Welcome to an exploration into our social media habits! In May 2023, we conducted a survey to understand the behaviors and attitudes towards social media among Gen Z and Millennials.
In Part I of this series, we’re focusing on the numbers: the hours spent in the digital realm, the control — or lack thereof — over our social media usage, the mental health implications, and the prevalence of mindless scrolling.
While these results shed light on our behavior, they also raise a lot of questions. In the upcoming parts, we will dive deeper into specific social media platforms, as well as offer our perspective on what the numbers mean. Until then, let’s dive into some numbers, shall we?
Ain’t got no time to read the whole thing? Here’s a TL;DR:
We surveyed 256 Gen Z and Millennials, with 91% of them being from Europe, and found the following:
- The mindless scroll — a veritable epidemic? 85% of respondents believe they have a problem with mindless scrolling.
- Who’s to blame, us or the Big Socials? 96% believe that the features of social media platforms such as infinite scroll and autoplay significantly contribute to their mindless scrolling habits.
- Mental health at risk? 64% believe social media is harmful to their mental health.
- Losing control? Only 8.2% of respondents think that they have their social media usage completely under control.
- Procrastination, baby. 73% of respondents listed procrastination as a reason why they mindlessly scroll, highest among all other reasons.
- TikTok users seem to have it worse. TikTok users were more likely to strongly agree with the statement “I consider social media harmful to my mental health” than users of any other platform.
Information about the sample, the methodology as well as recommendations for future surveys can be found at the end of the blog post.
Time spent on social media & are we in control?
When we asked respondents about their social media screen time, the most common answer was between 2 to 3 hours.
However, if we look at age groups, we can see that younger people are more likely to spend longer on social media, and the percentage of respondents who spend over 5 hours on social media is higher among the younger age groups.
Are we in control?
When asked if people think they have control over their social media usage under control, only 8.2% of respondents reported having their social media usage completely under control. Over a third of respondents, however, don’t feel like they have control over their social media usage.
If we look at different age groups, it appears that it is the youngest age groups who mostly feel like they don’t have control over their social media usage.
So are we doing anything about it?
Interestingly, a whopping majority of the respondents — 85.9% — have indeed tried to reduce their social media usage, with 40.6% saying they have been successful in doing so.
Looking at the same data by age groups, it appears that even though younger users (who also reported having the least control over their social media usage) have also been trying to reduce their social media usage, they are the ones who have been the least successful in doing so.
Impact of social media on mental health
A majority of 64.1% of respondents agreed that social media is harmful to their mental health. It is worth noting that among the 256 respondents, not a single person strongly disagreed with the statement.
If we look at the data compared by age group, it is interesting to notice that the age groups who tend to agree with the statement “I consider social media harmful to my mental health” the most are 36 or older, 16–20 and 21–25-year olds.
In the 26–30 and 31–35 age groups, a significant portion of respondents felt neutral about the statement.
When we look at the platforms our respondents reported using, it appears that people who use TikTok among other platforms were more likely to strongly agree with the statement “I consider social media harmful to my mental health”.
Mindless scroll
When asked about mindless scrolling, a majority of 84.7% agreed they have a problem with it.
While the older age groups are more likely to disagree with the statement “I have a problem with mindless scrolling”, the percentage of people who agree they do have a problem with mindless scrolling was still over 50% even in the older age groups.
Are we addicted or are we just bored?
Among people who agreed they had a problem with mindless scrolling or were neutral about it, the main reasons cited for mindless scrolling were Procrastination (79%) followed by Boredom (64%), and Features of social media platforms (infinite scrolling, autoplay etc) (63%).
When asked if people believe that social media platform design features (such as infinite scroll & autoplay) contribute to their mindless scrolling habits, a whopping 96.1% of respondents agreed.
Summary
The Soulie Social Media Survey 2023 reveals significant insights into Gen Z and Millennial social media habits, predominantly in Europe. The data shows a high prevalence of mindless scrolling, with 85% of respondents believing they have an issue with it. A vast majority of participants attribute this behavior to procrastination and boredom, and 96.1% agree that the features of social media platforms such as autoplay & infinite scroll also significantly contribute to their mindless scrolling habit. Only 8.2% feel completely in control of their social media usage, and 64% believe their mental health is negatively impacted by it. The age groups reporting the most time spent on social media, and those struggling most with control, are the youngest surveyed.
What’s next?
In Part II, we’ll dive deeper into 5 platforms — TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. Which of those platforms leave us feeling anxious, and which ones inspire us?
In Part III, we’ll provide our point of view and an analysis of the results, along with suggestions on how we can use technology to overturn some of those trends.
Stay tuned!
Soulie is the first app that allows you to create your own personal algorithm and discover content according to your own goals & rules. Sign up to the waitlist on Soulie.io, or join our Discord server to jump the queue and get the app today.
About the survey
In May 2023, we conducted a survey to gain insight into Gen Z and Millennial attitudes towards social media.
The majority of the respondents fell into the 16–20 year old (42%) and 21–25 year old (32%) age groups, leaving the other age groups underrepresented in comparison. Thus, the results for age groups other than 16–20 and 21–25 years old may not fully represent the experiences of those age groups.
The survey was conducted via Google Forms and distributed via Soulie social media channels (TikTok, Instagram) as well as on the Soulie Discord Community and the Soulie newsletter. 73.4% of the respondents reported being part of the Soulie community or the Soulie waitlist. The Soulie Discord as well as the Soulie waitlist is often informed of the harms of social media use and mindless scrolling by sharing scientific studies and discussing the topic at length, therefore making this sample size more likely to acknowledge and be aware of their habits.
91% of the 256 respondents are from Europe, meaning these findings predominantly reflect the social media habits and perceptions of European Gen Z and Millennials. While these insights are valuable, they may not fully represent the global perspectives and experiences of these age groups.
Recommendations for next surveys:
- Distribute the survey among a wider range of participants in terms of: region of origin; level of knowledge about the harmful effects of the infinite scroll and social media; awareness of Soulie; age
