According to a recent study, Americans spent a collective 53 billion hours on Facebook during the month of May.
Let’s take that in for a second.
53 billion hours. Poking, updating statuses, tagging photos, playing Sorority Life, chatting, and being nosey. Could you imagine what could be accomplished if we devoted that much time to say—-curing cancer, working on the economic crisis, creating jobs, or simply being productive citizens?
It’s amazing what numbers can do to bring a perspective to a point. We (and I am talking about myself as well) seem to be obsessed and overly occupied with social media. Some of us would rather update our statuses than actually DOING SOMETHING.
I am not by any means stepping on a high horse, because trust me, I am guilty as charged. But what would life be without Facebook? What could we be doing with that 53 billion hours other than sitting on Facebook, refreshing our screens to see if anyone has liked our latest online manifesto?
Twitter is more my poison than Facebook is, but I’d take a gamble that a lot of time is being spent coming up with 140 character anecdotes as well. And the more I say I am not going to be online as much, the more I find myself online.
Looks like someone needs to unplug. (Raises hand)
What are our other online vices? According to Nielsen (who is responsible for the figures indicated in this post), 723.8 million minutes are spent on Blogger, 623 million minutes was spent on Tumblr, 565 million minutes were spent on Twitter, and 325 million minutes were spent on LinkedIn.
70% of Americans on the Internet use Facebook. I bet Zuckerberg never imagined that when he was studying at Harvard.
What do you think about the Nielsen study? Do we spend too much time online?
I keep getting scolded for abandoning FB :*( … just this week I’ve been trying to get back into it but Twitter is more my cup of java. I’m also an avid blog reader (hence me always being up in your joint). I got my Google Reader subscriptions on lock!
Glammy, that is why I love you. You and I are a lot alike. Facebook has never been my cup of Starbizzle, but I know that is needs to be a part of my activity as a blogger, which I really TRY to make sure to update and post on there often. Now excuse me while I attempt (again) to try to take a nap. I will hit up your blog later. 🙂
I think this is a silly question! Of course I can’t live without facebook. I would have no idea how my friends are doing. I’m addicted to the pictures and needs to read people’s comments on my status constantly. I might need help. Still trying to get into twitter and not be a qwitter
Aisha, I could live without Facebook, no question. Twitter is another story. 🙁
Girl, I can definitely live without facebook…no problem. Like you, I’m a Twitter chick so that’s a different story.
Also, like Ini said, I need to be using FB more for business (I’ve been neglecting my Pages!).