DIGITAL LIFE

How Gen Z is challenging the power Big Tech holds over their time and lives

After years of using digital platforms, Gen Z is questioning the impact that Big Tech, social media, and technology have on their lives. This movement—which also encompasses an aversion to artificial intelligence—is paving the way for the creation of apps and devices designed to help users reclaim their time and their lives.

Nelissa Moukoudi, a 19-year-old university student in Canada, noticed a decline in her quality of life after she began using Instagram and TikTok. “My social life completely collapsed, and it felt like all I did was use social media and study,” she told *The Guardian*. She decided to download Opal, an app that requires users to solve math problems before they can reopen distracting applications—a method she found effective for resisting the "infinite scroll."

The app is part of a growing number of products that attract users with the promise of keeping them away from their devices. The sector is currently valued at nearly $1 billion, with estimates suggesting it could reach nearly $8 billion by 2035.

Many of these companies hope to capitalize on the very fatigue that Gen Z feels toward the devices and social media platforms they grew up with. In a global survey conducted in April, nearly 60% of Gen Z respondents reported being addicted to social media.

This shift has also been driven by growing dissatisfaction with tech platforms, which has left some members of Gen Z feeling exploited for the sake of corporate profit.

Gen Z “has basically been optimized for dopamine by very intelligent systems,” says 39-year-old Kenneth Schlenker, a former product marketing professional at Google and co-founder of Opal. “But this generation is also realizing what it doesn’t want, and is attempting to change the way the system affects it.”

Kendall Schrohe, 23, a co-founder of Attention Studio—a consultancy that advises parents and policymakers on the responsible use of technology—echoes this sentiment. “These big tech companies have been harming people for years, and only now are we feeling the impacts,” she told *The Guardian*. “Our generation was used as a guinea pig by big tech companies, which profited from our suffering and our addiction to these apps,” said Schrohe, who swapped her smartphone for a “Light Phone”—a device with limited features compared to a conventional mobile phone.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Shreya Nallamothu, a computer science student at Duke University, created her own DIY version of “Brick,” a device that blocks specific apps. To do this, she used Near-Field Communication (NFC) tags purchased online.

“Everyone deserves to have a healthy relationship with technology, and that shouldn’t be cost-prohibitive,” Nallamothu stated. “Often, the interests of tech companies don’t align with those of their users. Social media has strayed from what good technology can offer, and people have caught on to that.”

A return to in-person interaction...New apps focused on in-person events are also looking to capitalize on this shift away from social media. “Pie” (short for “People I Enjoy”)—an app that highlights local events, such as pop-up parties at bars, 5K runs, or group outings to concerts—saw 150% growth in just one month, jumping from 120,000 users in July to 300,000 in August.

Co-founder Nadya Okamoto describes Pie as an “active” social network, centered on face-to-face gatherings. “I think of social media as a passive consumption of content, but Pie is different,” said Okamoto. “Users are actively making connections and expanding their social circles.”

The prices for these digital detox apps vary. An Opal subscription costs $99.99 per year. Brick—a physical device that users place near their phone to lock and unlock apps—costs $59. Shift, an app that promises to turn a smartphone into a basic, stripped-down phone capable only of making calls or sending text messages, charges a one-time fee of $150.

Like about 95% of Opal’s 10 million users—75% of whom belong to Gen Z—Moukoudi says she uses the free version. “I’m not going to pay for an app just to get my life back,” the student said.

For some, simply deleting the apps is enough. 26-year-old Han Choi removed all social media from his phone last year to devote more time to trivia nights and physical exercise. “People are rejecting systems created by those who have a financial interest in our submission,” he told The Guardian. “An economy based on the endless scrolling of negative news is not something we need to keep participating in.”

The Great Unplugging is more than just a place; it’s an ethos made tangible. Attendees trade their smartphones for flip phones (if they bring any mobile device at all) and their digital profiles for face-to-face introductions. Workshops abound, teaching practical skills long since outsourced to apps: basic electronics repair, permaculture gardening, knot tying, sourdough baking, even rudimentary coding for open-source, privacy-focused software.

Panel discussions, often held around a crackling bonfire, dissect everything from the ethics of generative AI ai to the economics of data harvesting. Leading voices from academic philosophy, independent journalism, and ethical tech advocacy share stages with young activists. The conversations are vibrant, often challenging, but always rooted in a shared desire for a more human-centric technological future.

