LifeStance Health study: nearly half of Gen Z avoid dancing over filming fears

A study by US mental healthcare provider LifeStance Health has found that 49% of Gen Z respondents hold back from dancing in public because they fear being filmed and posted online. The report, titled “Fear of Going Viral”, is based on a survey of 1,000 US adults aged 18 and over.

Across all age groups, 30% of those surveyed said they limit how they behave on the dancefloor for the same reason. The worries reach beyond nightlife: 43% of Gen Z participants said they hold back their emotions in public, and 38% are wary of acting silly or telling jokes. More than four in ten respondents linked this anxiety to enjoying the moment less, lower mood, disrupted sleep and reduced confidence.

Overall, 47% of adults named the spread of phone cameras and wearable recording devices, combined with social media sharing, as a reason they cannot relax in public spaces. Speaking to BBC News, Cardiff University student Freya Price voiced concern about devices such as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which make recording harder to notice, calling the ease of filming people "quite scary".

The findings come as interest in phone-free nightlife grows. An April report from Eventbrite, cited by Electronic Groove, recorded a 567% rise in phone-free events since 2024.