People are calculating their yearly screentime total—and it’s eye-opening

As 2025 draws to a close, a viral TikTok video has sparked a digital reckoning among many young viewers: just how many days a year did you spend behind screens?

The question—once relegated to wellness blogs and productivity forums—has broken into the mainstream, in part, thanks to a post by 27-year-old Lejla, from New Jersey, whose shocked reaction to another user’s screen time ignited a surge of online introspection.

“Saw a girl on here that calculated her total screen time for 2025…It’s at 130 days,” read the on-screen text in her video. The caption added: “Checked mine and I’m SICK. Phone free fall starts tomorrow.”

The short clip, shared under @heylej, has been viewed more than 4.7 million times.

What followed was a flood of viewers sharing their own calculations, many realizing they had logged more than 100 days of phone time in a single year. The post hit a nerve, not just for its staggering numbers but also for what it represented: a generation beginning to confront the cost of their constant connectivity.

“I’m an iPhone user, so I check my screen time directly in my Settings,” Lejla, who would prefer to keep her full identity private, told Newsweek. “You can tap on ‘Screen Time’ to review your daily and weekly reports.

“Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t store this data long-term, so you can only see reports from about the past week. That said, there are ways to keep track over time.”

Lejla is now using apps that track her usage and can even lock specific apps after reaching set daily limits.

“Those tools can be really eye-opening if you’re trying to be more intentional with your phone use,” Lejla said. “Right now, my screen time averages about six hours a day, and I’ve been actively working on bringing that number down.

“One of my personal goals for the new year is to cut it in half and be more present offline,” Lejla added.

The original video was inspired in part by an episode of It’s Me, Tinx, a podcast hosted by lifestyle creator Tinx, who recently encouraged her followers to attempt a “phone-free fall.” Lejla said hearing that episode led her to “take a hard look” at her own screen time and realize it was far higher than she wanted it to be.

Then she saw a video of a young woman who said her average screen time for the year totaled well over 100 days.

“That pushed me to reflect not only on my own habits, but on how much screens impact all of us,” Lejla said.

The result was her now-viral TikTok post, and its impact has been more than just views.

“The response has been incredible,” Lejla said. “What I’ve loved most is reading through the comments and seeing how people are feeling and thinking about this topic.

“The reactions have been really mixed, but a majority of people seem genuinely shocked when they calculate their own screen time and estimate what that adds up to over the course of a year.”

What Did the Comments Say?

“Just checked mine, it shows 15,” one viewer said.

“81 days I’m good (let’s just ignore my screen time on my iPad),” another added.

“I got 228,” a third viewer shared.

“Mine is only 30 days,” a fourth commented.

For Lejla and others, their statistics have become a wake-up call.

“A lot of the conversation has turned into self-reflection, which I think is so important,” she said. “There’s so much research coming out now about how excessive screen time and social media use are linked to our overall health, and that really showed through in the comments.”

That research is already driving change. TikTok itself implemented new guardrails in 2023, introducing a 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18.

While such changes may help curb teen screen time, adults like Lejla are left to self-regulate. That is where digital Minimalism trends have taken root—often with Gen Z leading the charge.

One such trend, dubbed the “Gen-Z timeout” or “rawdogging,” involves spending time without any phone, music, TV, or food—just sitting in silence and being with one’s thoughts. Critics have mocked the trend as little more than a rebranding of meditation, but its popularity underscores a craving for intentional disconnection.

John Puls, a licensed psychotherapist, told Newsweek he often uses yearlong screen-time calculations in his work with adolescents and young adults.

“A high screen-time score, depending on the young person, can have a profound impact,” Puls said. “Often times, they are very concerned.”

Framing the reduction as a challenge or game can also be effective, he added.

“It can be useful to gamify reducing their screen time—framing it as a contest to try to get it down each week and have lower scores,” Puls said.

As for Lejla, she remains concerned about the broader implications of high screen-time stats for a generation that came of age online but now feels the pull to step back.

“While social media does connect us, it’s just as important, if not more, to foster those connections in real life,” Leija said. “It’s honestly scary to think about averaging over 100 days a year on our phones.

“The time we spend scrolling is time that could be spent being present with each other, doing things for ourselves, and connecting on a more human level.”