Art installations critique surveillance and corporate control. One piece features a towering sculpture made from discarded electronics, each component embedded with a tiny, blinking eye, silently watching. Another projects anonymous data streams onto natural canvases, starkly illustrating the invisible information flows that define modern life.

Food is locally sourced, communal meals foster genuine interaction, and evenings often end with storytelling or live, unplugged music. It’s an intentional effort to create an environment where the default is human interaction and self-reliance, rather than algorithmic distraction and corporate dependence. The goal isn’t just to disconnect, but to reconnect – with nature, with community, and with oneself.

Beyond the Bonfire: What’s the Real Impact? Is The Great Unplugging merely a niche counter-cultural event, a fleeting trend for privileged few seeking a digital detox? Or is it a canary in the coal mine, signaling a broader societal shift? The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between.

The practicalities of a full-scale return to a pre-digital existence are, for most, untenable. Our lives are too deeply intertwined with digital infrastructure. From banking to healthcare, communication to transportation, technology is embedded. The festival attendees, while critical, are not advocating for the wholesale dismantling of the internet. Instead, they’re advocating for conscious consumption, for ethical design, for regulatory oversight, and for the development of alternative, decentralized technologies that prioritize user agency and privacy.

This movement aligns with a growing global awareness of digital well-being. Organizations like the World Health Organization are increasingly recognizing the impact of screen time and social media on mental health, particularly in younger demographics. WHO on Digital Health The demand for “slow tech,” for devices and platforms designed for mindfulness rather than addiction, is on the rise. We’re seeing more apps designed to limit screen time, more hardware companies focusing on privacy-centric devices, and a burgeoning interest in digital minimalism.

The most significant impact of festivals like The Great Unplugging may not be in converting millions to an off-grid lifestyle, but in shaping the discourse. They are powerful symbolic statements, demanding that Big Tech acknowledge the human cost of their innovations. They force us to ask critical questions: Is perpetual growth at any cost truly sustainable? Are the benefits of hyper-connectivity outweighing the drawbacks? Who truly owns our data, and what are the implications of that ownership?

Despite being the first generation raised entirely in an environment of algorithmic feeds, Generation Z is actively challenging the power of Big Tech by orchestrating a massive cultural shift toward "digital minimalism," reclaiming their offline time, and pushing back against AI automation. Rather than remaining passive consumers, young people are increasingly viewing constant connectivity not as a status symbol, but as an exploitative contract that trades their mental health for corporate profit.

1. Trading smartphones for "Dumbphones"...A growing subset of Gen Z is intentionally downgrading their hardware to break the dopamine loop of endless scrolling.

• Feature phones: Young people are spending hundreds of dollars on minimalist devices like the Light Phone or old-school flip phones that only handle calls and texts.

• Physical app blockers: Rather than relying on software, they use physical tools like Brick, which utilizes custom NFC tags to strictly lock distracting social media applications.

• The "work phone" Split: Professionals in this age group are increasingly using smartphones strictly for standard working hours, turning them off completely during personal time.

2. The rise of radical offline communities...Disengagement has evolved from an isolated choice into an organized social movement.

• The luddite club: Founded by New York City teenagers, groups like the Luddite Club gather weekly in public parks to sit in silence, read paper books, sketch, and log off completely.

• In-person social apps: Gen Z is migrating away from passive algorithmic scrolling toward utility apps like Pie that serve only one purpose: coordinating localized, face-to-face meetups.

• Analog Hobbies: Puzzles, knitting, journaling, vinyl records, and physical books are surging in popularity as young adults seek tactile experiences untouched by screens.

3. Executing "the great unfollow"...Gen Z is actively breaking the social contract of constant online performance.

• App deletions: Global market surveys highlight that up to a third of Gen Z consumers deleted at least one major social media app over the past year.

• Declining screen time: Average daily social media consumption has seen a steady, double-digit decline among teenagers and individuals in their twenties.

• Utility-focused communication: When they do use platforms like Instagram or Snapchat, it is primarily as direct messaging utilities to talk to close friends, entirely bypassing the main algorithmic discovery feeds.

4. Active resistance against algorithmic AI...The pushback has expanded from social media to the rapid rollouts of corporate AI.

• Demanding accountability: Student organizers, such as campus chapters of PauseAI US, are lobbying lawmakers to halt frontier AI developments and protect data privacy.

• Protesting infrastructure: Local youth coalitions are successfully blocking massive, resource-heavy data center projects due to their massive environmental footprints.

• Protecting authenticity: Gen Z heavily rejects AI-generated content, fake influencers, and automated writing because it directly undermines the online authenticity they highly value

by mundophone