Gen Z’s negative feelings about TikTok are starting to affect their usage habits

Gen Z hasn’t yet reached its thirties, but the cohort is already feeling nostalgic for a simpler time. That’s one of the takeaways from a new Harris Poll survey, which found that TikTok‘s new features are alienating some members of Gen Z — even as they continue to use the app regularly.

Harris’ latest survey of twentysomethings’ social media habits is called “TikTok Troubles: The Platform Gen Z Can’t Quit (But Doesn’t Trust), and that title offers a basic overview of the findings. At the most basic level, Gen Z is still TikTok’s bread and butter. 65% of the respondents said that they use TikTok daily.

When you peel back the layers, Gen Z’s feelings about TikTok become more complicated. Yes, many Zoomers are still active users, but 31% said that they scroll the FYP out of habit, and 72% said the content they find has a staged or performative vibe.

“Gen Z still shows up to TikTok every day, but they’re showing up skeptical, exhausted, and nostalgic for a version of the platform that’s already gone,” said Harris Poll Chief Strategy Officer Libby Rodney in a statement. “That’s not loyalty—that’s habit. And habits break.”

The survey respondents found some TikTok developments to be particularly irksome. 41% objected to the current volume of ads and branded content, approximately one-third bemoaned the arrival of TikTok Shop, and 27% expressed nostalgia for the era when influencer culture was not as ubiquitous on TikTok as it currently is.

TikTok’s algorithmic recommendations also came under fire. 60% of Gen Z trusts the app less than they used to, and about one-third of respondents 

said they have “retrained” their algos to surface content that is more relevant to them.

When you add up all of that discontent, a clear picture emerges: A significant portion of Gen Z wishes that TikTok had never existed. A quarter of the Harris Poll respondents agreed with that take, and it’s not the first time teens and twentysomethings have expressed that opinion.

If we zoom out even further, we can see that these opinions are not limited to TikTok. Platforms like X, Snapchat, and Instagram are also viewed unfavorably by many members of Gen Z. Nearly half of the creators in that cohort are posting less.

The rise of negative social media opinions among regular users — an idea that’s backed up by recent research — has been explored in docuseries like Social Studies. Today’s teenagers are starting to understand the ills these platforms exacerbate, but they’re also unsure what their lives would look like without social media.

The solution, for many, is more time spent on YouTube. As criticisms mount for other apps, YouTube is still a favorite among teenagers, and that reputation is paying off. The Harris Poll survey found that 78% of Gen Z views YouTube favorably, and 66% of that group visits YouTube every day. Perhaps Gen Z will one day make good on its threats to depart the ecosystem that gives it so much trouble, but for now, there are still opportunities to reach the cohort across its favorite platforms.