That screen shot says a lot.
First off, you are zoomed out to 3%. This document that we are looking out is ENORMOUS!
The file that you are placing is currently centered in that document. Its coordinates are 21199.5x and 11920.5y, which means the entire dimensions of your document are 42399x23841. If you place a file that is only 2120x1192 within that, it will take up about 5% of the available space.
In other words, what we see is the correct behavior, you are placing an average sized file onto a very large canvas.
When you create a blank file, make sure it's closer to the size you want to work with.