Internet regret is rising. Nearly 50% of Gen Z would choose a world without it, as social media use increasingly harms mental health and fosters unsafe online behavior.
Nearly half of 16 to 21-year-olds in the UK say they’d rather live without the internet and wish that it never existed, signalling a deep disillusionment with digital life.
A whopping 70% also responded that they feel worse after using social media, reinforcing the already palpable concerns about its effect on self-esteem and mental health.
The survey was carried out by the British Standards Association, who questioned 1293 people, as a litmus test on Generation Z’s reflections on how they spend their time online.
Half of the respondents also reported that they would support a digital curfew, which would come in the form of a 10 p.m. cut-off for addictive apps like TikTok and Instagram.
Pretty much everyone knows that setting boundaries works when faced with an addiction – the tricky thing is implementing them.
Perilous findings about risky behavior
The survey also revealed the surreptitious nature of online behavior that often slips beneath the radar.
42% of respondents divulged that they had lied about their age online, while 40% admitted they had used a “burner” account – meaning fake or duplicitous.
Among that duplicity, 27% have pretended to be someone else – suggesting a sense of identity crisis, or a habit of masking vulnerability online.
Alarmingly, over a quarter of respondents disclosed that they have shared their location online with strangers/
Internet regret is rising
Many see the pandemic as a root cause of their digital dependency, with 70% of participants acknowledging that their well-being has suffered as a result.
These statistics may not be surprising, but reveal the issue at heart for the UK government and its policymakers, who are considering implementing a digital curfew for under 16s as law.
Child safety advocates say that curfews alone won’t help the situation, and that platforms overall have to be designed more safely, so as not to expose children to questionable content.
The bigger picture seems to be a call for structural change, but this time not just from parents and schools, but from the younger generation themselves.
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