We seem to have reached the peak of social media. Where these platforms once symbolised connection and visibility, they now seem to be losing their appeal. According to an analysis by research firm GWI, conducted for the Financial Times and described by journalist John Burn-Murdoch, time spent on social media worldwide peaked in 2022. The study, based on the online habits of 250,000 adults across more than 50 countries, shows that usage has since fallen by almost 10%. Strikingly, it is young people who are leading this decline; the generation that once made social media big now seems to be the first to grow tired of it.

Over the past decade, social media has evolved from platforms where people kept in touch with friends and family to digital environments that feel less and less human. The introduction of AI-generated short videos by companies such as Meta and OpenAI symbolises this transformation. The internet is becoming increasingly filled with what he calls ‘ultra-edited content’, dopamine-rich, superficial images that have little informative or social value. While this content feeds users’ primary incentives, it simultaneously undermines the original promise of connection that could be found on social media.

The figures from the study show that the social dimension of social media is rapidly disappearing. The proportion of people who use platforms to stay in touch with friends, express themselves or meet new people has declined by more than a quarter since 2014. At the same time, the number of users who open the apps simply to ‘kill time’ is increasing. This represents a clear shift: from conscious to mindless use, from social to anti-social behaviour.

The term ‘enshittification’, conceived by writer Cory Doctorow, is used to describe the current state of social media. In this phase, platforms do everything they can to gain as much screen time as possible, at the expense of quality, humanity and meaning. According to him, many apps are no longer ‘social’ applications, but systems designed purely to maximise attention.

Yet this development also has a positive side. The fact that people are spending less time online may indicate that the spell of the endless feed has finally been broken. The experience seems to be that users are stepping back from their digital lives and spending their time more consciously. It marks a healthy shift: away from superficial online stimuli, back to real interaction and meaningful relationships in everyday life.

However, there is one notable exception to this global trend: North America. There, social media use continues to increase, fuelled by a constant stream of extreme opinions, engagement bait and sensationalist content. In 2024, the average time Americans spent on social media was 15 per cent higher than in Europe.

Although the debate about the harmfulness of social media continues, Burn-Murdoch points out that this discussion often misses the heart of the problem: the platforms have simply changed. Where they were once spaces for connection, they have become places of isolation and distraction. According to him, the strongest indication of harm is not to be found in the content itself, but in the time people lose to interactions that add nothing. 

The decline in time spent on social media after 2022 is a correction from pandemic overuse; however, the author also suggests a deeper cultural shift, as users are growing disillusioned with what social media has become. Even though billions still use social media, we’re doing so less enthusiastically, for shorter times, and often with growing resentment. This raises the question: how can your brand contribute to more meaningful time spent online? Platforms are no longer about people; they’re about attention and monetization. This opens up opportunities. How might we build or use digital spaces where people feel seen, where they can interact with people they know, become participants instead of passive spectators, and build knowledge and grow skills instead of consuming dopamine-dense, negligible information that is at worst corrosively negative?