Polls show one-third of Gen Z users have stopped posting their lives online. This time, it's not about privacy
Gen Z, who grew up around social media, posting often feels stressful...
The Gen Zs, who are often blamed for sharing their lives in public, aren't active on social media. Yes, that's true... In June, author Kyle Chayka described it as something called "posting ennui." He is certain that we may be moving towards a point of "Posting Zero," where people, especially Gen Zs, have stopped sharing things on social media. Privacy is, of course, one of the main reasons they are reluctant to post online, but the other issues are deeply rooted in fear, burnout, and algorithmic boredom, according to a report by The Nod Mag.
The report says that for Gen Z, who grew up around social media, posting often feels stressful. "If you’re perceived as cool, then posting is cool. If you’re embarrassing, then it’s embarrassing... cool posts look low-effort," Abigail Liu, a teenager, explained. It means posting feels risky because it strongly shapes how a person is perceived socially, and the fear of building the wrong image is real. However, the older generation thinks of social media differently. When they were first introduced to it, they were made to feel like they would miss out on things if they didn't post their everyday life; but now, things have changed, and so have the perspectives. Instead of sharing everything online, people are trying to enjoy life privately. That means, while a significant number of people are still spending hours online, they have grown a bit conscious about posting their lives and allowing people to pass judgment. Social media has become less social, Chayka said, emphasizing how people are most focused on consuming the advertisements, rather than sharing their lives online. "There is a slow decline... Fewer people are posting on TikTok, but what these platforms have found, I think, Instagram in particular, is that our personal thing is sharing is moving towards direct messages, and kind of one-to-one conversations with our friends," he said.
Chayka explained that the younger generation experienced the dark side of social media, which is partly why they are willing to move away from sharing their personal information. Once people get into the vicious cycle of sharing their lives online, they are subjected to a lot of criticism, which, for many, isn't a great ROI, the author added. In March 2023, Williams Whittle surveyed Gen Z across the United States to understand their media habits and found similar results. They found that the younger generation primarily uses social media to consume content, and not necessarily to share their lives. While a 37% of respondents post every few months, fewer than 14% post as frequently as weekly, and only 6% post every day.
Meanwhile, people agreed to the whole zero-posting era on social media; for instance, @refugeenius commented, "In other words, social media has morphed into commercial television: something broadcasting junk at you that you didn't ask for." @wheres_bears1378 shared, "I stopped posting years ago because I remembered that nobody needs to know my business, and I don’t need to know theirs. If we don’t see each other face-to-face, then we don’t need to know each other’s business; that’s how I see it." @carolinalaudon413 pointed out, "The social media life span: First the focus is on users, then the focus is on advertisers, and finally the focus is on shareholders, and then it dies."
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