A new study has highlighted that millennials are addicted to social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, with this generation becoming increasingly dependent on scrolling through various news feeds and timelines.
The research was carried out by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), which surveyed a total of 2,000 Brits aged between 15 and 24. The top statistic to come from the poll was that 40% of participants stated that they ‘can’t live’ without social media sites.
Furthermore, millennials admitted to checking up on the latest posts from family, friends and their favourite celebrities on average 30 times a day.
These statistics have encouraged the RSPH to urge young people to monitor and cut down on their use of social media. The organisation wants millennials to take part in a social media detox called ‘Scroll Free September’.
The research was commissioned by Barclays and it found that it was not just time that was being spent on social media sites, but money too. More than 50% of those surveyed by RSPH have bought products endorsed by their favourite celebrities and social influencers, with one fifth stating that they had a lack of savings because of this.
This could be linked to these sites and other retail giants introducing features that can be integrated into social media that make it easier to purchase products and services. For example, Snapchat entered into a partnership with Amazon to help users purchase products through the app, and tested a feature that allowed users to purchase tickets to sporting events and concerts.
A total of 53% believed that their financials would be much healthier if it wasn’t for the temptation presented to them on their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds. The research has suggested that these young Brits would have an average of £398.76 more in their bank accounts if it wasn’t for these social media temptations, which equates to a whopping £3bn collectively.
As a result of this, 52% of participants said that they would like these influencers and celebrities to post advice on how they can save their money. Statistics also revealed that 70% of millennials loved to shop online, and around a third stated that they regularly turned to their favourite social influencers for inspiration.
This has led Barclays to team up with Jasmine Cecilia Jonas, a lifestyle blogger, to help change the online shopping habits of young Brits and help them save money, without having to log off from their social media accounts.
One of Jonas’ tips is to cap the amount of time spent on social media. This would be helped by features that a couple of social media sites, such as Instagram and Facebook, are planning to introduce that would inform users of how long they have spent on the app each day.
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