If you feel like you and everyone you know are glued to screens, you’re not imagining it. According to a new study from Sparrow, several U.S. states are experiencing serious “digital overload” driven by long daily screen time, high household subscription rates, lots of searches about cancelling services, and heavy internet usage.
Sparrow built a Digital Overload Index by normalizing five measures (unsubscribe-search behavior, daily screen time, household subscription rates, internet usage, and consumer spending on telecom/internet) with Min-Max scaling and giving each equal weight. The result is a state-by-state picture of who’s tapped out and who’s still happily streaming.
Key takeaways from Sparrow (per the study)
- Vermont tops Sparrow’s list with a final index score of 60: about five hours of daily screen time and a surge in searches for how to cancel subscriptions (over 11.5K searches), signaling burnout.
- Wyoming is close behind (score 58), with 12.7K unsubscribe searches, meaning people are online and actively trying to opt out.
- Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine, North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana round out Sparrow’s top ten most overloaded states: many with internet usage above 80% and daily screen time averaging 4.5–6+ hours.
- California and New Mexico also show alarmingly high screen time and subscription counts. Sparrow flags New Mexico at about 7h 20m of screen time and California with 4.2M household subscriptions. (Sparrow’s data includes state-by-state daily screen totals and unsubscribe search volumes that underscore the scale of subscription fatigue.)
- Sparrow notes nearly 40% of U.S. adults say they try to limit screen time (per a Pew Research survey), but most struggle, a tension reflected in the unsubscribe searches that helped power this index.
A spokesperson from Sparrow recently commented, “People often think of digital overload as just too much screen time, but it goes deeper than that. It’s about how surrounded we are, by subscriptions, platforms, and notifications. In some states, it’s not just constant use, it’s the feeling that you can’t get away from it. That’s where real fatigue starts to show up.”
Summary of Sparrow’s Findings
| State | Search volume for “cancel [platform]” per 100K | Internet Usage (%) | Avg screen time per day | Household reach of subscription services | Digital Overload Index |
| Vermont | 11.5K | 82.90% | 4h 58m | 83.5K | 59.5 |
| Wyoming | 12.7K | 72.10% | 4h 58m | 73.8K | 53.7 |
| Alaska | 10.1K | 82.30% | 4h 14m | 83K | 50.9 |
| South Dakota | 8.1K | 85.30% | 4h 46m | 111.2K | 47.8 |
| Delaware | 7.2K | 81.70% | 6h 11m | 122.8K | 45.9 |
| New Hampshire | 5.3K | 84.40% | 5h 57m | 170.9K | 40.3 |
| Maine | 5.3K | 85.40% | 5h 28m | 182.6K | 39.7 |
| North Dakota | 9.5K | 71.40% | 4h 40m | 100.8K | 39.1 |
| Idaho | 3.8K | 85.80% | 6h 19m | 215.1K | 37.1 |
| Montana | 6.5K | 80.20% | 4h 37m | 140.3K | 36.2 |
| California | 190 | 81% | 6h 35m | 4.2M | 35.1 |
| New Mexico | 3.5K | 80.90% | 7h 20m | 255.8K | 35.1 |
| West Virginia | 4.2K | 80.20% | 6h 43m | 223.6K | 34.7 |
Ways to Save Money + Prevent Digital Burnout
With cable losing subscribers and more people turning to cord cutting, many are choosing fewer, smarter subscriptions. Sparrow’s data shows many states are paying for a mountain of paid services while also experiencing heavy screen use and digital burnout. For those who care about saving money and mental space, now is a great time to trim the fat.
- Audit every subscription: List everything with recurring charges, cancel what you haven’t used in 30–60 days.
- Rotate subscriptions: Keep one or two premium services at a time and switch libraries seasonally (binge a show, cancel, move to the next).
- Embrace ad-supported tiers and free services: Many streamers offer cheaper tiers with ads; and legit free live TV platforms can replace a paid niche service.
- Go local for live TV with an antenna + streaming on-demand can replace expensive live bundles for many viewers.
- Share wisely: Household plans and family sharing (within provider rules) spread cost without adding screens.
- Set deliberate viewing windows: Scheduling “watch nights” helps reduce passive, endless scrolling that drives up screen time.
Check out more tips in the video below.
Credit: Sparrow