Khaberni - Features of a "quiet revolution" are beginning to take shape against social media platforms, led by Generation Z, in search of a quieter life, where new reports have revealed a significant wave of closures of their accounts on social platforms, now trending on TikTok.
This wave includes a long-term disconnection from the digital world, and it has become the latest trend sweeping through the youth, achieving a rapid spread across various social media sites. A pervasive spread of videos on the TikTok app has been noticed, showing individuals pledging to delete social media apps by 2026 and engage more in traditional, interactive hobbies.
For instance, Matt Richards, a 23-year-old account manager, deleted all social media apps from his phone last year and was surprised by a significant improvement in his life. Richards has been using a smartphone since he was eleven years old, growing up with this device like most of the Millennials and Gen Z.
However, he noticed in recent years that social media was no longer as enjoyable as before, with the spread of AI-based misleading content, influencers advertising brands, and constant comparisons between lifestyles. Richards told the network "CNBC": "I think people in the past used to escape reality using the platforms on their phones, but now they are moving away from them to spend time in the real world."
As this phenomenon spread among many of his friends from Generation Z, Richards noticed immediate benefits, starting from connecting with people in reality to feeling more self-confident. He added: "When I discovered this trend, I decided to post on LinkedIn to see if there were young people willing to talk to me about moving away from the digital world, and to my surprise, I received about 100 responses from Generation Z and Millennials sharing their stories about getting rid of social media addiction and digital burnout."
He continued: "They talked about replacing their smartphones with traditional phones, visiting giant record stores from the 70s, practicing traditional hobbies such as knitting, and most importantly, connecting with their friends face-to-face."
A survey conducted by "Deloitte" in 2025 on consumer trends, which included more than 4,000 Britons, showed that nearly a quarter of consumers had deleted a social media app during the past twelve months, and this percentage rises to nearly a third among Generation Z.
At the same time, the use of social media has significantly decreased since the time spent on these platforms peaked in 2022, according to an analysis of internet usage habits for 250,000 adults in more than 50 countries, conducted by the "Financial Times" and "GWI," a company that specializes in analyzing digital audiences.
Globally, adults aged 16 and over spent an average of two hours and twenty minutes per day on social media platforms by the end of 2024, a decrease of nearly 10% since 2022. This decline was particularly noticeable among teenagers and young adults in their twenties.
Jason Dorsey, President of the Center for Generational Kinetics, said, "The increase in hostile discourse and division online, even by some leaders and politicians, is driving the youth away from social media in pursuit of more control over their lives." He added, "We notice that a group from Generation Z and Millennials are choosing to leave social media entirely, and perhaps a larger group are choosing to limit its use only, seeking to regain balance, security, and stability in their lives."
The youth who delete their accounts on social media platforms cite the reason as increasing pressures of online presence, as well as its negative impact on their mental health. A survey conducted by "Deloitte" showed that nearly a quarter of the participants who deleted social media apps reported that these apps had a negative impact on their mental health and consumed a lot of their time.
Richards said: "I feel that social media has become like a pressure platform, where everything is presented to you everywhere," adding that this affected his personal feeling of not having enough things or not achieving enough in his career. Similarly, Lucy Stace, a 36-year-old entrepreneur, said she reduces her use of social media because it "weakens" her mental health despite its great importance to her business. She added: "We are constantly submerged in a huge amount of information, our minds unable to absorb this massive quantity, in reality, we are weakening our ability to reflect and listen to ourselves, valuing things that don't represent true significance to us."
Dorsey indicated that giant tech companies are facing "immense pressure" to profit from everything and increase revenues and profits, which may deter the younger generations. She continued: "As a result, Generation Z, already sensitive to advertisements – being the most exposed to advertising in history – now face more ads, and their social media pages appear like a continuous series of ads."
