What Is Posting Zero? Why More People Are Choosing Silence on Social Media

Even if you’re not posting, you’re still watching.

You’re scrolling through perfectly lit morning routines, glow-ups, curated travel diaries, and soft-filtered "authentic" updates. You’re seeing people live their lives, or at least the version they’ve edited into something worth sharing. And no matter how aware or grounded you are, that still lands somewhere in your subconscious.

I’ve never been a big poster, especially on personal accounts. At most, I’d share a story here and there. I wasn’t someone documenting my every move. But that didn’t mean I was immune to the pressure. Watching others share the best parts of their day sometimes made me question mine. It’s not always about envy, sometimes, it’s this quiet, hard-to-name sense of being behind or boring.

And when you really sit with that feeling, it’s exhausting.

The term Posting Zero was coined by The New Yorker’s Kyle Chayka, who described it as the moment when regular people, those who aren’t influencers or brands, simply stop posting. Not as a dramatic exit, but as a quiet fade-out. A collective fatigue. A choice to disengage from the performative loop of constant updates.

His words hit home. And clearly, they’ve resonated with many. After his column gained traction, the BBC even invited him to discuss the concept, and the internet lit up with users reflecting on their own relationship with posting.

Because let’s be honest, the social web isn’t what it used to be, and it’s not really social anymore.

Social media once felt... human. You’d see your friend’s dinner. Your cousin’s baby photo. A blurry group selfie with no filters, no planning, no engagement strategy.

Now, it’s mostly:

And according to a Financial Times study of 250,000 users across 50 countries, social media usage is declining. Especially among younger generations. The same people who grew up with the internet as their second home are now quietly walking away from it,or at least how it used to be.

It’s not just overuse. It’s over-saturation. It’s the feeling that you’re swimming through a feed full of noise and barely any signal.

Without even knowing the term, I had already started to step back.

I deleted X (formerly Twitter) from my phone. What started as a way to keep up with the news turned into a doomscrolling spiral of negativity, outrage, and helplessness. I wasn’t becoming more informed. I was just becoming more anxious.

Instagram? Also deleted. The occasional fun didn’t outweigh the low-key stress of seeing everyone else’s curated joy. I found myself stuck between wanting to share something lighthearted and also questioning why I felt the need to share it at all.

On LinkedIn, I still post from time to time. But even there, I’ve noticed how AI-generated posts, fake thought leadership, and over-optimized content have drowned out the kind of authenticity I used to enjoy. It's harder to feel connected to what's real.

And all of this brought me back to something simple: What do I actually want from the internet right now?

Posting Zero isn’t about isolation. It’s about intention.

It's about asking:

There’s a kind of peace in not performing. A deep exhale. A reconnection with the parts of your life that don’t need a caption, a filter, or a comment section.

And you can still engage with content. Still appreciate what others create. Still feel joy from a meme or inspiration from a story. But you no longer feel like you owe the world your visibility.

If you’ve been posting less, or not at all, you’re not disappearing. You’re just choosing something different. Something quieter. Something that belongs to you.

The feed doesn’t define your presence. The post doesn’t make your life more real. And the algorithm never had your best interest anyway.

You don’t have to announce it. You don’t have to justify it.

You’re allowed to go offline and still exist fully.