A sudden shift among Gen Z quietly quitting social media has sparked buzz worldwide. Gen Z, who are always on their phones chatting and scrolling social media endlessly, are now deleting all the apps. This sudden change in their behaviour has raised various questions, such as why they are quitting it. Don’t they feel the urge to scroll? How do they survive? It is believed that Gen Z can’t survive without the internet and scrolling social media, but now they are breaking the myth by deleting all social media apps. Wondering why? Read this blog post to get answers to your questions.
Why is Gen Z Quitting Social Media?
Increased Stress
Undoubtedly, social media is one of the platforms where you can find all sorts of funny content, but it can still increase stress. With all the social media apps trying to get your attention, algorithm fatigue is real. The content you see on social media isn’t always funny; it might include violence and other negative things that could stress you out.
For example: If a person likes animals, they won’t just get content related to cute animals, but the algorithm can also show animal cruelty and violence, which can increase stress.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
FOMO — a common term that a lot of Gen Z use while sharing reels, posts, and other content with their friends. Social media is a fake life, where you just witness what you are shown. You don’t know whether the people you are seeing are actually happy or not. But the FOMO you feel can actually stress you out.
Wastage of Time and Emotions
Endless scrolling and connection to things that are not even real, in Gen Z terms — living in delulu is a waste of time and emotions. Gen Z is increasingly understanding this and has decided to invest their emotions and time in the right places, where they can get something in return.
There’s this post, “People scroll reels when they are free from work, but I scroll reels and then get free from it to work.” This post had millions of likes and shares, showing how many people can relate to it and how they waste hours scrolling through social media. And when Gen Z understood the concept, they started cutting off social media.
To Rediscover Their Old Self
Social media shapes a person’s thoughts with the sort of content it shows. It can have both negative and positive effects on a person’s thoughts. And many get caught up in that, but now they wish to explore their old self that was fun, even without the internet and social media. They wish to discover how they used to spend time without the internet and social media.
To Cherish Things
Social media has turned not only Gen Z but others into ungrateful beings who don’t cherish what they have. Instead, they look at others and feel bad about not having the exact thing. This ungratefulness has turned them into beings that are never happy. To change this behaviour of theirs, Gen Z have started withdrawing from social media. They now cherish little things in their life.
What Has Gen Z Gained from Leaving Social Media?
After leaving social media, they have not only saved time and improved their emotional well-being, but also gained many benefits. Here are a few listed.
More Peace and Emotional Stability
Peace and emotional stability are the most important in human life. They are the key to staying happy and focusing on what you love or what you are working on. By disconnecting from social media, Gen Z have felt real peace like never before. They have realized that their life is smooth, positive, and filled with lovely things. Now they have control over their own life.
Better Relationships
Think about a scenario where 2 Gen Zs are busy scrolling Instagram, ignoring the family members and friends around them. That’s the story of every household.
- Once Gen Z started quitting social media, they noticed they had strong relationships with friends, family, and others.
- Now they spend more time chatting face-to-face with their people, rather than scrolling and sharing content.
- They get time to understand their parents, what they think, or how they feel.
Time to Discover Themselves
Teenage and young adulthood are ages when people explore, try new hobbies, and develop new interests. And when they are always on social media, they lose the opportunity to understand themselves.
After disconnecting from social media, they have time to discover themselves. Gen Z have started learning what they like, what their hobbies are, and what their unique abilities are.
Relive Life That’s Their Own
The life you see or live on social media is not your own; it is for others. After ditching social media, they can live a life that’s purely their own.
A friend of mine ditched social media a month ago, and she is happy, peaceful. She is now visiting places she wants to, not just what she wants others to see. She started wearing what she feels beautiful and comfortable in. Not only that, but she has started reliving her life the way she wants.
Time to Learn New Things
Quitting social media can save Gen Zs around 4 hours a day. A report once showed that Gen Z, on average, spends 4 hours a day on social media.
So, by deleting all social media apps and avoiding them, Gen Z saves a lot of time to learn new things they have always wanted to.
What Does It Mean For Online Culture?
Gen Z’s quit exit from social media is their way to detox, but it is also a turning point for online culture. They have been challenging the norms of social media use for over a decade. The more Gen Zs become aware of the benefits of living offline, the more authentic and peaceful their lives will be. And it will even encourage platforms to rethink how they engage people. Platforms will have to rethink how they foster positivity, authenticity, and mindfulness in what they promote, while also taking care of human expectations.
Online culture will change, but for the better. People won’t only waste time scrolling endlessly, but will also learn something new if platforms change for the better and rethink how they reach people.
If you are also thinking of quitting social media, getting rid of it is not possible; you will have to take small steps by reducing the time you spend scrolling, and then finally quit after some time, to live a life that’s only yours and not influenced by anyone.
