Social Media Addiction Statistics > SokoloveLaw

 

Social Media Addiction Statistics

Social media addiction statistics reveal that millions of people across the world could be at risk, especially children and teenagers. Over 17% of the world’s population suffers from social media addiction, according to Clinical Psychology Review. Platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have algorithms in place that may have been designed to keep users hooked, which can lead to mental health issues.

At Sokolove Law, we’re committed to holding corporations accountable for developing addictive social media platforms. Call (800) 593-9254 now.

Get a Free Social Media Case Review

Last Updated: August 6, 2026

Legally Edited and Fact-Checked by:

Ricky A. LeBlanc, Managing Attorney, Sokolove Law

Statistics of Social Media Addiction for 2026

Social media allows us to connect with friends and loved ones, keep up with worldwide events, and stay entertained. However, many social media platforms have algorithms that draw users in and keep them online for long periods, leading to concerns about addiction.

Between 5% and 10% of people in the U.S. could be in danger of social media addiction, according to California State University. Social media addiction can have wide-ranging consequences like anxiety, depression, difficulty forming relationships, and self-harm.

Find out the latest social media addiction statistics in 2026:

• Kids and teenagers are at particular risk of social media addiction. Teens average 5 hours of social media use per day, according to Gallup.
• Roughly 95% of kids ages 10-17 are using social media constantly, per the University of Colorado, Anschutz.
• The most popular social media apps among adolescents are YouTube and TikTok, which are used by 90% and 63% of teens in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center.
• The use of social media for 3 hours or more per day is linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression, according to JAMA Psychiatry.
• The typical person spends 145 minutes or nearly 3 hours on social media daily, per the University of California, Davis.
• Children and teens suffering from a social media addiction are 2-3 times more likely to experience suicidal ideation or behaviors, as noted by Weill Cornell Medicine.
• To date, more than 3,137 social media addiction lawsuits have been filed against TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, YouTube, and more.

Social media platforms continue to grow, with 5.8 billion users expected by 2027. Yet a growing number of legal complaints allege that companies intentionally designed social media platforms to be addictive, putting young users at risk.

At Sokolove Law, our attorneys are ready to help families affected by social media addiction. We have over 45 years of experience helping those harmed by negligent corporations secure compensation.

Our Team Is Here for You

Our social media addiction attorneys are ready to stand with you during this difficult time. We’ll work to get the justice your family deserves.

Contact Us Now

Social Media Addiction Statistics in the U.S.

It’s believed up to 34 million Americans could be at risk of social media addiction, according to the California State University. Severe cases of addiction to social media upend the lives of children, teens, and adults across the country every year.

Find out about notable U.S. social media addiction stats: 

• The usage of social media among teens remains higher than that of adults. At its peak in 2022, 95% of teens used YouTube.
• Use of social media apps like TikTok is correlated with higher rates of stress, anxiety, and depression, according to the University of Tennessee. Users with more severe mental health problems were at a higher risk of TikTok addiction.
• In testimony during Tennessee's lawsuit against Meta, state officials reported that 55% of high school girls and 30% of boys said they felt sad or hopeless in 2021, with teen mental health indicators worsening sharply since 2017.
• The same Tennessee data showed reported suicide attempts increased 80% among high school girls and 59% among boys since 2013, trends the state argues are linked to the rise of social media use among young people.
• In 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged Congress to add a warning to all social media platforms, not unlike the ones on alcohol and cigarettes, due to their addictive nature.
• 85% of adults use YouTube, making it the most popular social media app in the country, according to Pew Research Center.
• Other popular social media platforms among adults include Facebook (70%), Instagram (50%), and TikTok (33%).

Social media addiction can be just as damaging as addictions to gambling or substances, leading to long-term issues. Mental health complications from this type of addiction can even trigger suicidal thoughts or actions.

“Just as the hypodermic needle is the delivery mechanism for drugs like heroin, the smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine for a wired generation.”

– Anna Lembke, Director of Addiction Medicine at Stanford University

Social Media Addiction Statistics Worldwide

With billions of users across the globe, instances of social media addiction have been reported in virtually every region of the world.

Learn more about social media usage statistics by country:

• Over 4.9 billion people use social media around the world, according to the University of California, Davis.
• A review of data from 32 countries found that social media addiction rates range from 5% to 31% on average, with rates varying significantly by country and study methods, according to Addictive Behaviors.
• In India, more than 1 in 3 young people reportedly have a social media platform addiction.
• In Europe, Romania had one of the highest social media addiction rates at 22%, while the Netherlands reported one of the lowest at 5%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Rates of social media addiction are highest in Africa (37%), Asia (31%), and the Middle East (29%), according to Addictive Behaviors.
• Regions with the lowest social media addiction rates include South America (18%), North America (15%), and Western and Northern Europe (8%).

