My Published Articles for ViewsHound: Why the Philippines is Now Rank Second in the World for Time Spent on Social Media

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Why the Philippines is Now Rank Second in the World for Time Spent on Social Media

Why the Philippines Now Ranks 2nd in the World for Time Spent on Social Media and What It Says About Digital Culture

In 2025, the Philippines was ranked second in the world for daily time spent on social media, with Filipinos spending nearly 5 hours per day scrolling, swiping, posting, and watching content on social platforms, up from about 4 hours in 2020. Yet even as average engagement climbed, the country slipped from the top global spot, which is now held by Kenya, where users average roughly 5 hours and 11 minutes daily on social media.

So what’s behind the Philippines’ enduring and growing social media habit? Let’s break it down.

1. Near-Universal Smartphone Access

One of the biggest drivers is access. The Philippines now boasts near-universal smartphone ownership, with more than 98 % of the population owning a mobile device. This has essentially made digital connectivity part of everyday life for chatting, watching, shopping, banking, and entertainment.

With smartphones within reach of nearly everyone, social media isn’t just an option, it’s embedded in daily routines.

2. Social Media Woven into Everyday Life

Filipinos aren’t just logging in- they’re deeply engaged:

Facebook use in the Philippines far outpaces global averages, with around 95 % of internet users accessing it monthly.
YouTube is also extremely popular, with about 85 % of users visiting at least once a month.
Short-form video platforms like TikTok have seen explosive engagement across age groups.
On average, Filipinos engage with eight or more social platforms every month, one of the highest multi-platform usage rates globally.

This rich ecosystem keeps users switching between apps, content types, and communities throughout the day.

3. Video Consumption Is Through the Roof

Video content is a huge part of the story. Filipino users are among the world’s top consumers of online video from vlogs to music videos, tutorials, livestreams, and short-form clips. Some reports even described the nation as a "vlogging nation," with a large share of internet users watching video content weekly.

Video keeps eyes glued to screens longer than simple text or photos, and platforms like TikTok and YouTube are optimized to promote long viewing sessions.

4. A Digital Culture of Connectivity

In the Philippines, social media serves many roles beyond entertainment. It’s a hub for:

Communication - chatting with family and friends across islands and abroad
News and trending information
Community building and identity
Commerce - from product discovery to mobile shopping and digital payments

Social platforms have become de facto social infrastructure — a way of life, not just a pastime.

5. Affordable Data and Mobile Plans

Relative to many other countries, mobile data in the Philippines can be more affordable and widely available, which lowers the barrier to broad and frequent digital use. Combined with strong network coverage across urban and rural areas, this helps sustain heavy social media patterns.

So Why Isn’t the Philippines #1?

Even with all these factors in its favor, the Philippines is just slightly behind Kenya in average daily time spent on social media. In Kenya’s case, a combination of youthful demographics, mobile-first internet access, and heavy reliance on digital platforms for communication and news pushes overall engagement to the top globally.

In short, Kenya’s social media ecosystem edges out the Philippines in sheer hours online, even as the Philippines maintains extremely high engagement.

What Does This Mean?

For Users

Connection vs. balance: People are more connected than ever, but spending nearly 5 hours a day on social platforms can raise questions about attention balance, productivity, and well-being.
Information access: Social media remains a major source of news and trends, but it also carries risks such as misinformation, which is a growing concern among Filipinos.

For Businesses

The Philippines represents a massive and highly engaged digital audience, ideal for marketing, e-commerce, content creation, and influencer partnerships.
Brands that understand local digital habits can tap into deep engagement and community interactions for impact.

For Culture

The way Filipinos use social media, not just to consume content but to shape trends, drive conversations, and connect across distances is reshaping how society communicates, entertains, and organizes.

Bottom Line

The Philippines may no longer hold the global crown for time spent on social media, but its position at No. 2 with nearly 5 hours a day tells a compelling story about digital life in the 2020s. With near-universal mobile access, a culture built on connectivity, and some of the world’s highest engagement with video and social platforms, the nation remains one of the most socially active digital communities on Earth.

And as digital habits evolve driven by new platforms, new behaviors, and new technologies, so too will the way we define social media engagement in a connected world.

