Human beings are social animals thus they have always
depended on cooperation and social relationships to thrive. The time we spend
with others and the social connections that we make evolve throughout our
lifetime.
The insights from the American Time Use Survey and Our World
in Data, help us in looking deeper at who Americans spend most of their time
with at various ages of their life.
An online education platform that connects students with private tutors named Preply recently surveyed 2,000 Americans to learn more about their perceptions of slang words, how often they use slang words, the most popular and most hated slang words and also the settings where it’s appropriate and not appropriate to use slang words. Let us take a deeper look into what they found in their survey.
Where Americans learn slang words
Slang words don’t just magically appear out of thin air, most Americans learn slang words from someone else. The survey from Preply specifically asked respondents where they primarily learn slang from. 28% of respondents said they learn slang from the internet or from social media. The second most common way Americans learn slang words. 28% report learning slang words directly from friends. Another 25% said they learn slang words from their family. 11% report learning slang words from a partner. As you can see most people learn slang from either the internet, their phone, or the people closest to them in their lives.
Despite learning slang words from people that they trust, many Americans are still having to consult the internet to find out what the slang word actually means. 83% of those surveyed said they have had to search the internet for the meaning of a slang word after hearing it for the first time. On top of that, 68% said they consulted a younger person to help them define what the slang word meant.
When asked if people use slang incorrectly, a majority of respondents (54%) said that they have used slang incorrectly at some point in their lives. Half of Americans (50%) reported using a slang word without even knowing what the word itself meant. As you can see many Americans are confused by slang words and often use them without knowing their meaning to other people.
Which slang words are used the most in America in 2021?
So, we know that people use slang frequently, often without knowing the meaning and learn them from the internet and their closest friends. But which slang words are used the most currently?
Preply asked surveyed respondents to list the slang words they use the most. Listed below are the 10 most common slang words in America:
1. Ghosted (when someone cuts off all communication without explanation)
2. Salty (when someone is exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset)
3. On point (when someone is exactly right or perfect)
4. Woke (when someone is alert to societal injustice)
5. GOAT (greatest of all time)
6. Extra (over the top)
7. Low-key (understatedly or secretly)
8. Catfish (when someone assumes a fake identity or personality over the internet)
9. Savage (not caring about the consequences of their actions)
10. Thirsty (needing approval, affection, or attention).
The most popular slang words that originated from the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has consumed the lives of people around the globe for almost 2 years now. As a result of that an entire new set of words and popular slang have came with it.
Listed below are the most used slang words related to the COVID-19 pandemic according to surveyed respondents from the Preply survey along with their meanings:
1. Rona/The ‘Rona (Abbreviation for the coronavirus)
2. Jab (A COVID-19 shot)
3. Quarantine and chill (spending time with a romantic partner along during quarantine)
4. Quaranteam (A limited group of people you see during the pandemic)
5. Covidiot (Someone who disregards COVID-19 health and safety guidelines)
6. Quarantini (A cocktail people drink at home while under quarantine)
7. Zoom fatigue (Exhaustion or overuse of virtual platforms of communication particularly video conferencing
8. Zoombombing (A disruption of video calls by uninvited strangers)
9. Zoomer (A generation marked by social distancing and COVID-19)
10. Before times (Life before COVID-19)
Which slang words annoy Americans the most?
So, in the sections above we defined the most used slang words and the slang words that have arose from the COVID-19 pandemic. The next part of the survey from Preply asked Americans about the slang words that annoy them the most. Many people love slang words but nearly an equal amount of people also loathe them. The survey found that 3 in 5 Americans report being annoyed by slang words and their use. 66% of parents are annoyed by slang as well as 46% of non-parents.