Overall, global data from the WHO revealed that teen social media addiction rates are on the rise, increasing from 7% to 11% in just a 4-year period. This underscores the need for governments around the world to take more action to keep young people safe.

Social Media Addiction Statistics by Platform

Studies have shown that all of the world’s most popular social media apps and sites come with a risk of addiction, including:

• TikTok
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• YouTube
• WhatsApp
• Twitter (X)
• Roblox

Between advanced algorithms, endless scrolling functions, and constant push notifications, these apps lure users in for hours at a time, particularly kids and teens. Explore the statistics for social media addiction by specific platforms below.

There is far more on this article. Please continue reading on SokoloveLaw at:

TikTok Addiction Statistics

The Monster of the Andes > Colombian man convicted of raping and murdering 110 girls - set free!

 

Monster raped and killed hundreds of little girls but his whereabouts is unknown

One of history's most notorious serial killers, who admitted to murdering hundreds of individuals, was shockingly released early from prison - and his current whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

Pedro Alonzo Lopez, originally from Colombia, is infamously known as the Monster of the Andes.

According to reports, his extensive killing spree began after being incarcerated in 1969 for auto theft. While serving time, he was reportedly sexually assaulted by other inmates, and he retaliated by killing them with a makeshift weapon.

This incident only extended his original sentence by two years - but following his release in 1978, he began sexually assaulting and killing dozens of young girls across Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

The predator preyed on vulnerable girls from impoverished backgrounds, and after kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and strangling them to death, he concealed their bodies with newspapers or branches.

He once gave a disturbing interview behind bars (Image: Edit International)

At his peak, he was reportedly killing three girls per week, but when a flash flood struck near Ambato in Ecuador in 1979, some of his victims were discovered.

As these horrifying finds were being made, Lopez attempted to abduct a 12-year-old girl named Maria Poveda. Fortunately, the girl's mother was able to stop the kidnapping in Ambato, before he was apprehended by police.

During this period, authorities uncovered 53 graves containing girls ranging in age from nine to 12.

Lopez was ultimately convicted of killing a shocking 110 individuals, and he is reported to have posed with the skull of one of his victims. During the trial, he alleged that he endured an abusive childhood, witnessing men having sexual relations with his mother, who worked as a prostitute.

Pedro Lopez (Image: © A&E Television Networks 1996-2021. All rights reserved.)

He claimed he was a victim of violence himself - and that he was expelled from the home at age eight when his mother discovered him sexually assaulting his younger sister.

He traveled to Bogota to live on the streets before an older man provided him shelter. According to Lopez, he was sexually abused by him, before eventually escaping to an orphanage, where he stated he was sodomized again.

Following his arrest, he also informed authorities that young girls in Ecuador were his preferred

victims because they were "more gentle and trusting, more innocent".

Disturbingly, according to reports, the monster also admitted to an additional 240 murders.

Police officer Rothman Rios stated: "It was weird, he remembered everything. And descriptions of all the girls. "He knew where their bodies were. He was satisfied showing us the bodies. He felt no remorse, no guilt, no nothing."

Despite his heinous crimes, Ecuadorian laws at the time stipulated that the maximum prison sentence was only 16 years, regardless of the number of victims involved.

Bizarrely, 32 years ago this month (on August 31, 1994), he was released early for displaying "good behaviour" during his 14 years of incarceration.

Upon regaining his freedom, he was deported back to Colombia where he faced trial for murder charges that fit his profile. However, these court proceedings determined that he was insane, and in 1998 he was committed to a psychiatric facility.

Eventually, he was declared mentally sound and permitted to leave after posting £50 bail.

He is one of the world's worst serial killers (Image: © A&E Television Networks 1996-2021. All rights reserved.)

Among the conditions imposed was a requirement to report to the police station monthly - but he failed to comply.

It remains unclear whether he is still alive or his current whereabouts if he is living.

An Interpol arrest warrant was issued in 2002 but the serial killer was never apprehended.

A documentary titled Monster of the Andes was produced about Lopez by CandI in 2019.

And during one chilling interview from his prison cell, Lopez referred to himself as the "man of the century" and said that murdering kids made him feel "stronger and bigger".

