Posting Zero: When Social Media Goes Quiet

Scroll through your social media feed, and it’s likely packed with sponsored posts and picture-perfect lives, not updates from people you actually know. Real updates from friends have quietly slipped into the background, to the point where you barely notice they’re missing. That change ties into what’s now known as “Posting Zero”, a trend where many users, especially Gen Z, keep scrolling but stop sharing. In contrast to the early days of social media, staying silent has become its own form of expression.

Posting Zero doesn’t necessarily mean logging off. Many users continue to browse, doomscroll, follow trends, like posts, or occasionally upload a story. What’s missing is the public feed. Profiles remain untouched for months, sometimes years, as users opt out of constant self-display. An analysis of the online habits of 250,000 adults in more than 50 countries carried out for the Financial Times by a digital audience insights company concluded that social media usage has fallen by as much as 10 per cent. The decline is led by young people: the generation that made the internet its extension is now growing increasingly tired of it.

The shift has been building for years. Social media, once casual and fun, has grown intensely performative, less about connection and more about branding. In a recent essay for the New Yorker, writer Kyle Chayka suggested that society might be headed towards what he calls "posting zero": a point where regular people feel that it's not worth it to share their lives online.

For Gen Z, public posting feels exposed, over-analysed and exhausting. One post can trigger a spiral of second-guessing: likes, captions, angles, and who viewed it. It’s a mental load few are willing to carry anymore. Burnout plays a major role. Posting increasingly feels like unpaid labour, dictated by ever-changing algorithms. Even passive scrolling brings its own fatigue; ads, AI-generated content, and comment sections clogged with bots often drown out genuine interaction.

If Posting Zero continues to grow, platforms may face a deeper identity shift. Social media could become more polished and impersonal, dominated by curated content and brand-friendly posts, while everyday, spontaneous updates quietly disappear. For many users, staying silent is a form of resistance. In an algorithm-driven online world, choosing not to post—or choosing to leave altogether—has become a way to take back control.