The Great Digital Escape
What does that mean for the brands trying to reach them?
You open Instagram. You close Instagram. You reopen Instagram out of habit. Five minutes later you are deep in a comment thread about something you did not care about ten minutes ago.
That loop is starting to wear thin.
As feeds get louder and the news cycle moves at breakneck speed, consumers are reassessing their relationship with the digital world. Platforms that once felt fun and connective are now associated with fatigue and overload. The vibe has shifted.
In a recent nationally representative study of 400 people, Ideally set out to understand how Australians are navigating this shift. What we found points to something more than a passing trend.
Among 18 to 34 year olds, the numbers are even starker: 32% have deleted social media apps, 22% have installed screen time blockers, and 9% have bought a dumb phone. Searches for the iPod Classic and Nano are up 25% and 20% year on year. Downloads of Brick, the app that blocks other apps, jumped around 600% in January.
Friction, it turns out, is becoming desirable.
What are people escaping from?
Financial stress tops the list at 33%, followed closely by relief from their own thoughts or anxiety at 31%. News and global events sit at 25%. The pressure is both economic and internal.
Where are people going instead?
The most common ways Australians disconnect: watching TV (52%), exercising (40%), spending time in nature (33%), and catching up with friends and family (31%).
41% of Australians report seeking more offline or analogue experiences in the past year. Among Gen Z, that figure rises to 57%. Reading, IRL experiences, nature. The analogue revival is real, and it is being led by the generation brands have spent the most time trying to reach digitally.
What this means for brands
This is not an argument to abandon digital. Television, streaming, and digital channels still dominate how Australians spend time. But it is an argument for how brands show up within them.
Consumers are not just fatigued by volume. They are fatigued by irrelevance. Content that feels interruptive, passive, or disconnected from what they actually want is being tuned out faster than ever.