Listed below are the most annoying slang words in America as well as their definition:
1. OK Boomer (implying that someone is old, out-of-touch, or resistant to change)
2. Bae (a term of endearment or labeling someone as good or cool)
3. Bye, Felicia (a dismissive goodbye to someone)
4. Ok fleek (perfectly executed or extremely good, attractive, or stylish)
5. Woke (being alert to societal injustice)
6. Mansplain (to explain someone to a woman in a condescending way)
7. Zaddy (a man with swagger or style)
8. Yas (a playful or non-serious way to say yes)
9. Yeet (to throw or an exclamation of excitement, approval, or surprise)
10. Periodt (a variant of the word period which is meant to emphasize a point)
The survey from Preply also asked how often Americans are using slang. Over half of Americans are using slang words in all or most of their conversations with other people. 8 in 10 say they currently use slang words as part of their vocabulary. Only 10% of Americans say they use slang rarely. Slang is most commonly used with friends, family, a partner, coworkers, stranger and even with their boss. As you might imagine younger generations are most likely to use slang words than their older counterparts. Most Americas feel it is acceptable to use slang in most social events. To learn more, check out the graphic below from Preply.
Infographic by: preply
Solitaired recently surveyed iPhone users from across the country to try and learn more about exactly how much time the average American is spending on their iPhone each day. To gather this data, Solitaired first asked surveyed respondents to estimate the amount of time they spent each day. After that they asked surveyed respondents to go into their usage report screen on their iPhone and send in a picture of the actual amount of time, they spend on average on their phones each day. As you might expect, American’s expectations of their smartphone use varied greatly from the actual amount of time they spent on their smartphone each day. Let’s take a deeper dive into the survey results.
Smartphone screentime for the average American
As mentioned above, the first part of the survey asked iPhone users to estimate the amount of time they spend on their phones each day. According to the survey data from Solitaired, the average Americans estimates that they spend on average 3 hours and 42 minutes on their iPhone each day. Solitaired also asked iPhone users to estimate the number of times they pickup their iPhone each day. The estimate for the number of pickups per day was 40 pickups.
Next let’s compare the estimates of daily iPhone usage to the actual amount of times the average Americans spends on their phone each day. The survey data founds that the average American spends 5 hours and 42 minutes on their iPhone each day. That’s almost 2 hours more each day than most Americans believe they spend. The actual number of pickups per day is 99 which is more than double what the average American estimates each day. As you can see the contrast from estimates vs reality is stark.
On top of that, the survey found that over 65% of Americans underestimate their daily phone usage by an hour or more each day.
Surveyed respondents were next asked how they thought their phone usage to compares to other people. 53% of surveyed respondents said they believe their daily phone usage to by normal when compared to other people. Only 18% of surveyed respondents said that their daily phone use is less than others. Amazingly almost 30% of surveyed respondents were brutally honest in saying that they definitely use their phone more than others each day on average.
The survey also found that 78% of iPhone users underestimate how much time they spend on their iPhone each day. One of the more shocking takeaways from the survey data is that 20% of surveyed respondents report that they spend over 8 hours on their smartphone each and every day. That is a huge chunk of their daily lives that is being used to stay strictly on their smartphone. It’s not surprising to see that many Americans choose to do a digital detox after realizing how much time they are spending on their phones each and every day.
The Apps that Americans use on their smartphones the most
They next part of the survey asked surveyed respondents about how they are using their phone each day, specifically in regard to the smartphone apps that they use the most each day. As you can imagine, social media apps dominated the responses from the survey. The survey data found that the average American spends at least 1 our and 23 minutes each and every day checking social media. Although the top social media app used might surprise some (hint. it’s not Facebook, Facebook actually did not crack the 7 list of most popular smartphone apps).
Humans speak and interact with people from other countries daily and English is widely accepted around the world, so why do so few Americans speak a foreign language? The survey from Preply found that 3 in 10 Americans only learned a foreign language because it was required of them to do so during their education and schooling. On top of that less than 10% actually studied a foreign language to complete proficiency. Let us examine some more of the takeaways from the Preply survey.
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