Streaming Your Life Away

By James Ciambor

Daily screen-time use on personal devices has expanded by almost an hour per day since 2013, and it may increase again in another decade based on the trajectory it’s headed. But, surprisingly, America is not leading the pack when it comes to this trend.

With technology advancing rapidly the amount of screen-time people have for various devices is growing. In a decade’s time global screen-time use on various devices has expanded. In 2013 the average screen-time use was 6 hours and 9 minutes daily, as of 2025 screen-time use has grown to 6 hours and 54 minutes daily.

The research group Priori Data did a countdown list of countries with the most screen-time use.  Many would think that America would be at the top of the list when it comes to daily screen-time use but this isn’t so. It turns out that many other countries have greater screen-time use than Americans. Countries with greater screen-time use include Brazil, Philippines, Colombia, and Russia. Of all the world’s countries South Africa seems to be the one with the most screen-time use at a total of 9 hours daily.

From movies to live sporting events, streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu provide the content streamers can’t resist. Social media users can’t get enough of Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram and You Tube. The use of streaming platforms on multiple devices will only continue to grow over the next several years.

What is not surprising however is that the younger demographics of the world use technology more than any preceding generation. However, this author is surprised that America wasn’t among the top countries when it came to technology use.