The Philippines consistently ranks among the top in the world for time spent on social media, with users averaging over 3.5 hours daily in 2025

. This high ranking is driven by a deeply ingrained "always-online" culture, high mobile connectivity, affordable data, and the use of platforms like Facebook and TikTok for entertainment, news, and commerce.

Why the Philippines Ranks 2nd in Social Media Usage

High Digital Engagement & Demographics: A young, tech-savvy population combined with a highly social, "always-connected" culture drives high engagement.
Affordable Data & Connectivity: Cheap data plans, "free Facebook" promos from telcos like Globe and Smart, and the proliferation of mobile devices facilitate constant, low-cost access.
Centrality of Social Media: Social platforms are used as primary tools for communication, news, entertainment, and e-commerce, rather than just networking.
Mobile-First Nation: The vast majority of access is through smartphones, making it the most accessible way to go online.

What it Says About Philippine Digital Culture

"Social Media Capital" Reality: The country has solidified its reputation as the social media capital of the world, with almost 99% of internet users accessing at least one platform.
Virtual Community & Socialization: Due to high overseas worker populations and a, social media is vital for maintaining, family connections and staying, social media is vital for maintaining.
High Influence of Creators: Filipinos are highly engaged with influencers, with over 51% following them, driving trends and, consumer behavior, with over 51% following them.
"Always-On" Lifestyle: Social media is blended into daily life, used for everything from business to political engagement.

The digital landscape in the Philippines is characterized by immense activity, with 97.5 million internet users as of early 2025, representing a robust,, connected, and deeply.

Meanwhile, 

We know Filipinos are Austronesian by culture and language.

But a 2021 genetic study revealed something shocking:

The Ayta Magbukon of the Philippines carry the highest level of Denisovan DNA in the world, even more than Australian Aborigines.

Denisovans were an ancient, now-extinct human species.

Which means before the Austronesians arrived. There were already other humans living here and their DNA is still inside Filipinos today. Our history didn’t start with boats. It started with a lost species.

Did you know the Philippines holds this genetic record?

Lastly, I enjoyed this afternoon THD Activity. 

Here's photos of My Creation. Kudos to Elane for a well-organized activity:

My Tulip Pot in Good Company with Some of My Cacti Collections in My Patio

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Guest Article from Susan Creamer Joy

In The Silence, by Susan Creamer Joy.

Today's guest article is from Susan Creamer Joy. Susan is one of my favorite authors in the ViewsHound community. Susan writes, draws, paints and cobbles together art from found objects making a variety of creations from jewelry to religious shrines. She frequently sports burns on her fingers from her soldering iron, paint on her palms and ink under her fingernails, but her hair is usually combed. When she is not losing time in the creative vortex of her studio, she is likely to be putting her knowledge of metaphysics and esoteric principles including Tarot, numerology, astrology and graphology to good use in consultations. Her children are grown, her husband still works and her four dogs believe she needs serious help. The title of her article is "A Matter Of Love And Death". Thank you Susan.

By the time they reached my bedroom door, I was already sitting up – my stomach ratcheted in the tense grip of an unnamed anxiety; my pillow, unburdened of my drowsy head.

To this day I cannot explain how I heard them coming up those stairs in their bare feet or how I knew that my father struggled to hold his composure as my mother unnaturally clutched at the folds of her dressing gown and followed him through the dark just a little too closely.

As the wooden groan of those old stairs tore into my bones that morning like a hacksaw, all I could see between the predawn shadows was the letter I’d written just hours earlier to my boyfriend, Chris, propped against the lamp on my desk across the room awaiting an envelope.

I had not slept well. It was late November and there had been so many changes since the middle of August when he left for the Air Force in Texas to begin basic training and I began my third new school in as many years.

The conspiracy between fate and the last surge of the Vietnam draft had broken apart the every-waking-minutes of our two-year union with unceremonious indifference. All that night my sleep had been infested by difficult dreams and by the illogical fear that truth and reality were merging into a darkness only a martyr could grasp; and at sixteen, martyrdom seemed reasonable only for the nuns among the poor in Bangladesh

I tried to remind myself that he would be home on leave for Thanksgiving in another few days. It was the only tether to calm I could find, but reviewing the facts offered little relief from my baseless fears.

