Scrolling through the social media stats

Social media has found a way to make itself comfortable in most of our everyday lives. Whether we’re sharing, commenting or lurking, our connection to social media can be a complicated love-hate relationship.

Social media refers to digital platforms that allow users to create and share content (e.g., text-based posts, photos and videos) and online profiles, and to interact with other users.

From Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X (formerly known as Twitter), to LinkedIn, YouTube, Tinder and Flickr, social media use is prevalent across all age groups: In 2018, about 8 in 10 (78%) Canadians who used the Internet in the previous three months were regular social media users.

While about 9 in 10 people aged 34 and younger were regular social media users, social media use was less common among older people. About 7 in 10 people aged 50 to 64 and 5 in 10 people aged 65 and older were regular users.

Spending too much time scrolling?

Nowadays, it can be hard to go without social media. However, using it too much can have adverse effects on our physical and mental health.

Among all social media users aged 15 to 64 in 2018, about one fifth reported that in the previous 12 months, they had done less physical activity (22%), had lost sleep (19%), or had trouble concentrating on tasks or activities (18%) as a result of their social media use. Around one in eight users (12% to 14%) reported feeling anxious or depressed, frustrated or angry, or envious of the lives of others.

Over the last several years, recreational screen time has been increasing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, recreational screen time rose among Canadian youth and adults, and those who increased screen time had poorer self-reported mental health compared with those who decreased or maintained their recreational screen time levels.

The 24-Hour Movement Guidelines recommend that recreational screen time be limited to no more than two hours per day among children and youth aged 5 to 17 years, and no more than three hours per day among adults aged 18 years and older.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2018, 73% of children and 31% of youth met the recreational screen time recommendation. During the pandemic, nearly 80% of parents reported increased screen time among children and youth compared with before the pandemic. 

The percentage of adults meeting the recommendation significantly decreased by 9.2 percentage points from 71.4% in 2018 to 62.2% in 2021. Adults who decreased or maintained recreational screen time during the pandemic were more likely to report “very good” or “excellent” physical and mental health compared with those who increased screen time.

Using social media for work

In the modern workplace, workers are increasingly using a range of online tools, platforms and apps, including social media for business purposes. Social media and online platforms have transformed the way many Canadians work or operate their business.

In December 2023, 468,000 people aged 15 to 69 years (1.7% of people in this age group) indicated they had worked through a digital platform or app to earn income in the previous 12 months and were paid by the platform for their work.

The broadest definition of digital platform employment includes platforms that pay workers directly, those that exercise another form of control, and those that simply connect workers with clients and let them arrange the payment by themselves. Based on this definition, 927,000 people (3.3% of the population aged 15 to 69 years) reported that they had engaged in digital platform employment in the 12 months preceding December 2023.

Staying safe on social media

We all use social media differently, but it is important to always be mindful of the risks that come with using social media, especially for youth.

Younger generations have grown up with the Internet and this affects the nature of their online interactions and engagements. For instance, in 2023, young people aged 15 to 24 were the most likely to get their news and information from social media (62% compared with 18% of older Canadians).

Frequent social media and Internet use can place younger people at a higher risk of experiencing or being incited to perpetrate online harms and cyberaggression, from exposure to harmful online content to cyber-related hate crimes and other acts of cyberbullying, such as sexual exploitation targeting specific individuals.

At any age, if used correctly, social media can be an excellent means of connecting with friends and loved ones. It is important to be mindful, though, of the adverse effects that social media can have on mental and physical health if used too often.

For more information about staying safe online, visit the cyber security portal.

At Statistics Canada, we use social media as a tool to engage with Canadians. Connect with us through our social media platforms.