When Los Angeles-based pop music artist Lorelei Marcell (@loreleimarcell) was just 13 years old, she signed into Instagram and started posting one or two videos a day of her singing for an entire year. Her presence kickstarted her career and garnered attention from various agencies. Now, a decade later, she boasts 56,300 thousand followers on TikTok. And yet, her social media activity has taken a backseat.
“There was a specific time that [the burnout] was really intense. Last spring, last summer… I’d say that whole year, honestly,” Marcell said. While her manager warned that producing content was essential to growing her fanbase, Marcell struggled to find the motivation. “Nothing I did felt authentic. I would post and delete, post and delete,” she said. And she isn’t alone.
The burnout that Marcell is experiencing is not unique; in fact it’s a growing epidemic: A 2024 Mentally-Healthy survey has revealed that 70% of professionals in creative sectors experienced burnout in the past year. With an estimated 50 million in the global creator economy (according to Goldman Sachs Research) – and that number that is predicted to grow 10% to 20% over five years – up to two thirds of Gen Z who describe themselves as content creators (in Morning Consult poll) could be reexamining the digital pace of their lives. And as any digital creator knows, setting boundaries is difficult when the scroll is part of your job.
“For many of these creators, they’re using social media to showcase aspects of their lives,” said researcher and author Dr. Michelle Drouin, an expert in the impact of technology on health. “You have this constant intrusion of what is supposed to be your professional life into your private space, and the stress is mounting around individuals’ private time. What is private time if your whole life is being a creator?”
Unplug to reignite your creative spark
The answer involves stepping away from tech temporarily and with intention. It’s one of the best ways Gen Z creators can reengage in their creative clarity, according to Kathryyn Thomas, Director of CX & Design at Motorola. “Gen Z creatives are a generation that’s grown up immersed in screens, to the point that, for some, it’s woven into their identity. But they’ve also experienced the burnout, over stimulation and comparison hangover that can come with it.”
It’s more important than ever that creators learn how to maximize their productivity and their mental health without sacrificing either. Twenty-two year old Sanaa Williams (@bitesofsanaa) has 27,500 followers who watch her food-related content on TikTok. She said that while she feels drained when her screen time spikes, consistently monitoring social media for trends is crucial to her success as a creator.
“I think it’s just part of [being a creator]. You have to [be online] if you want to stay up to date,” she says. “I do need to work on that in the future and limit the amount of content I’m taking in.”
Creators don’t want technology to dictate their pace or attention; they want to set the terms themselves. They’ve also seen what happens when those boundaries aren’t protected and how it affects focus, mental health, and creativity. Part of the solution can be found in the concept of digital minimalism which was developed by author and Georgetown Professor Cal Newport. His theory is “motivated by the belief that intentionally and aggressively clearing away low-value digital noise, and optimizing your use of the tools that really matter, can significantly improve your life.”
“Your mind is a sponge, constantly absorbing ideas, sounds, visuals, conversations,” says Lenovo’s Thomas. “Sometimes you need to step away and sort out all those stimuli, to let things settle and connect in new ways.”
In other words, it’s all about balance. As much as an athlete knows when to rest and recover, digital creators must learn when to step away from the screen and put down their digital tools, as well as how and when to re-engage.
“Having control over your tech use means you’re driving the relationship, not a passenger,” says Thomas.
How to reset and when
Making time for off-line behaviors and setting times or structure around online usage and content creation is part of putting the power back in creatives’ hands. “Sit outside, breathe fresh air, do some exercise, eat with loved ones,” says Drouin. “Some content creators say that they only work on their content creation from 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning. Having some structure in the day that limits use is a really healthy behavior.”
Increasingly, an enforced temporary logging off is growing in popularity for its perceived benefits, from coffee shops implementing laptop free zones to schools requiring that students leave their phones outside the classroom. New products make it easier to step back, including one that produces phone pouches that can lock during concerts and the school day; Florida schools have reported higher test scores, while New York City school teachers say students are more engaged in class and with each other. Even some resorts and hotels are now providing offline retreats where guests check in their devices when they check in to their rooms.
The most important step is for creators to disconnect on their own terms. Some technology companies like Lenovo are leading the way with tools designed to help users reset on their own terms. According to Thomas, the most effective way to do this is to treat tech and tools like rituals rather than restrictions.
“I love that Razr literally closes,” says Thomas, referring to the Motorola smartphone that has an extra long display (6.9”) and folds in half when not in use. “It sounds simple, but the hinge becomes a signal, a way to say, ‘Okay, I’m off for a bit.’ You can feel that separation. It’s a nice reminder that design can help us pause.”
It’s not only about unplugging, but about being present in the world around you. Moto Unplugged allows you to block certain apps and notifications for a designated time period. The Yoga PC series features the Windows 11 built-in creator tools including Journal app, Clipchamp, Screen Recorder in Snipping tool and Photos apps. These tools allow you to be creative even when you’re disconnected from the internet, like a high tech sketchbook. For many, that rhythm of connecting and disconnecting is what keeps creativity sustainable.
“It gives you the control to take a break without feeling like you’ve disappeared from the world,” Thomas said. “It’s not about doing less; it’s about creating better. You come back with more focus, more energy, and a clearer sense of what you actually want to make.”
There’s creative power in setting boundaries
For creators, learning when and how to step away from the screen — and when and how to reengage — is an essential skill.
Marcell says periodically stepping away from her devices reignites her passion for creating content. “It’s the permission to let yourself not do [social media] for as long as you need, even just taking a week or a weekend,” she said. “If I made myself post, post, post all the time, it wouldn’t hit as hard, and it wouldn’t have felt as fulfilling, and I probably would have burned out a lot easier.”
Skincare influencer Royce Watson (@_skincarewithroyce), 24, has developed similar tactics. With nearly 130,000 TikTok followers to entertain and inform, he relies on his friends to pull him out of the social media spiral.
“One friend will tell me, ‘Block off a Saturday, and we’re just gonna go hang out, we’re gonna go eat, we’re gonna go shopping,’” Watson said. “My weekdays are really focused and weekends are those times where I try to take my mind off the content and tech.”
But allowing yourself to mentally reset is more complicated than simply refraining from using technology for a period of time. “It’s about using it with intention, so it supports the way we want to live and create,” Thomas says. “When we find that balance, when we can be both connected and heads up, that’s when creativity finds its flow.”
It has never been more important for creators to know how to protect their creative abilities and maximize your productivity, sometimes by shutting off completely.
This kind of intentional disconnection works. After coming back from a weekend of focus, influencer Watson acknowledges his creativity improves. “I have a new and refreshed mindset,” he says. “It’s just so helpful when it comes to going back into creating content.”
