Sign up for our newsletter: “From A to Gen Z.” This biweekly email will put the biggest headlines about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context to help readers better understand these key generations.
Welcome to Morning Consult’s From A to Gen Z newsletter. We put the headlines you’re reading about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context with our high-frequency survey data to help you better understand exactly how and why they’re spending their time and dollars.
Today, we’re taking a wide-lens look at how young people are using—and feeling about—everything the internet has to offer in 2025, from standard social media fare to artificial intelligence-generated summaries.
Also, a quick programming note: We’ll be taking the week of Labor Day off, but will be back in your inbox with hot and fresh data in mid-September.
🛏️📲 The bed rot lot 🛏️📲
One of the high-level trends that’s bubbled up across all kinds of Morning Consult datasets in recent months and years is a shift in consumers’ primary mode of engagement with the internet. On the whole, it’s moving from active to passive, and it’s resulting in several in-real-life impacts, like the rise of “bed rotting.”
Bed rotting is a Gen Z-native term that describes staying in bed for an extended amount of time and doing only low-energy activities like scrolling on social media or streaming movies. In a recent survey, roughly half of Zoomers (49%) said they bed rot “often” or “sometimes,” and 2 in 5 millennials (41%) said the same.
This penchant for staying in and scrolling is most definitely a driving force behind Gen Zers’ ongoing relationship problems: My latest report on the evolving American social life found that members of the young cohort report struggling to meet new people and make meaningful connections much more than the average U.S. adult.
▶️ Our full archive of research and analysis on consumers’ internet habits can be found here.
🔍🧑💻 Generations for generative AI 🔍🧑💻
A newer online experience that young people are very likely adding into their bed rot rotation is the reading of AI-generated search summaries, which were first introduced by many search engines, including Google and Bing, last year.
When asked to consider their typical online search, pluralities of Gen Z adults (33%) and millennials (32%) said they refer to an AI-generated summary as often as they scroll down to the standard results page. Twenty-five percent and 19%, respectively, said they “usually refer to an AI summary, but sometimes scroll further down,” and another roughly 1 in 10 members of each group said they “always only” refer to an AI summary.
This means AI summaries — when they are provided — are now a major part of the internet search process for young people.
In a separate question, close to half of U.S. adults (44%) said they consult AI-generated summaries while conducting online searches “much” or “somewhat” more often than they did a year ago, and this figure was even higher among Gen Z adults (55%) and millennials (57%). The latter, in particular, was among the technology's earliest adopters and continues to be among its most vocal champions and general users, according to additional Morning Consult research.
▶️ Explore more of our artificial intelligence research.
📺🤩 Young people 🤝 YouTube 📺🤩
While social media trends come and go at an ever-increasing clip, a few online preferences have managed to endure. Chief among these is Americans’ enthusiasm for YouTube, which is especially strong among Gen Zers.
In addition to being the young cohort’s most used and most trusted social platform — and one of their favorite brands in general — Morning Consult’s latest survey reveals that YouTube is also the platform on which Gen Z simply has the most fun. One-third (33%) of Gen Z adults identified YouTube as the most enjoyable social media platform, five percentage points higher than their next choice, TikTok (28%).
Our survey also asked respondents about the social platforms they find to be least enjoyable. X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook were the top selections among both Gen Zers and millennials.
Zooming out, in a separate question, more than half of Gen Z adults (53%) and millennials (55%) said the content they see across social media is always or often "repetitive and tiresome.”
When considered alongside the broader decline in active posting behavior, this data serves as a warning sign that — even if a few platforms are still winning big — young people may be fatigued from the basic social media experience.
To be most resilient, brands should consider investing in wholly-owned channels, like newsletters, which are largely insulated from changing user behaviors.
▶️ Check out our full analysis on the most and least enjoyable social platforms here.
What Else We’re Reading
- Increasing Cost of Living is Damaging Brand Loyalty (Morning Consult)
- Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle. (The New York Times)
- Why Creators Are Building Hollywood-Style Studios to Make TV-Ready Content (The Wrap)
- Adults Are Going to Sleep-away Camp to Make Friends. It Seems to Actually Work. (The Wall Street Journal)
Upcoming
August 20 — Checking In On Consumer Decision Fatigue. This analysis details how Americans are dealing with an ever-increasing amount of purchase choices across nearly every category. You can check it out on the MC Pro homepage when it goes live.
August 26 — The Experience Economy is Resurgent, But Only Among Select Consumers. This analysis explores who is spending big on experiences and services in 2025. Once it’s published, you’ll be able to find it here.
Ellyn Briggs is a brands analyst on the Industry Intelligence team, where she conducts research, authors analyst notes and advises brand and marketing leaders on how to apply insights to make better business decisions. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Ellyn worked as a market researcher and brand strategist in both agency and in-house settings. She graduated from American University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected].