Topics & guides/Frequency

Usage frequency

How often do U.S. adults visit social media?

A national survey offers a useful answer—with a specific response category and recall window.

64.1%

selected “Almost everyday” for visiting a social-media site during the past 12 months in NCI's 2024 HINTS survey.

United States · Civilian noninstitutionalized adults aged 18+ · 2024 fieldwork · Item nonresponse retained

Source: NCI, HINTS 7 public codebook, PDF page 80, SocMed_Visited. Fieldwork March 25–September 16, 2024. The source category is not an exact daily-use measure.

Explore all five response categories
Cite this finding

National Cancer Institute. Health Information National Trends Survey 7 (2024), HINTS 7 Public Codebook.pdf, PDF page 80 (printed page 79), Weighted Percent (Estimated); public package updated August 2025. Weighted share selecting each frequency of visiting a social media site during the past 12 months, among U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized adults aged 18+. The source codebook retains missing and invalid item responses in the denominator. Fieldwork 2024-03-25–2024-09-16. Standard errors: SocialUsage analysis using 50 NCI JK1 replicate weights; coefficient 0.98. Accessed 1 October 2026 (UTC). SocialUsage release hints7-2024-v2. https://socialusage.com/data/us-adult-social-media-frequency/versions/hints7-2024-v2/ Source: National Cancer Institute, Health Information National Trends Survey 7 (2024), public package updated August 2025. Weighted percentages from the supplied codebook; standard errors calculated by SocialUsage using NCI replicate weights. NCI does not endorse this presentation.

“Almost everyday” is the answer choice

The survey asks about visits over the preceding 12 months. It does not identify a number of daily minutes, log each visit or measure separate platforms. Keep the source wording with the percentage when citing it.

About 1.1% of weighted participants had a missing or invalid answer. NCI's codebook retains them in the denominator. This page follows that convention rather than renormalizing the percentage among people who answered.

Questionnaire: B12a, PDF page 5. NCI supplies the weighted point estimate; SocialUsage computes sampling standard errors using NCI replicate weights.

Choose a comparison that fits

What does the weekly answer mean?

“At least once a week” is one of five mutually exclusive answer choices in this survey. Its displayed share is not a cumulative weekly-or-more figure. The more frequent answer has its own category.

Does this mean 64.1% are daily active users?

No. These are self-reported visits by people, within a survey question's recall period. A company's daily-active-user metric has its own counted entity and activity rule; it cannot replace this survey definition.

How do teenagers compare?

The CDC high-school survey reports an hourly-or-more threshold for grades 9–12. Its population, answer choices, missing-response treatment and fieldwork differ from HINTS. Read both within their own scope; do not combine them in an age ranking.

How does this relate to the NTIA explorer?

NTIA measures whether internet users aged 15+ used social networks during the prior six months. HINTS covers all eligible U.S. adults aged 18+ and uses a 12-month frequency question. They answer different questions and do not form a trend.

Data: 2024. Public package update: August 2025; exact release day not supplied. Evidence checked 2026-10-02. Assisted verification; no independent human editorial approval claimed.

Definitions, uncertainty and permitted CSVUnderstand time spent