About half of Gen Z Canadians want to integrate more tech in their lives, even though nearly the same number concede that social media and heightened use thereof has a negative impact on their mental health.

That’s according to new Mintel research, pulled from a poll of 2,000 Gen Z Canadians (defined by Mintel as being between 13 and 17).

The research found that 51% of Gen Z wants to integrate more tech into their lives. However, 47% also agree that social media and large amounts of tech usage have a negative impact on their mental health, while 47% say they are actively trying to limit their social media usage.

This demographic is putting mental health nearly on par with that of physical health: 95% of Gen Z consumers agree that the maintenance of mental health is just as important.

“Our research shows that due to significantly more time spent on these platforms, a portion of Gen Z has become more aware of their mental health and are exploring ways to reduce their usage of social media,” says Michael Lloy, senior technology analyst at Mintel Canada. “This indicates that there is growing discontent among younger consumers about the negative effects that social media has on their lives, which may prompt radical behaviour shifts away from social media as they age.”

Despite the potential for less social media usage, Lloy says this presents an opportunity for brands to lean into the visibility of their values in order to be seen to support causes that Gen Z cares about. He warns that this development will require brands to think strategically about how and where they market to Gen Z consumers as they age in order to develop and sustain an engaged and loyal audience.

One avenue that might not be the best option for doing that is the metaverse, as only 3% of Gen Z respondents report that they actually use it. “As many Canadian consumers are getting back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles, including in-person gatherings, the lack of eagerness to interact with the metaverse has been evident,” Lloy says.

Overall, only 15% of consumers, on average, can even envision a world where they interact using the technology, meaning brands that currently or plan to leverage the metaverse in their marketing strategy have some work in front of them in order to convince consumers of the metaverse’s usefulness and applicability to their daily lives Lloy notes.

When examining the platforms that Gen Z uses, all rely heavily on visual interaction: Mintel’s research shows Gen Z Canadians engage with YouTube the most (77%), followed by Instagram (75%), Snapchat (58%) and TikTok (52%).