Failed digital detoxes
Firsthand accounts of trying to log off
If nothing else, teens today are hyper self aware.
When looking at social media, our generation has a problem, and we know it.
Take a new Pew Research report on teens and social media, for example, released just last week.
According to the survey:
Nearly half (48%) of teens today say social media is bad for people their age — a 16-point jump from those who said the same just a few years ago.
Meanwhile, 45% of teens say they spend too much time on social media – a 9-point jump from 2022.
And one in five teens says social media hurts their mental health, with teen girls far more likely than teen boys to share this feeling.
But there’s more to these dynamics than just that.
A recent listening session with a dozen Gen Zers ages 18-26 (from seven states and Washington, D.C.) revealed a trend I’ve been picking up on since I was in high school: digital natives are quick to log offline when they feel they’ve had enough — but they almost always log back on.
Clear-sighted about just how toxic social media is for our mental wellbeing, social media detoxes are extremely common among Gen Z. But they rarely last.
Let me explain.