• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 10, 2016

Last year the average adult Web user spent 109 minutes per day using social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, along with social messaging and chat apps, according to a new survey from GlobalWebIndex, which polled its panel of around 50,000 Web users around the world about their online behaviors.

The 2015 figure marks the continuation of a trend over the last few years, as the amount of time devoted to social media has steadily increased from 96 minutes in 2013 to 100 minutes in 2014 and 103 minutes in 2014, per GlobalWebIndex.

The same study found that 92% of adult Web users worldwide have at least one social media account, while the average user has around seven different social media accounts. However having a social media account doesn’t necessarily equate to social activity: a lower proportion, 78%, said they are active users of at least one social network, and the average user actively engages with 3.5 social networks.

That figure is somewhat higher for people who are active Facebook users: individuals in this group were active on an average of 4.6 social networks last year. That figure has also risen steadily over time, up from 2.5 in 2012, 3.5 in 2013, and 3.9 in 2014.

Asked their motivations when using social networks, adult Web users cited the obvious reasons, with 44% saying they use them to keep up with friends, and 39% for “filling time,” otherwise known as boredom.

No surprise, social media usage has converged with mobile, especially among younger adults. Among millenials who own smartphones, social network access was the most popular activity, followed by visiting a search engine in second place, and using an instant messaging or chat app in third – with all activities cited by over three quarters of respondents.

60% said they used their smartphones to watch video clips, and a similar proportion said they use them to upload or share photos.