The truth is out: About half of Gen Z wishes TikTok (47%) and X (50%) didn’t exist. That’s despite—or maybe because of—spending four hours a day on social media, as more than half of respondents to a new survey say is their norm.
The findings, from a nationally representative poll of 1,006 Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and the Harris Poll, offer a sobering snapshot of how young adults are grappling with the addictive nature of smartphones and social media.
Think of any other social activity invention - is there any other invention where the primary users wish it didn’t exist (illegal drugs excluded)?
Personally, as a optimistic, glass-half-full sort of person, I am record previously stating that social media had a net positive impact, even twitter. As a member of Gen X, I no longer believe that. On a macro level, we probably would be better off today if some of those were never invented.
I was stunned to see that the average Gen Z person spends 5 hours a day on social media. (That doesn’t include texting on phones which many people do massively.)
Imagine what productive use of that time would bring to society.
Wendy
I agree and to the extent that many of these hours are during “educational” time periods - in class, in the midst of homework, etc. it is worrisome how much these people are actually learning. Many studies have shown that multi-tasking does not really exist, either. We know that texting while driving is especially risky, but spending time on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can be more absorbing at times.
I was always taken aback at younger coworkers having to drop whatever we were in the middle of, to read and respond to a text. The text was always something trivial, not important. But it was something they could not ignore. When we worked on something that had the potential to be dangerous, I’d get them to agree to leave the phones in the work truck, or somewhere that they couldn’t be seen or heard.
Remember being in training classes, and half the students were on their phones constantly. And when it came time to do hands-on training based on the lecture we had just supposedly listened to, they were completely lost. Multi-tasking does not work for everybody I’ve ever seen trying to do it, including myself. Smart phones are probably the biggest time waster in the workplace.
The 3 nephews age 23, 24, and 28 have two different approaches.
The 28 year old is MIT computer science. He won’t talk to people. He won’t communicate or anything. He has work as his sole priority. He is ultra productive. His grandfather told me, he contacted the grandson in late May. In early July the grandson got back to him.
The 23 and 24 year olds are well rounded and have large social lives that are daily. The 28 year old has a large MIT based social life and a serious girlfriend.
The two younger guys break into two camps.
The 24 year old is managing music acts in Nashville. He is nonstop with people.
The 23 year is raising worms on a Wisconsin farm. He texts but not to an extreme.
Both of the young ones will test my game. Their priorities are divided.
If you were in an office with only singular priorities for everyone nothing would get done. People would not communicate.
If you were in an office with divided priorities only nothing would get done. People are far less productive.
Nothing new under the sun department. Some decades ago, the head of my department discovered the department had an entertainment budget. She decided the budget would be spent entertaining the members of the department, so we all went on a hot air balloon excursion.
After the balloon ride, we had cocktails and talk. Then, someone turned on the TV in the room. “Survivor” was on. Half the people in the department immediately ran to the TV and stood transfixed by the lights in the box.
But now they carry a computer and tv in their hand. The temptation to look at the device is exactly the temptation that some people have toward a TV being on in the corner, but the smart phone is ALWAYS with them. They take it in the bathroom, they take it to bed at night, they are virtually ( no pun intended ) tethered to it.
When I worked, I had 2 groups in my contact list: the really important and the it can wait. Plus the not in my contact list. Each had their own ringtone and text tone. Since my really important list only contained 2 entries, I pretty much knew that by default, everything could wait. But, when one of those 2 entries contacted me, yes, stopped what ever was going on unless it was literally a life and death situation for someone.
Every other day I am telling a Z that our bosses humor is boomer humor. They then excuse her. LOL I say we were rougher in our days. I know it does not play well with younger people. They shrug and let it go.
I think Boomers have their heads up their behinds on the economy and the environment. We did everything in the name of “me”. Cant get much more into group stupidity.
Last time I studied this months ago, our numbers are not diminished because of immigrants that are boomers coming to the US years ago. In other words are ranks have been refilled.
