Report: More than half of young people are reducing their use of social media

199IT original compilation

While young people are often thought to be obsessed with social media, new data suggests many are temporarily or even permanently ditching their news feeds.

According to a December 2017 survey by Origin, Hill Holliday’s internal research agency, more than half of young adults aged 18 to 24 said they were “reducing their social media use.”

Still others have deleted their social accounts entirely. In fact, 34% of young people surveyed said they have done so. But others haven’t taken such drastic steps.

About two-thirds of young adult social media users say they have taken a break from a social platform, meaning they haven’t deleted their account but have stopped using it for a while and may eventually return to it.

The rise of social media has fostered a culture where people strive for “likes.” What drives this behavior may be different for everyone, but many people worry that it is a waste of time, while other respondents believe that social platforms have many negative aspects.

Disinterest in content and platform commercialization is also one of the reasons people are leaving social media. Many users said they were unhappy with the social media giant Facebook because of cyberbullying from other users, irrelevant content provided by the news feed, and promotional ads.

These issues aren’t limited to Facebook. Young people are more likely to pause or delete their Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter accounts than they are to Tinder, Pinterest or LinkedIn.

Hill Holliday's survey is just one study of young Internet users' sentiment toward social media, and not everyone is considering giving up social networks completely.