According to a survey of 2,000 Gen Z Americans commissioned by LG Electronics and conducted by Talker Research, one in four Gen Z-ers believe social media is ruining their mental health. Gen Z respondents named Facebook (13%), TikTok (20%) and Instagram (20%) as social media apps that negatively impact 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 hear news about their friends, 66% said they use social media out of boredom, and 49% said they want to stay up to date with news. 49% of Generation Z said they feel stressed and anxious after they finish scrolling through social media.

The survey reports that Gen Z only needs to scroll through social media for 38 minutes to experience negative emotions. 51% of Gen Z surveyed said they feel bad after viewing disturbing content, 49% said they feel unproductive because they waste their time on social media, and 36% said they feel anxious because they experience FOMO (fear of missing out). 45% of Gen Z said they feel like they spend more time on social media than with their friends.

The survey results also revealed that 62% of Gen Z want to start over on social media because their feeds aren’t showing them what they want to see. 53% feel uncomfortable after using social media because their feed isn’t showing them the content they want to see. 54% of respondents said they have little to no control over what they see on their social media feeds. Only 16% of Gen Z surveyed said they feel like they have control over their social media feeds.

Watching content related to animals (48%), prank videos (34%), comedy (65%) and beauty (40%) makes Gen Z happy, according to the survey. The content that leads to negative emotions is politics (40%) and physical violence (50%). 65% of Gen Z said that seeing something good on social media turns their bad day into a good day. 70% of Gen Z respondents said they are more likely to use social media when they are feeling good and less anxious, with 44% of Gen Z believing that social media can bring something positive into their lives.

Louis Giagrande, head of US marketing at LG Electronics, said that social media is now an important part of our daily lives. If we want to feel less anxious when using social media, we need to be mindful of what we see and only engage with content that makes us happy and inspired. He also added that your engagement with a post can help you shape your feed the way you want it. If a post makes you smile, leave a like and comment on it so you can see similar content in your feed.

Read more:

• Many first-time voters of Generation Z in America are not in favor of restrictions on social media

• WhatsApp’s new tool targets spam and blocks messages from unknown accounts

• ChatGPT leads AI search traffic with 5.7 billion year-on-year, but traditional search engines outperform it