When you’re surfing the web and waiting for a website to load, you could’ve already started your next binge of the latest additions to Hulu or the hottest releases on Netflix. According to a new study from design firm Tenscope, website loading times are eating up more of your life than you think, with around 2.5 days per year just waiting around for pages to open.
The study discovered that when you’re waiting for a site to load, you’re losing nearly four months of your life, which is more than a full rewatch of Stranger Things or the entire Reacher series (so far) with time left for popcorn breaks.
Inside the Stats & the Hidden Costs
Tenscope broke it down: The average user visits around 130 web pages daily, which is almost 47,500 a year. The study found that loading times vary based on mobile (3.3 seconds) or desktop (2.1 seconds). With 68% of web traffic occurring on mobile devices, users are spending around 6.3 minutes per day waiting for content to load across devices combined.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like much, but that adds up to a little more than 3 hours per month of your precious time. Over the years, Tenscope has calculated around 2,733 hours or 114 days of waiting for a web page to load across an average lifespan. That’s hours of premium entertainment you could’ve streamed on Max. Based on average costs, the global total value of time lost is over $100 billion annually, which is more than enough to fund your entire streaming service lineup for a thousand lifetimes.
To put this into perspective, here’s what that lost streaming time could get you:
- The full Breaking Bad saga, including El Camino and you would still have time to binge the best Better Call Saul episodes.
- The entirety of Severance, which you can watch on Apple TV+ and try for free.
- A full watch of The Office, Parks and Rec, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, for those who prefer marathons full of laughter instead.
Children Lose a Month of Childhood to Loading Screens
Parents may be shocked to learn that the study found the loading-screen tax increases for children. Even with setting parental controls, blocking questionable content, and managing screentime in fun and creative ways, loading screens are the silent thief hiding in plain sight.
Tenscope’s study uncovered that children lose an entire month of their childhood waiting for slow websites and apps. Instead of spending that time gaming. learning, or watching kid-friendly content, children are just waiting.
“This research highlights an overlooked aspect of children’s screen time,” says Andrew Smith, CEO of Tenscope. “When parents set a 60-minute limit on devices, they assume that’s 60 minutes of engagement or entertainment – not realizing that a significant portion is spent staring at loading icons, neither developing skills nor enjoying content.”
Here’s how it adds up:
- Children ages 8–12 spend 4 to 6 hours per day on screens, and teens clock in at up to 9 hours.
- Of that, an average of 6 minutes per day goes to watching spinners spin and progress bars crawl.
- Multiplied over the years between ages 5 and 18, that’s over a full month of dead time they’ll never get back.
This stealth screen time is basically digital elevator music, as it adds zero value for adults or children. Parent who adjust for this phantom time can add valuable moments to their kids’ limited childhood when setting screentime limits.
How to Take Back Your Time
There are several ways to decrease your load time while waiting for your next webpage or app to load. On the hardware side, upgrading and making sure your equipment is up to date can dramatically reduce loading time. More companies are offering faster internet packages, free internet speed boost, and affordable rates as customers continue to leave cable internet in droves.
With the rise of 5G and fiber options, many cord cutters have switched to bundles with their cellular provider, including AT&T Internet, Verizon Home Internet 5G, and T-Mobile Home Internet. The good thing is that these services don’t cost a fortune. Verizon Home Internet starts at $35 per month and offers a bundle of streaming perks, and with T-Mobile Home Internet, you can try it for free and earn up to $1050 when you switch. Even AT&T is stepping up its premium internet experience with All-Fi Pro, giving users a faster and more secure way to visit their favorite sites.
There is only so much you can do on the hardware and service sides to decrease load times. Using Ethernet connections often gives you the fastest connection. Whether you’re jumping between IMDb tabs during movie night or comparison shopping for your next streaming stick, even with upgraded equipment, you can still experience slow load speeds.
Internet Browsing Tips
Ditch clunky, ad-riddled sites and use fast-loading apps, or an optimized web browser with an ad blocker for faster load times and improved privacy and security. Roll past the spinning wheel and buffer, enjoy your favorite movie, show, or event via a Smart TV or mobile app, which are often optimized to perform better than their browser counterparts. A few steps you can take to avoid being held hostage by a sluggish site include closing unused tabs and clearing your browser’s cache, avoiding peak streaming hours, and regularly updating your apps and browsers to the latest versions.
View the full study about loading pages at Tenscope.