Social media use by adults from the United Kingdom has declined rapidly over the past two years. The use of AI, on the other hand, has skyrocketed as more and more people are becoming acquainted with it.
Over the past two years, posting, sharing, and commenting on social media have declined from 61% to 49%.
According to the media regulator, this drop can be explained by the fact that social media platforms are heavily focused on videos, and fewer people are willing to participate in this format compared to text-based posts. Moreover, adults feel that old posts might come back to haunt them later in life.
However, this doesn’t mean that social media has become obsolete in the UK. Social media use remains widespread, with nine in ten adult internet users (89%) using at least one social media platform.
Furthermore, the study reveals that adult users have become more acquainted with AI technology. Just over half of adults (54%) say they use AI tools compared to three in ten (31%) last year.
Three-quarters of all participants (75%) say they’ve read AI-generated search summaries when looking for information on the web. Skepticism remains, as over half of all adults (57%) say they have less trust in AI-generated answers compared to stories written by humans.
Approximately one in eight users (12%) say they use AI for conversational purposes, like talking about a romantic breakup, discussing troubles at work, or feeling less isolated. Researchers say they’re seeing signs of growing emotional reliance, a trend other scientists have also observed and studied.
“The findings in this report help us prioritize our own activity and provide context and underpinning for our work with grassroots organizations and corporates, and policymakers across the UK, as well as our continued focus on how platform design can mitigate some of the challenges that users face online,” Ofcom concludes.
These are some of the conclusions of Ofcom’s annual Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report. The survey was conducted among 7,533 adults aged 16 years and over in the UK between 29th September and 28th November 2025.
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