Many young people are actively seeking ways to unplug from social platforms they accuse of monetising their attention, turning to a mix of software, hardware and behavioural changes to reclaim time and social interaction.
Nelissa Moukoudi, 19, a university student in Canada, described the personal toll that heavy use of Instagram and TikTok had on her everyday life. “My social life completely plummeted and it felt like my life was only [using] social media and school,” she said, explaining why she began looking for alternatives to constant scrolling.
Tools range from apps that block notifications and limit access to attention-grabbing sites to deliberately simplified phones that strip out social feeds and non-essential apps. For many in Generation Z, these measures are an attempt to undo patterns they say platforms encourage in order to increase engagement and advertising revenue.
The pushback is both practical and cultural: some users want to reduce distraction to improve study, sleep or real-world relationships, while others see changing how they use devices as a modest form of resistance against what they call the attention economy. Rather than abandoning technology entirely, the approaches aim to recalibrate how and when it is used.
Observers say the trend highlights a broader unease among younger users about the trade-offs of platform-driven social life, and suggests that demand for alternatives to mainstream social apps could shape how future products are designed. For now, many Gen Z users are experimenting with solutions they can control directly, from app settings to different hardware choices, to restore balance between online and offline life.