It’s easy to assume social media is losing its grip, but young people are still spending hours a day on it, just in more intentional ways. For all the talk of social media fatigue, young people aren’t logging off just yet, but feeds are looking different and the way they’re posting has shifted. The line between public and private profiles is blurrier than ever with “spam” accounts. And though headlines love to focus on the death of social media with Gen Z flocking to old flip phones (which we know is not happening), most young people still see social media as a positive force in their lives—even as they rethink where, how, and who they share with.
In YPulse’s 2026 Social Media Behavior Report, we unpack how social media behavior is evolving, from teens and college students fully in their creator era to young adults becoming more selective (and more critical), and what it means for brands trying to keep up.
Report length: 20 pages, North America report is based on surveys of 1500 13-39-year-olds in the U.S. and Canada, fielded February 2026. Western Europe report is based on a survey of 2500 13-39-year-olds in the U.K., Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, fielded in February 2026
