“Turn my heart and eyes toward your statutes”
[Jul.24.2023] As of this month, more than 60% of the world’s population was counted as using social media (SNS), AFP reported on the 20th (local time). According to the quarterly “Digital Status” report released this month by marketing and consulting company “Kepios,” 4.88 billion people, or 60.6% of the world’s population, currently use social media.
This represents 94% of the total number of Internet users (approximately 5.19 billion), a 3.7% increase from last year. This equates to an average of 5.5 new users per second. These SNS users were analysed to use SNS for an average of 2 hours and 26 minutes per day. Assuming an average sleep time of 7-8 hours per day, it is equivalent to spending about 15% of waking hours on social media.
The number of SNS users and usage time varied greatly by region. In East and Central Africa, only 1 in 11 people use social media, but in India, the most populous country, a third of the population is social media users. In addition, Brazilians use SNS for an average of 3 hours and 49 minutes a day, while Japanese people use SNS for less than 1 hour.
It is said that SNS users use an average of 6.7 platforms every month. The most used SNS is Facebook, with 2.989 billion monthly active users, then followed by YouTube (2.527 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), Instagram (2 billion), WeChat (1.319 billion), and TikTok (1.081 billion).
The purpose for using different types of SNS was also varied. For example, in the case of Facebook, the highest percentage of respondents answered that they use it to send messages to family or friends, and TikTok had the highest percentage of respondents who said they use it to view interesting content. (Source: Yonhap News Agency)
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. (Psalms 119:36-37)
God, may You look over the fact that more than half of the world’s population uses social media and SNS is greatly affecting every life. May You guide our hearts to Your testimonies. Open our eyes to the value of the eternal gospel that shines the light of truth on us who want to keep up with the value of the world and the development of rapidly changing technology. In addition, I pray You would raise wise people who will bind SNS with truth and use it as a channel for the gospel so that the nations will quickly hear the news of salvation and revive.
Prayer 24·365
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