POLITICS SCHMALITICS

[chasfh]

Oh god, please let this be true.

1 big thing: Gen Z leads social media exodus

Some Gen Zers — ages 14 to 29 — are ditching social media in pursuit of better mental health, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports. It's part of a wider digital detox movement away from screens and toward analog options. Research suggests that social media use is waning — and that more people are embracing app-blocking products and "dumbphones" that lack social media apps. 📵 Chris Wells, a self-described former "Twitter and Instagram junkie," tells Axios that he's "99% off" social media after doing a "Month Offline" challenge. The 26-year-old says: "I didn't know who I was without my social media accounts, and when I quit, it was pretty miraculous." "The one thing that really came back to me was a sense of privacy. I hadn't really felt that since I was a kid." 🗑️ 17-year-old Aditi Ediga deleted her phone's social media apps last fall. Ediga says: "One reason why teenagers don't want to delete apps and stop using them is that they're scared they're going to miss out on stuff, and then I realized I wasn't really missing out on anything." 🤝 NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of a bestselling book on the effects of childhood tech use, tells Axios: "What you're seeing now, especially among Gen Z, is a self-correction back toward real-world connection." "They've felt the costs of isolation and are rediscovering what actually leads to flourishing." 🤳 Yes, but: Plenty of young Americans are still spending countless hours on social media, with platforms facing calls to ban or restrict teen access. Go deeper.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Oh god, please let this be true.

1 big thing: Gen Z leads social media exodus

Some Gen Zers — ages 14 to 29 — are ditching social media in pursuit of better mental health, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports.   It's part of a wider digital detox movement away from screens and toward analog options.   Research suggests that social media use is waning — and that more people are embracing app-blocking products and "dumbphones" that lack social media apps.   📵 Chris Wells, a self-described former "Twitter and Instagram junkie," tells Axios that he's "99% off" social media after doing a "Month Offline" challenge.   The 26-year-old says: "I didn't know who I was without my social media accounts, and when I quit, it was pretty miraculous."   "The one thing that really came back to me was a sense of privacy. I hadn't really felt that since I was a kid."   🗑️ 17-year-old Aditi Ediga deleted her phone's social media apps last fall.   Ediga says: "One reason why teenagers don't want to delete apps and stop using them is that they're scared they're going to miss out on stuff, and then I realized I wasn't really missing out on anything."   🤝 NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of a bestselling book on the effects of childhood tech use, tells Axios: "What you're seeing now, especially among Gen Z, is a self-correction back toward real-world connection."   "They've felt the costs of isolation and are rediscovering what actually leads to flourishing."   🤳 Yes, but: Plenty of young Americans are still spending countless hours on social media, with platforms facing calls to ban or restrict teen access.   Go deeper.

My kids are millennials, neither has ever done social media. One is a gamer and has a long-standing online connection to a stable community (not unlike this one I suppose).