CSA in Ireland > Nightmarish paedo gets only 8 years in Irish prison after wanting to torture and eat a child

 

Paedophile that 'would love to kill and eat a child' jailed as horrific crimes exposed

Caution: Very disturbing text below.

A depraved paedophile who said he "would love to kill a child" and "cannabalise" them was jailed for eight years in Ireland on Thursday.

John Weber, 48, from Limerick, said he wanted to "kidnap torture and rape children", and he "invited others to travel" to a location to do this in "deeply disturbing" online chats with other paedophiles, said Judge Colin Daly.

Weber had 111 videos and images of child sex abuse, including very young children being raped, on an iPhone and iPad that police found in his home in 2024 and 2025, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard. Judge Daly said the "majority" of the videos and images were "Category A" material, meaning they were the most explicit on a scale of officially categorised child sex abuse material, the Irish Mirror reports.

Weber, who was unmasked after Judge Daly lifted reporting restriction to name the sick paedophile, pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including one count of possession of child sex abuse material; four counts of distributing the material; and nine counts of producing the illegal material.

During court proceedings, it was said Weber also spoke to other paedophiles online about "snuff" movies, which are films that depict killings typically in the contest (sic) of sexual violence.

He told others in online chats that he lived next to a creche, and that he had stood on a balcony, with his penis exposed, while watching children below him.

The court heard material found on Weber's electronic devices included the rape of a six-month old baby, an 18-month old toddler, a violent rape of a six-year old girl, an eight-year old boy, and a five-year old child.

Weber communicated with other paedophiles on social media apps KIK and Snapchat, Session and TeleGaurd.

Weber used the anonymous web browser "Duck Duck" to communicate with other child predators to share images and videos and communicate about child sex abuse.

Weber told others online that he wanted to cannibalise a child, the court previously heard.

Weber stated: "I would love to kill a child today, I would love to be a murderer."..."I wanna cannabilise a child."..."I know how to make a child bleed."

Weber also stated: "There is nothing as good as a bleeding child"..."Most kids I see I want to rape".

Judge Daly said the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, in the United States, made two referrals about Weber to Irish police, known as garda or gardai.

This triggered an investigation led by Detective Garda James Muldowney, Divisional Protective Services Unit, (DPSU), Henry Street Garda Station, Limerick.

Detective Garda Muldowney, said Weber stated in online chats with others that he "would love to torture, rape and kill a child, and that he (Weber) has been so close a few times".

Weber also sent his therapist a video of a naked eight-year old boy and the counsellor immediately alerted gardai.

Det Garda Muldowney described Weber was a "an immediate threat" and "risk" to children and a "danger to the community".

Weber told others in online chats: "Any age gets me hard, as long as they are smooth and pre-pubescent."

Weber claimed he had been sexually abused as a child and that he had been sexually assaulted while working as a sex worker in England.

File photo of a Garda station (Image: Getty)

Weber told gardai he was HIV positive but that he was not taking prescribed medication to stop the spread of the virus to others and that he was having unprotected sexual intercourse with others.

Weber stated in online chats with others: "You can help me find lads to infect today."

Weber handed a letter of remorse to his barrister Liam Carroll BL who in turn shared it with the prosecution and the judge. Mr Carroll told the court that Weber's letter was "a further acknowledgment of his wrongdoing".

Weber told gardai he had been accessing child sex abuse material since 1997, when he was aged 19.

Judge Daly said the conversations between Weber and others online was "extremely serious" and the material found on Weber's phone and iPad was "abhorrent" "depraved" and contained "extreme sexual violence on children".

Judge Daly said Weber's conversations with others may have also "incited" others to act out "violent and departed" abuse of children.

Weber also spoke of young relatives in a "vile" way when discussing child sex abuse with others online, it was heard.

Judge Daly said Weber "sought out" child sex abuse material and shared it with "other paedophiles" and continued doing so a year after his house was first searched by gardai.

Judge Daly said a probation report concluded that Weber was of "higher than average risk of reoffending", and that it appeared Weber was "indicative of someone who had become lost in his own depravity".

Weber had a history of offending, and was also convicted previously for stealing from an organisation to which he had held a "senior position", said the judge.

The judge commended Det Garda Muldowney for the success of the garda investigation into Weber, as well as the professional and sensitive way Det Garda Muldowney had explained the background to the case in court.

The judge reduced a headline sentence of 12 years to ten years with the final two years suspended.

Good grief! He will likely spend the next few years perfecting his fantasies, and when he gets out, will make those fantasies come true. He should be locked up for life. He is far too dangerous to deserve a second chance.