Japanese market research company Cross Marketing released the "2026 Social Media Awareness Survey," showing that 47.9% of respondents in their 20s reported having felt "social fatigue," with the majority citing information overload as the main reason.
This survey was conducted online in June this year, targeting men and women aged 20 to 69 across Japan, collecting a total of 3,000 valid samples.
The results show that 44.6% of respondents have thought about "wanting to keep distance or take a break" while using social media. Looking at gender, 47.5% of women had such thoughts, compared to 41.7% of men.
By age group, the proportion was highest among those in their 20s, at 47.9%; closely followed by people in their 30s at 45.6%. Among women in their 20s and 30s, this proportion exceeded half in both cases.
When the survey further asked in what situations participants felt social fatigue, the highest proportion (39.5%) answered "when there is too much information"; next was "consistently seeing the same kind of posts" at 30.3%; and "when sensing malicious comments or a tense online atmosphere" ranked third at 26.2%.
However, the situation varies slightly by age group. Among people in their 20s, the percentages of those who felt "mentally exhausted from seeing other people's posts" and "keep scrolling even though wanting to stop" were significantly higher. For people in their 30s, "can't help comparing with others" ranked among the top reasons.
The survey also showed that 43.9% of respondents have "deliberately reduced their social media usage," with this rate reaching as high as 49.5% among those in their 20s. The most cited reason for reducing usage was "feeling like it wastes time."
Additionally, regarding the appearance of AI-generated content on social media platforms, 47.6% of respondents reported having seen such content, 29.4% said they were unsure; 34.5% believe this type of content will increase in the future, while 26.2% hold negative views, finding such content hard to trust.