In the midst of the most technologically-dependent generation, a movement has sprouted to break away from technology and rediscover life instead of watching it pass by on a screen. Digital minimalism, or intentionally lowering your technology usage, has taken over social media feeds. This movement could change Gen-Z’s relationship with technology for good, but some signs show that it might be another short-lived trend.

  Gen-Z have been considered “digital natives” because they have been exposed to technology and social media their entire lives. Because of this, they have become reliant on technology; according to a Consumer Technology Association (CTA) study, “86% of Gen-z agree that technology is essential to their lives.”  So how does a generation that has never known a life without technology decide when to log off? Online, the push for digital minimalism has been attributed to increased awareness of mental health effects, and a changing social media environment that makes people feel more disconnected.

   However, mental health effects are not the tipping point, they’re the starting point. It is not news that social media has negative effects on mental health; studies have warned us for years about social media’s negative effects on mental health. Often, these studies link social media to low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and social media users often report being less happy. These depressive effects can increase after just 1 hour of social media usage a day. It seems that the effects became more apparent as people started spending more and more hours on social media. In 2012, the average minutes spent on social media per day was 90 minutes and by 2020, it had jumped up to 151 minutes. By 2025, this number had gone down to 141 minutes in 2025. The increased awareness drove this movement, but so did the feel of social media itself. Suddenly, people found themselves not enjoying social media like they used to.

  The changing scenery of social media can be traced back to the amount of people using it. Instagram, for example, has grown exponentially in the last 11 years from 110 million monthly active users in 2013, to 2 billion in 2024. The result of this growth is a platform that drowns out the community aspect of social media. Now, instead of seeing their best friend’s birthday post or their brother’s graduation post, users’ feeds are bombarded by influencers with brand deals and money bankrolling their promotion. 

  This change in the social media environment has largely changed the purpose of going online. Instead of being a place you go to feel connected, it’s a place people go to disconnect. Whether it’s a ‘quick scroll’ before bed or scrolling on Instagram on your lunch break instead of talking to a coworker, social media has become a socially acceptable way to unwind despite clear evidence that it does the opposite. Awareness of mental health effects combined with the manufactured disconnected environment has all led people to start ‘logging-off’ and discovering life that doesn’t revolve around a screen.

  Instead of spending hours on TikTok, people are electing to find more analog hobbies they enjoy such as knitting, reading, painting, scrapbooking, anything that brings you joy outside of a phone. This drastic shift comes with its own challenges, too. For one, people have to re-adjust their attention spans. Our brains have been conditioned by algorithms to constantly search for more dopamine and if you are dissatisfied, simply scroll away. This has significantly shortened attention spans in the past couple of decades. In 2000, the average attention span was 12 seconds. Less than 20 years later in 2013, the average attention span was only 8 seconds. That is less than a goldfish’s attention span of 9 seconds. Some people have made the decision to get rid of their phones completely and buy a ‘dumb phone’ or a flip phone. The intent is to only use a phone for its main purpose: send and receive calls, messages, and take pictures. By getting a flip phone, distractions are limited and people are less likely to give into the temptation of a ‘quick scroll’.  

  For many people, this digital minimalism movement is the push they needed to change their relationship with technology for good. However, the documenting of this movement online has discredited the movement by treating it as a short-lived trend. The digital minimalism movement started on social media, which is ironic considering that the whole idea is to get offline. Influencers often post unboxing videos of their flip phone or vlog their new hobby. Although these videos do raise awareness of the movement, many influencers have romanticized ‘logging off’ as a cute new trend. This hypocrisy has shifted digital minimalism from a genuine improvement into a trend to be ‘retro’ and ‘go back to 2016.’ Some flip phones, for example, aren’t ‘dumb phones’ at all; some even have apps like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. By having these apps, people expose themselves to the same temptations of a smart phone, the same dopamine loop, the same pattern. People who are buying for the aesthetic of ‘bringing back 2016’ and ‘going back to how things were’ are in for a rude awakening. The documenting of this movement about social media on social media serves as a reminder that things will never go back to how they were before social media. We have evolved to want to share and see what other people are doing. This craving for connection will not stop with simply lowering your screen time, but it can be altered. Instead of villainizing social media all together, more apps and algorithms need to be created that benefit real people, not brands. This movement will never take us back to 2016, but hopefully it can create a genuine change in how we use technology.