Is slow media the answer to digital fatigue?

The current social media landscape is exhausting. Keeping up with constantly changing algorithms, ownership changes, and the ongoing frustration of your followers not seeing your content has left everyone feeling digital fatigue.

The diminishing returns of the digital ecosystem aren’t at all surprising. On average, technology takes about 10-15 years to become a part of the social fabric—and that’s how long social media has been an active part of our day-to-day. However, we’re at the point where it’s become pervasive enough that the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. 

Social media went from being used for connection to surveillance. Every post is tracked, every gesture analyzed. All of the data to feed the algorithm. Personalized ads. Recommended content. Performance metrics. 

Social media stopped being social a long time ago; now it’s just another media channel, purely transactional. It’s no longer just about connecting with like-minded folks and sharing our passions—it’s all about the promotion. Every post has an ulterior motive in the name of conversion, whether it be a new follower, subscriber, click, or purchase. 

The secondary problem is in what we’re creating and consuming. 

Most of our feeds are comprised of “trendy” content, the same types, formats, and sounds. While this content can help you amass followers, it doesn’t make you or your brand memorable. And when that’s your entire content calendar, you’re in a constant state of fight or flight. Social media has gained a bad reputation for being fast-moving. It’s got us conditioned to the point where if you’re not jumping on the latest trend, your brand is “out of touch with culture” and “behind the curve.” This mentality has caused major burnout for social media managers 

Recommended or viral content doesn’t mean the content is any good; it just means you know how to hack the algorithm. “Experts” or “gurus” would rather give you tips on hacking the algorithm than actually show you how to make good content for your brand and your audience. It’s easier to optimize content to reach the algorithm than to take the time to figure out a strategy that resonates with your audience. 

And then there’s the AI slop problem. AI-generated feed content. AI-generated captions and comments. AI chatbots. We don’t know what’s real and what’s fake, creating a whole new breed of mistrust and misformation. Moreover, it’s producing the same, generic content that you can find anywhere, so every post on your feed, no matter who it’s from, feels the same. 

These factors have broken the trust gap between creators and consumers, leading to social media’s steady decline. The Financial Times reported that social media has reached its peak and has been in steady decline since 2022. In 2023, Gartner predicted that 50% of social media users would abandon or significantly reduce their use of social media. And recently, Deloitte reported that nearly 1 in 5 users paused or deleted a social account in the past year, up from 15%. 

So how do we solve this problem? By taking back our digital sovereignty. 

In a hyperconnected digital world, analog has become a refuge. Not because it’s nostalgic or retro, but because it renders us untouchable. New Harris Poll data reveals that 67% of Americans long for the “pre-plugged-in” era, while 79% of US Gen Zs actively aspire to interact more in the physical world.

So, they’re digitally detoxing.

We’ve seen the  manifest in several ways: 

And we’re taking the same approach to content creation in a movement known as “slow content” or “slow media.”

If the analog trend shows us anything, it’s that we want our content to make us feel something, not distract us. We want less mindless brainrot and more substance. Like the slow food and maker movements, the slow content movement focuses on creating better-quality content rather than more content. 

Some of the principles of slow content include: 

The point of slow content is to reclaim the web and make it a better place by creating content that serves a purpose rather than just acts as noise. 

It’s why we’ve seen an increase in independent media and long-form content, such as newsletters, blogs, and podcasts, and in physical media like catalogs and zines. And not because they are trendy, but because they give consumers a break from the digital fatigue. 

Slow media allows creators, entrepreneurs, and brands to produce higher-quality content, offer more insight, and build a platform. The idea with slow media is to create communities around content and ideas that people actively seek out rather than stumble across in the feed. 

It also benefits brands: 

Slow content isn’t about doing less. It’s about creating something more significant. And in the era of information overload, it’s become more crucial than ever.