The number sounds absurd at first. Almost 50% of people aged 18 to 29 say: “Yes, I’d rather live without the internet.” This isn’t about hating cat videos on TikTok or not knowing how to Google. It’s about online life no longer being just background noise—it’s become a weight pressing down on your shoulders every single day. And the most fascinating part: those who live in it the most are the first to feel that pressure.

How the Brain Reacts to an Endless Stream

Picture your brain as a small office worker handling emails. When there are just a few, they sort them calmly, reply, sip coffee. But when thousands arrive per minute—spam, urgent, important, funny, scary—they drown. In psychology, this is called cognitive overload. A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (2018) showed that when a person juggles more than 7–9 “chunks” of information at once, their decision-making ability drops by 40%. Social media? That’s thousands of chunks per hour.

Then there’s the Zeigarnik effect. Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik noticed in 1927 that we remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are machines for unfinished business. Every post, every video ends on a cliffhanger: “What’s next?” The brain can’t “close the tab” and keeps spinning it in the background. The result? A constant feeling that you’re missing something. It’s FOMO on steroids.

Comparison That Silently Kills

We used to compare ourselves to the neighbor who bought a new car. Now it’s thousands of perfect lives, carefully filtered. Psychologist Leon Festinger formulated the social comparison theory in 1954: we evaluate ourselves by looking at others. Upward comparison (with those “better”) can motivate. Constant upward comparison destroys.

A study by the Royal Society for Public Health (2017) surveyed 1,500 UK teens. Instagram ranked #1 for harmful impact on mental health. Why? Every post is a mini-ad for a perfect life. And the brain isn’t stupid: it sees 100 perfect bodies and concludes—“I’m not enough.” This activates the inner critic, whispering: “You’re not attractive/successful/happy enough.”

Dopamine Rollercoaster

Every like is a micro-dose of dopamine—the same hormone released when you eat chocolate or win the lottery. But on social media, it’s not once a day—it’s every 5–10 minutes. Stanford psychologist Anna Lembke, in her book Dopamine Nation (2021), explains: when dopamine drips too frequently, the brain downregulates receptors. Result? You need more and more stimuli just to feel anything. It’s addiction, only legal and in your pocket.

And when the stimuli stop (you log off), dopamine hunger kicks in. You feel empty, irritable, like you’ve lost something. This explains why it’s so hard to just turn off your phone for an hour.

What the Numbers Say

• Pew Research Center (2024): 46% of Gen Z say the internet does more harm than good to their mental health.
• Ditch the Label (2024): 7 in 10 teens experience anxiety from social media. 41% have deleted accounts at least once to “take a break.”
• American Psychological Association (APA, 2023): The average teen spends 7+ hours a day in front of screens. Each extra hour increases the risk of depressive symptoms by 8%.

Real-Life Observations

I watched a 22-year-old woman delete Instagram for a month. The first three days—panic: “What if someone messages? What if I miss something important?” By day five—silence. By day ten—she slept 9 hours for the first time in a year. By day thirty—she said: “I didn’t know I could just sit and do nothing, and it’s okay.”

This isn’t about the internet being evil. It’s about the line between “using” and “living in it” disappearing. And when you live in it, you’re no longer yourself.

How to Regain Control (Without Radical Steps)

• The 20–20–20 Rule. Every 20 minutes—look 20 seconds at something 20 meters away. Relieves eye strain and gives the brain a break.
• Grayscale Screens. Turn your phone to black-and-white mode. Colors are the hook. Without them, the brain clings less.
• Digital Sabbath. One day a week—no phone. Not “I’ll try,” but “I’ll turn it off.” The first times are hard. Then it feels like a vacation.
• Dopamine Fasting. 2 hours in the evening—no screens. Just a book, a walk, a conversation. The brain reboots.

Epilogue: A World Without the Internet Isn’t Fantasy

Maybe we won’t go back to the ’90s. But we can reclaim evenings when you don’t have to “be online.” When you can just sit on a bench and watch leaves fall. No likes. No notifications. Just you and the world.

And if nearly half of young people already feel this—maybe it’s not rebellion. It’s just common sense waking up.

Sources for Those Who Want to Dig Deeper

• Pew Research Center. (2024). Young People and Digital Life.
• Ditch the Label. (2024). Social Media and Mental Health Survey.
• Lembke, A. (2021). Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.
• Royal Society for Public Health. (2017). #StatusOfMind: Social Media and Young People’s Mental Health.