In the late 19th century, before the invention of cinema and radio, every piece of music, performance, speech – even a natural sight like a rainbow – was a unique event. Unattainable. Cinema and radio changed this, leading to massive changes in the way we consume popular culture. Many of the world's leading media companies were founded at the same time by people with a persistent sense of fear about new media. This resulted in an unprecedented lack of restraint – he didn't think he needed it. This was the future, and it was making them rich. More was clearly better.
Film and radio will eventually be merged Television– Creating even greater detachment from performance at its core by replacing human connection with strategic dopamine sparks. Of course people got used to it: more enthusiasm and no effort equals a better future. When streaming became ubiquitous on personal devices, even greater future profitability merged with the law of diminishing returns – crushed empathy, heightened anxiety and social inadequacy all became core to the human experience.
This has ultimately resulted in a general societal malaise, and I think 2025 will be the moment where certain aspects of society begin to systematically disconnect from their screen-based addictions. I predict that the leaders of this change will be Gen Z digital natives for whom the simplicity of technology-free exchange will hold as much novelty as its original technological advancements.
Gen Z—currently between the ages of 13 and 27—are the people most affected by digital addiction. After all, they were born after the invention of the Internet. Their primary way of understanding the world has been digital from the beginning. Real agency—relationships with other human beings—is largely unavailable to school work, coaching, and guidance. Even the informational mundanity of navigating normal life has been reduced to apps: screen dominance has become institutionalized with all the restrictions and no learned experience to survive them.
Except their instincts. It is this trend of Gen Z that is beginning to develop into a major force for change in modern society. How things cost – a big issue for everyone – depends on how Gen Z views its priorities. They are choosing user-generated content instead of expensive new media. They are looking for long-term meaning from experiences above the short-term satisfaction of materialism. recently US Gallup PollMore than 50 percent of respondents indicated they did not trust tech companies, the government, or the justice system.
Gen Z is adopting it too underconsumption-Maintaining and influencing trends, questioning the values brought about by awe-inspiring media, and increasing the demand for a The life-work balance that would have terrified generations before themAll these are positive for important developments for the society.
So, in 2025, I believe the next step for Gen Z will be to embrace the simplicity of tech-free human interactions – events without the mediation of constantly cluttering screens. It is a shock of the new, a novelty that is as original as the film itself in its infancy. It's scary, certain—unexpected—a real change in the digital life they/we dominate. But it's human and dimensional and full of things we can't find online. This is what is at the chaotic core of who we are as humans, and for all those reasons I believe we will see the virtues of screen retraction begin to be celebrated, with Gen Z leading the way.