Mr Branding: Study Shows that the Screen Time of Gen-Z is Increasing at an Alarming Rate and It Has Some Negative Effects

Monday, January 15, 2024

Study Shows that the Screen Time of Gen-Z is Increasing at an Alarming Rate and It Has Some Negative Effects

Gen-Z uses social media so much in their lives that it has become a part of them. But this social media is also affecting their mental and physical health. Founder of Gen-z Research and Strategy Firm DCDX, Andrew Roth, says that humans these days are looking for connectivity and that’s why they spend most of their time online. This has resulted in them interacting less with their friends and that’s the reason they have started feeling hopelessness and sadness, especially Gen-Z. DCDX also shared an annual screen time report of Gen-Z and there’s a rise seen in it. From last year, the screen time has increased up to 9% and the average number of hours spent on screen daily is 7 among Gen-Z.

Andrew said that he was expecting to see less screen time as compared to 2022 because this year many Gen-Z have gone to school/colleage, started working and have been forming real life connections since lockdown. But the report was not what he expected and the biggest culprit for this high screen time among Gen-Z was TikTok. This was proven by 157 screen recordings of the iPhone that Gen-Z sent to DCDX where it was noted that young people used TikTok 9 hours on average. There was a 50% increase from 2022 in TikTok screen time. Instagram is the second most used app while the rest of the apps saw a decline in Gen-Z screen time. The biggest decline was of Snapchat screen time with 29%. Gen-Z considers it an old app and there are chances that it will see more decline in 2024.

Facebook has also seen a decline but not as much as expected. Older Gen-Z, especially females, seem to like using it. Twitter/X also saw a decline after Elon Musk took over it. The study also showed the females Gen-Z spend more time on social media than males. The apps that Gen-Z females use are TikTok, Instagram and Messages while Gen-Z males use YouTube more. Limiting Gen-Z’s screen time somehow can be the solution to the high percentages of screen time but it’s going to have some hard resistance.