5 reasons why Gen Z is abandoning social media apps

Social media usage is at an all-time high. According to Meltwater’s 2026 Global Digital Report, 5.66 billion people use social media, an increase of almost 5% from the previous year, and Gen Z continues to drive these numbers. Deloitte says 54% consume user-generated content on social media rather than watching TV and movies. Yet, if you look around you, you may have also realized that people are trying to abandon this digital consumption.

The reasons include declining mental health, online burnout, and the allure of analog technology – like the seamless tech of the 90s making a comeback. Having been born in 1995, I’m at the cusp of Generation Z. While the millennials before me seem to be diving deeper into social media, the Gen Z cohort seems to have had enough, as they try to discover a new offline world that might have eluded their childhoods.

For example, I remember a life with VHS, CDs, dial-up internet, stupid cell phones, and the need to do proper library research because Google didn’t have all the answers. Generation Z, on the other hand, was born into an iPhone world, filled with touchscreens and surrounded by social media. As they age, a new trend emerges: they abandon these online platforms.

Prolonged use of social media and your phone is linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression, as well as reduced attention span. According to a Check My Insurance survey, 52% of Gen Z tried to stop using social media in 2025, compared to 33% of all respondents. While people said physical health (56%), mental health (38%), and anxiety or stress (31%) were the top reasons they were trying to change their habits in general, 61% of Gen Z respondents said mental health was the top concern.

More than just numbers, social media burnout is simply an overwhelming feeling. A few years ago I left TikTok. The algorithm kept me hooked, but after 20 minutes of doomscrolling, I was completely drained. I didn’t help myself by switching to Instagram Reels, where the feeling remained. Every time I’m on X or Threads, the dreadful scrolling continues, even though all I get is anger at the flood of content the AI ​​creates. It’s exhausting.

After thinking that starting a second account on Instagram would help me become closer to my friends and away from influencers, I realized that it was just another way to stay addicted to social media. Fortunately, the math is simple: the more time I spend without my phone, the better my mental health.

Maintaining appearances and performing has become exhausting on social media. According to Common Sense Media, 81% of American teens have felt negative pressure about their achievements, appearance, and life. Of these, 51% felt pressured to look and present themselves in the latest fashionable way or with a certain body type. While older generations largely only had television and magazines to compare themselves to others, social media puts everyone in the same group.

After all, I get to follow my friends from school, but also constant updates from models, rock stars, and random influencers with seemingly perfect lives. If you’ve heard the expression “eyes eat first” when you order food and take a photo before you start eating, then you understand the need to keep performing. What others say suddenly seems more important than what we actually feel at that moment. Gen Z feels this pressure and 8 in 10 teens believe social media only increases the pressure on how they should act.

Advertisements are everywhere. Although some countries are taking action on how adverts should be delivered to young people, setting age limits for creating social media accounts and controlling what they can see, there is no denying that adverts are widespread. And it’s proven that all this advertising is a waste of time. A Bulbshare study reveals that Gen Z almost always skips an ad and 63% of them already use ad blockers. This became easier when you consider that one of the hidden features of YouTube Premium is the ability to “skip ahead” and avoid certain ads.

However, you also have to deal with the nightmare of unavoidable Instagram ads. It is therefore not surprising that as these companies try to increase their revenue, users are fed up with the onslaught of advertising. The easiest way to avoid them is simple: ditch social media apps. While the latest data from the Pew Research Center indicates that 20% of American teens are frequently on social media, I’ve seen more and more online users announce that they are moving away from social media due to ad overload.

From Casetify invading your iPhone with nostalgia to old-school iPods making a comeback in Gen Z and a resurgence in vinyl buyers, there’s a clear trend toward analog technology. There’s something unique about taking a photo with a film camera and having to wait. Accustomed to instant gratification, Gen Z and millennials have figured out that taking a moment to flip vinyl, wait to develop a roll of film, or plug in wired headphones can be more engaging than taking hundreds of digital photos that you may never check again.

In the same way that I ditched my Kindle in favor of thumbing through a physical book, more and more people have realized that authenticity and reality are more important than social media and online experiences. There’s nothing worse than going to a restaurant or business where everything is Instagrammable and realizing everyone else is already doing it. Although we want to show others that we are having original, unique, and one-of-a-kind experiences, the reality doesn’t always match. As a result, having the ability to slow down has become a popular trend, and these analog technologies play an important role.

Running clubs are more popular than ever. People are learning to knit more and more, and every now and then you might see someone in their 20s with a flip phone. Board game events have also seen growth and it is not uncommon to see young people doing crosswords in cafes, queuing to enter a museum or simply sitting on a bench. This is part of a trend of people wanting to connect with real life.

Social media is still here and many people use it, but especially after the pandemic, there has been a movement among Gen Z toward spending more time outdoors with friends and meeting other people in person. This notion is supported by Deloitte statistics which indicate that by 2025, 29% of Gen Zers have deleted social media apps and more than half support a ban on social media for anyone under 16. All this push for stricter regulation of social media is a good thing, but the best approach on this front is to go out and agree with others.