In our recent blog posts, we explored how AI-generated content is reshaping what we see online — from TikTok’s new role in shaping news to the flood of “AI slop” transforming YouTube. Together, they show how the digital world is reaching a saturation point.
AI-generated content is everywhere, your feed, your For You Page, your inbox. As deepfakes, AI music, and synthetic creators flood the internet, the line between real and artificial is blurring fast. But beneath the noise, something human is stirring: people are quietly opting out.
We call it The Big Switch Off — a shift back to real presence. When we can’t tell what’s genuine online, we default to what we know is real: one-on-one conversations, local meet-ups, shared experiences. It’s less a rejection of technology than a reset of human connection.
You can already see this movement emerging online. In @heyjaredhey’s viral clip, Jared Goldstein imagines a more hopeful, solarpunk future — one where creativity and community thrive beyond algorithms. And in @ianland_’s “coolest person I’ve met in New York” video, a guy named Kyle curates real-life gatherings through an email newsletter. No algorithm. No FYP. Just friends showing up.
Even lifestyle creators are embracing the same instinct in quieter ways, like the rise of the “analog bag” trend, where people fill a tote with books, magazines, and colouring pens instead of screens. It’s another small act of resistance: a reminder that real life doesn’t need notifications to feel full.
If AI floods our screens with what’s fake, The Big Switch Off might be how we find what’s real again.
Featured examples: