New Survey Uncovers Most Americans Spend More Than Ten Hours Every Day Online
Survey Participants Admit to Staring at a Screen For 5 Hours Per Day Watching Videos and Another 5.4 Hours Per Day Online
The Online Time: Very Little Work – Mostly the 3 B’s: Browsing, Bills, and Buying
2300 Americans Nationwide Answered the Poll By Optimum
NEW YORK (JULY 27, 2025) – A new national survey conducted on behalf of Optimum found that the average American spends more than 10 hours a day online.
The survey breaks that down even further, revealing that, on average, people spend five hours every day watching videos, and 5.4 hours online. Taking a deeper dive, when online, people focus on the three B’s: browsing, bills, and buying.
When asked to pick multiple activities that they or their household do online besides streaming video and TV, which is the number one activity, the survey found:
79% Generally Browsed
77% Paid Bills
73% Scoured Social Media
72% Online Shopped
37% Handled Work Assignments
20% Completed School Work
Another point of interest from the survey, most Americans (55%) prefer to stream a majority of their five hours of videos each day on a television over any other device. On average, Americans browse the internet for over five hours. For online activities, more than 40% prefer to use their mobile device, rather than a computer or tablet.
“This new survey was eye-opening for the Optimum team. We were amazed to see how many hours folks are watching, shopping and browsing online on a daily basis," said Eric Bruno, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Optimum. "It underscores how important strong, affordable, and reliable internet has become in today’s world. I stress to my team that delivering the best products, service and exceptional customer experience is not just our goal – it’s our responsibility, as people are relying on Optimum to fulfill their connectivity needs for almost half the day, every day.”
For more information on Optimum’s product offerings and services, residents can call 866.9.OPTIMUM or visit optimum.com.
1All data cited in this piece are taken from a survey with respondents sourced from a third party on behalf of Optimum between May 6 – 14, 2025. Over 2,000 U.S. adult internet service decision-makers were surveyed.