What is doomscrolling actually costing you?

Meta reported $68.44 average revenue per US/Canada user for Q3 2024 — roughly $274 per year. Pew Research and DataReportal estimates put average US Meta time at ~30 minutes/day across Facebook and Instagram, or ~182 hours/year. That works out to ~$1.50 per hour for heavy US Meta users. Blending in Reddit (lower ad revenue per hour) and TikTok produces a conservative $0.40 per hour estimate. The calculator uses the blended figure; substitute your own if you spend most of your time on a single high-ARPU platform.

Yes — that's the point of the input. Use your real wage if you'd be working, or whatever you genuinely think an hour of your time is worth. The figure isn't the cost of doomscrolling — it's a forcing function to make the trade-off visible. Most people who do this exercise honestly arrive at a number that surprises them.

The 2024 DataReportal Digital Global Overview Report put average daily social media use at 2 hours 23 minutes globally, with US users averaging 2 hours 14 minutes. That number undercounts heavy users — research consistently shows people underestimate their own scrolling by 50-70% when self-reporting. If you're honestly uncertain, check Screen Time on iOS or Digital Wellbeing on Android for last week's data.

Three layers, in order. (1) Filter the source — Ultimate Reddit Filter for Reddit, News Feed Eradicator for everything else, Unhook for YouTube. (2) Add friction — Freedom or Cold Turkey lockouts during focus hours. (3) Replace the trigger — figure out what you're reaching for the phone to escape from. See the full breakdown in our doomscrolling guide.