Canadians remain nose-deep in social media despite growing distaste for it: Angus Reid

While mulling over a youth social media ban continues in Canada, surveyed citizens say their usage isn’t drying up even if the novelty of all those apps is. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

While mulling over a youth social media ban continues in Canada, surveyed citizens say their usage isn’t drying up even if the novelty of all those apps is.

Canadians continue to like, share and scroll despite an increasing sense social media is doing them no good, according to new Angus Reid Institute data.

At least half of respondents to Angus Reid said they use platforms including Instagram, YouTube and Facebook “multiple times per week.”

Meanwhile, three quarters said social media companies are having “a net negative impact on society.”

And Angus Reid says three out of 10 respondents who use Facebook and X stated a dislike for the experiences of each.

“There’s this interesting paradox, I think, when it comes to (social media), where a lot of Canadians are feeling maybe social media isn’t that great ... yet there’s lots of regular users among us,” Jon Roe, senior research associate at Angus Reid, told CTV News on Monday.

Roe says he figures there’s a bit of a love-hate relationship between Canadians and their selected social media platforms.

“I think despite the sense that there are a lot of people who say social media is overall bad for society, there are still a lot of people who use it because those benefits are pretty pronounced,” he said.

The new data broke respondents down into several categories, including:

• “heavy and happy” users (22 per cent);
• “detached and disapproving” users (19 per cent);
• “light and leery” users (10 per cent); and
• the rest fell under “steady and satisfied” users.

Forty-eight per cent stated social media is integral and necessary.

Forty-six per cent disagreed.

Roe says Canadians continue to use social media to stay connected with those close to them, for entertainment and to access news.

He says Canadians are increasingly worried about misinformation, excessive screen time and mental-health issues.

Meanwhile, other recent Angus Reid data gathering looked at social media in the context of a possible youth usage ban.

“A lot of parents said it should be up to parents—not the government—to manage social media use,” Roe said.

“Yet support for the social media ban was pretty high.”

Roe says there is “a lot of concern about the negative impacts on youth on social media.”

“Lots of Canadians are concerned about those elements as well, and I think perhaps it does push people to say, ‘OK, well, we should be regulating social media use in some way—maybe starting people a little older on social media,’” he said.

And yet, “Most people use social media day to day,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”