Monday, August 31, 2026

Virginia Free Press

virginia free press

 

Opinion

16 Stunning Data Points on Data

The future belongs to our kids. We need to make sure the future works for them so they can love it.

Screenshot 2026 08 31
  1. 500 hours of YouTube are uploaded every minute
  2. 25 BILLION texts are sent every day
  3. Globally, people average 4 hours and 47 minutes on screens per day
  4. Kenyans spend 9 hours a day on their screens
  5. People watch 2 BILLION hours of YouTube videos every day
  6. Netflix is watched 191 BILLION hours per year
  7. Live streaming happens 100 million hours a day
  8. Mail Volume in the U.S. has dropped from 213 Billion pieces a year to 108 Billion over the last twenty years
  9. Print newspaper daily circulation was 56 million in 2000. In 2022, it was 21 million.
  10. Zoom has 300 million daily users
  11. Google Meet has 300 million monthly users
  12. There are approximately 300 million equity trades daily worldwide
  13. U.S. equity makers typically see 15-20 Billion shares change hands every day
  14. There are, on average, 250 million bets placed per day online
  15. McKinsey puts the global payments at $2 QUADRILLION a year or about $5-6 trillion per day
  16. India has 660 million online payments per day

All this data, data, data feels more like…

Kind of boring?

Back to the Future was made in 1985 about 1955.

Here’s the Johnny B. Goode scene which ends with telling the audience that the future belongs to our kids.

We need to make sure the future works for them so they can love it.

(grandkids, too!)

CHRIS SAXMAN is a former delegate for the Virginia House of Delegates and the executive director of the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education (Virginia FREE).