! Good news: I am better than you. I am, in fact, at least three times above the average old you —if by average we mean that you indeed spend a mere 30 minutes a day on your smartphone looking at social media.

To lay myself bare, I wake up to Facebook with its single little red eye telling me that 2 or 3 of you have been watching me, liking me from a distance, commenting about me while I was away. I spend my first 10 minutes of every morning lying in bed, cuddling with my phone.

I later spend my four 20-minute walks to and from campus browsing social media, and spend 15 minutes falling asleep stalking my favorite people or talking to them via Facebook Messenger before I lay my head on the pillow. That’s about 100 minutes a day. But then, let’s not be modest: I forgot to add the time spent browsing during bathroom breaks, lunch time, the walk to the train, etc.

I confessed that I picked up my phone 18 times today, to take part in social media. The truth, however, is that due to my cold I have also spent much of the day sleeping, and I am relatively certain that the number of times that I reflexively glanced at my phone to browse would have been double that number had I been well. 

So, what I have found myself wondering, and what I’ll leave you with for tonight is this:

Where do you stand in terms of your social media usage? And when our noses are buried in our phones, what connections; what messages, lessons or signs; what beauty do we miss?