[LINK] Have we passed peak social media?

[Kim Holburn]

https://www.ft.com/content/a0724dd9-0346-4df3-80f5-d6572c93a863

Have we passed peak social media?
As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away

...

It has gone largely unnoticed that time spent on social media peaked in 2022 and has since gone into steady decline, according to an 
analysis of the online habits of 250,000 adults in more than 50 countries carried out for the FT by the digital audience insights 
company GWI. And this is not just the unwinding of a bump in screen time during pandemic lockdowns — usage has traced a smooth curve 
up and down over the past decade-plus.

Across the developed world, adults aged 16 and older spent an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day on social platforms at the 
end of 2024, down by almost 10 per cent since 2022. Notably, the decline is most pronounced among the erstwhile heaviest users — 
teens and 20-somethings.

...

But that brings me to the catch. There is one notable exception to this promising international trend: North America, where 
consumption of social media’s diet of extreme rhetoric, engagement bait and slop continues to climb. By 2024 it had reached levels 
15 per cent higher than Europe.

-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
+61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
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