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.