Chris had been girding his pacifist sensibilities preparing to fight in an unpopular war that had not yet slaughtered its last innocent. I was hovering just over the line of inclusion at an exclusive girl’s school – missing him – and finding myself at odds with these young women and their attachment to propriety and with the prep-school veneer that blinded them to the fact that they were no better than anyone else.

Neither one of us was coping well with the worlds into which we were respectively summoned, and although we both knew that the best hope for any future together depended upon our individual successes apart, it was far from comforting most days.

But in spite of our discomfort, we each did our best; and, of course, there were the letters: Thin, plain-paper sheets with row after row after row of inky blue words penned with the intensity and awkward locutions of a love learned too soon. It had come down to just that little, but without them, I would have had nothing.

Chris was learning to fly. I was learning to drive, and both of us were aching to transport our souls to an earlier time through the hallowed intercourse of memories and dreams. Of course, as with all progress, there was the positive element: We were both clean and drug-free for the first time in years.

Now, without pretense, both healthy cognition and sincere motivation surfaced regularly in my psychology and prompted me to care about myself and to arbitrate against all temptation for a better standing in the world, in school and in my own eyes. I even did my homework.

No longer was I escaping today but, instead, living for my day of escape. Lying still in the dark of my room, I listened to the slow, padded footfall of my parents approaching and looked to the floor and to my history book half hidden beneath the nightstand where I’d tossed it the night before. Even in this early morning dark I could make out the swirls and stars in colored marker and the bubble-formed letters that spelled C H R I S in soft, juvenile curves on the torn book cover I’d fashioned out of a brown paper grocery bag.

I vaguely remembered throwing it there somewhat hastily. I had been doing my homework when a sense of urgency struck and I realized I had not written him as I promised I would and glancing at the clock, I noted it was nine-twenty-three. Why that mattered I had no way of knowing in that strange moment, but within hours, it would be one I would never forget; and although I was becoming drowsy and still needed to finish my work, I felt beyond reason that my letter to him could not wait.

So, I wrote. I would always write. I would always be there. He would always be there.“Suzi."It was my name spoken in the smooth and familiar voice of my mother, although weighted and slow, her head bowed to her chest almost as though she were speaking only to herself.

"Suzi.” She said it again, this time with sharp gravity, like a chisel against stone.

As if on cue, I leaned forward, flanked now by my parents who were sitting on either side of my bed.

I had been waiting for them. I don’t know how. I didn’t know why. The lights in my room remained off, but it seemed that the darkness clung more to them than to me, as though they were holding it there – away from me to give me enough light to see through the next moment. They were crying. My father was crying. My father. “Suzi. We have something very, very bad to tell you." Chris has been in a car accident." And he was killed."

If the world moved forward from that moment, I could not know it. f there were air around me worth breathing, I could not take it in. And if there were another sound beyond the leaden bellow of my own raw grief, I could not hear it.

"Who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to love?” I wailed. Who will love me? In that sodden moment violated by the intrusion of a predawn light that had no business rising, everything I ever believed about happiness, hoped for in life, trusted in or held as my own was annihilated.

After that – there was no after that. After that came months of hollow redundancies that would inform my way of being in the world for years to come. A serial commitment to waking up each morning, remembering he was gone and dedicating the remaining hours to forgetting. To that end I would try anything, drink anything, ingest anything, inject anything. It was a slow and arbitrary suicide by indifference.

Many years later, at 25 years-old and in the midst of a pharmaceutical free-fall leaning dangerously close to terminal, I discovered that I was expecting a child, and after a decade of forgetting, I remembered. I named him Griffin after the legendary winged lion, a symbol of the divine because what he inspired and the miracle that he was, were nothing less. I remembered and I loved again, and I went on to marry and to the gift of two beautiful daughters.

Today my son is struggling not to drown in the same well of drug abuse and apathy that almost swallowed me – his great, divine wings clipped by his own hand; and while it is up to him to restore his place in the sky, I will do my best to help provide an open runway.

In the meantime, I will continue soaring for both of us; bequeathed as I have been, with a determination to fly from a boy whose ragged fate precluded that dream.

Death took one young man from me once upon a dark time. If it has any intention of coming for this one, it will have to go through me. And trust me, it will be in for one hell of a fight.

Note: If you enjoy this article, please let me know.