Time is money. It’s a phrase we’ve all might have heard before, but in the current age of social media, those words have never rang more true. Every tap, scroll and like is worth more than users might realize. During the last few years tech companies like TikTok and Meta have baeen successful at mastering the art of transforming distraction into money, using algorithms to keep people engaged for as much time as possible.
The average person spends about 2 hours and 20 minutes per day on social media, compared to 1 hour and 51 minutes in 2015. The main driver of this growth is a billion-dollar industry, which operates on turning human attention into profit. Each minute that users spend online generates revenue through sponsored content, selected advertising, and data collection that is then sold to brands and marketers. In 2024 approximately $245 billion was reached by global social media ad spending - a number that shows how impactful and valuable our daily scrolling has turned into. The amount of money that flows through this digital marketplace positively depends on how much time users spend on these platforms. This just further proves that in the “attention economy” engagement can be said to equal profit.
What shapes this entire system are the algorithms designed to optimize content for users, keeping them engaged for as long as possible. The main functions of those powerful tools are to filter, analyze and then show posts based on users’ interactions like shares, reposts, likes, and watch time. A recent analysis found that algorithms usually target revealed users’ interactions such as likes and comments, turning engagement into a major driver of content visibility. Every additional minute spent means another ad shown and another piece of data collected. Because of this, social media algorithms have become the backbone of the business model that turns attention into profit.
So, it may turn out that we’re not just wasting time online, we’re also making someone else richer. With every click, our value to social media platforms grows. The longer we are engaged, the more data is generated, which is then bought and rebuilt into profit. In the end, our attention isn’t just captured, it’s also cashed in.









References:‌

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Milli, Smitha, et al. “Engagement, User Satisfaction, and the Amplification of Divisive Content on Social Media.” PNAS Nexus, vol. 4, no. 3, 5 Mar. 2025, academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf062/8052060, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf062. Last Accessed 14 Nov, 2025.
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