According to a poll of 2,000 Gen-Z Americans commissioned by LG Electronics and conducted by Talker Research, one in four Gen-Z believe that social media is ruining their mental health. The Gen-Z in the survey named Facebook (13%), TikTok (20%) and Instagram (20%) as social media apps that are negatively impacting their mental health.
When asked why they use these social media apps despite their negative effects, 59% said they want to laugh, 44% said they want to get updates about their friends, 66% said they use social media out of boredom and 49% said they want to be up-to-date with the news. 49% of the Gen-Z said that they feel stressed and anxious after they are done scrolling on social media.
The survey reports that Gen-Z only needs to scroll 38 minutes on social media to start feeling negative emotions. 51% of Gen-Z who were surveyed said that they feel bad after watching some upsetting content, 49% said they feel unproductive because they waste their time on social media and 36% said that they feel anxious because they experience FOMO (fear of missing out). 45% of Gen-Z said that they feel that they spend more time on social media than their friends.
The results of the survey also found that 62% of the Gen-Z want to start over on social media because their feeds don’t show them what they want. 53% feel anxious after using social media because their feed doesn’t have content they want to see. 54% of the respondents said that they feel little to no control over what they see on their social media feeds. Only 16% of the Gen-Z who were surveyed said that they feel control over their social media feeds.
Watching content related to animals (48%), prank videos (34%), comedy (65%) and beauty (40%) makes Gen-Z feel happy, according to the survey. The content that leads to negative emotions is politics (40%) and physical violence (50%). 65% of the Gen-Z reported that their bad day turns into a good day if they see something good on social media. 70% of the Gen-Z respondents said that they are more likely to use social media when they are feeling good and less anxious, with 44% Gen-Z believing that social media can bring some positivity to their lives.
Louis Giagrande, head of U.S. marketing at LG Electronics said that social media is an important part of our daily lives now. If we want to feel less anxious while using social media, we have to be conscious of what we see and only engage in the content that makes us feel happy and inspired. He also added that your engagement on a post can help you build your feed according to how you want. If a post makes you smile, leave a like and comment on it so you can see content similar to it on your feed.
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