Millenials are not as addicted to social media as Generation X: Report

Our addiction to social media seems to be increasing by the day and if you thought that it is dominated by the younger audience, think again. According to a report by Nielsen released last week, Americans ranging from 18 to 34 years are less obsessed with social media when compared to the older generation. A study has shown that people aged between 35 to 49 spend an average of 6 hours 58 minutes a week on social media networks, while the younger group of 18 to 34 years spends 6 hours 19 minutes during the same period. The report is based on data collected from 9,000 smartphone users and 1,300 tablet users across the US from July to September. The report also indicated how smartphones have become very common. About 97 percent of people in the US ranging from years 18 to 34, and 94 percent of people between 35 to 49, had access to smartphones. Considering the ages 50 and older, smartphone adoption is up to 77 percent. It also gave an insight as to which social networks were most popular on smartphones. Facebook is the leader with 178.2 million unique users in September followed by Instagram with 91.5 million unique users. Twitter had 82.2 million unique users, Pinterest with 69.6 million users followed by LinkedIn and Snapchat. Sean Casey, the president of Nielsen’s social division, was surprised with the findings because it has been assumed that social is vastly owned by the younger generation. “It’s kind of synonymous. When you think of millennials, you think of social. At a time when we wanted to be connected, it came out right when we were at the top of our media consumption. It’s become second nature to our generation.”