New Survey: Gen Z’s Attention Rebellion
A revolt against today’s all-consuming attention economy is quietly gathering force, especially among young adults.
In a must-listen January interview with Chris Hayes on the state of the contemporary attention environment, Ezra Klein predicted a “true backlash” born of sheer exhaustion with an information ecosystem that he warns is “corrod[ing] our souls”:
“I think we are ready, or very near ready… for true backlash… People [don’t] like the structure and feeling of political attention… At some point, you are going to see a candidate… run against all of it — that society and modernity and politics shouldn’t feel like this.”
Klein’s intuition is already visible. Critiques of the social media-driven attention environment now come from every corner of the political spectrum, and a growing number of Americans are experimenting with various forms and degrees of digital asceticism — redefining, restricting, or outright abandoning their feeds and phones.
To map this mood, Civic Attention conducted a survey with YouGov in late February and early March 2025.1 Our national survey explored how Americans think social media influences their lives and our society, with a special lens on the attitudes and perspectives of young adults aged 18–29 — the first generation whose civic identities have been forged entirely online.
Here’s what we found.
Addiction to social media is felt most acutely by young people.
Young adults are significantly more likely to be negatively impacted by social media:
Three in ten (30%) young adults self-report being addicted to the platforms by strongly or somewhat agreeing with the statement “I am addicted to social media,” compared to 21% of the general population.
Two in three (65%) young adults report spending 3+ hours on social media per day, compared to 45% of the general population.
Seven in ten (71%) young adults believe social media platforms’ primary goal is to addict them to scrolling, compared to 61% of the general population.
Americans of all backgrounds and age groups are concerned about the effects of social media.
Across age, political identity, family income, education, and race, Americans expressed deep concern about the platforms and their impact on individuals and society:
Two in three (65%) respondents somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement “the impact of social media on individuals and society is one of the most important issues of the 21st century.”
Seven in ten (70%) respondents agreed that social media platforms have too much influence over society’s beliefs and political opinions.
Nearly three in five (57%) respondents believe their friends or family have fallen for propaganda or other intentionally misleading information on social media.
Majorities of young adults actively want to build better relationships with social media.
While Americans of all age groups want more control of their experience online, young adults are dramatically more likely to show interest in changing how they engage with the platforms:
Nearly seven in ten (68%) respondents said that, if given the choice, they would adjust the settings of their algorithms on social media to have more control over the content they are shown.
Two in three (65%) young adults said social media is essential for them to stay connected and informed, compared to 48% of the general population.
More than three in five (62%) young adults expressed interest in learning how to build better habits around their social media usage, compared to 42% of the general population.
Three in five (59%) young adults expressed interest in learning more about the addictive and manipulative tactics of social media platforms and their algorithms, compared to 47% of the general population.
Towards a new attentional equilibrium
Our survey findings suggest that Ezra Klein might be onto something.
Across demographic groups and political identities, Americans are clear-eyed and skeptical of the powerful role social media platforms play in our society. They are certainly under no illusions when it comes to the nature and extent of the platforms’ influence on their communities and our democracy. Yet because these platforms remain vital for connection and information, the path forward is not blanket abandonment of the digital world but empowerment: giving people more agency and authority over when, why, and how they log on — and what they see when they do.
Nowhere is this call for a rebalancing of the attentional scales more urgent or in-demand than among the 18-29 year-old respondents in our survey. Young adults feel the grip of digital addiction most intensely, depend on social media for news and community most heavily, and voice the loudest call for healthier and more deliberate online habits. As we have argued before, the answer to the challenge posed by modern social media must be a pragmatic middle way between the polar extremes of “Onlineism” (the status quo for far too many of us) and “Offlineism.” In the quest to achieve a healthier attentional equilibrium, young people are likely to lead the way.
In short, a new generation is rallying for a sweeping cultural movement to wrest agency back from the all-consuming “Simulation” that is modern social media and learn to live better with the technology that has come to dominate our lives. The moment is ripe and the only question is what form that movement will take.
For more information, check out our full survey memo and view toplines and crosstabs here.
Our survey of 1,653 U.S. adults was administered via YouGov’s online panel from 2/27/25-3/3/25. Results have been weighted to reflect the national adult population. MOE ±2.7%.