Social media has profoundly reshaped how Gen Z communicates, connects and constructs identity. While social media platforms can foster social support and validation, they also expose young users to serious risks. As digital natives, Gen Z is uniquely vulnerable to addiction, cyberbullying, misinformation and psychological distress – challenges that have become global concerns (Khalaf et al., 2023; Salo et al., 2018). Since social media became a primary source of information, exposure to fake news, anxiety and abusive content surged, with violent and hostile posts showing the greatest growth (Babvey et al., 2021). These risks are today even more pronounced following the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically accelerated social media use and transformed online behaviours. For a generation navigating early independence in work and life, the long-term consequences of this heightened digital dependence remain deeply concerning.
This Special Issue responds to calls for further research on critically examining both the harms and possibilities of social media for younger generations, informing platforms, practitioners and policymakers alike. It aims to advance interdisciplinary insight into Gen Z’s social media use pattern, with a particular focus on cyberbullying, digital vulnerability and responsible consumption. Bringing together four timely contributions, this Special Issue deepens our understanding of social media driven behaviours in the post-pandemic era and offers a nuanced, globally relevant portrait of Gen Z’s digital lives.
The first paper, by Rosen et al. (2024), examines how increased social media use shaped Gen Z’s adjustment during the pandemic, with a particular focus on cybervictimisation, one of the central concerns of this Special Issue. Drawing on qualitative insights from 250 US parent–child dyads, the study captures the pandemic-driven surge in online engagement and its consequences. The findings reveal that greater time spent on social media significantly increased exposure to cybervictimisation, with cascading effects on both internalising and externalising problems. While social media was vital for maintaining social connections during lockdowns, the study clearly shows how these same spaces also facilitated the spread of harmful behaviours, illuminating cybervictimisation as a key mechanism linking digital exposure to negative outcomes.
The second paper of the Special Issue shifts the focus from cyber victimisation to consumer behaviour and compulsive outcomes, illustrating how the psychological dynamics of social media extend into marketplace contexts. Pham et al. (2024) examine Gen Z consumers’ impulse buying on social media in Vietnam, drawing on latent state–trait (LST) theory and observational learning from celebrity posts. The findings show that trust and observational learning from celebrities increase impulse buying tendencies, while awareness of celebrity influence primarily shapes trust rather than purchase behaviour directly. Importantly, the study suggests that social media does not merely facilitate consumption but interacts with stress, emotional regulation and coping strategies to fuel impulsive purchasing. The paper broadens our understanding of compulsive consumption on social media and offers timely insights for stakeholders in digital celebrity marketing and communication.
Complementing the focus on compulsive consumption, the third paper by Suprawan et al. (2024) examines compulsive buying behaviour of Gen Z consumers who demonstrate fandom attributes (sharing the same interests and being willing to collaborate with others) and explores trash talking as a critical social moderator. The study also investigates the direct and indirect impact of brand love and brand addiction on the relationship between social media addiction and compulsive buying. Using a moderated serial mediation model, the study shows how social media addiction drives compulsive buying through brand love and brand addiction, with hostile online interactions amplifying these effects. The paper bridges cyberbullying and consumer research by explicitly linking cyber-aggressive behaviours to consumption outcomes. It also indicates that digital toxicity extends beyond interpersonal harm, spilling over into economic and behavioural domains.
Moving beyond individual-level effects, the final paper by Ekklesia (2024) offers a rich qualitative analysis of Gen Z’s digital consumer culture in Indonesia through an actor–network theory (ANT) lens. Drawing on youth communities in Jakarta, the study shows how digital practices are co-constructed through the interplay of platforms, technologies, peer networks and cultural norms. Digital consumption is framed as an ongoing process of problematisation (i.e. identifying a problem and proposing a possible solution), interessement (i.e. process of convincing other actors to accept the roles defined in the problematisation stage), enrolment (i.e. the negotiation process where actors agree to their roles and responsibilities) and mobilisation (ensures that the actors perform their agreed-upon roles) through which individuals and technologies mutually shape roles, responsibilities and behaviours. Rather than treating cyberbullying and problematic use as isolated acts, the paper situates them within complex socio-technical networks. This perspective is especially valuable for the current Special Issue on responsible use of social media, as it highlights the distributed nature of agency and responsibility, underscoring the need for interventions that move beyond individuals to address platforms and cultural contexts.
Collectively, the four papers in this Special Issue make several important contributions. First, they demonstrate that Gen Z’s vulnerability to cyberbullying and digital harm has not diminished in the post-pandemic era. Rather, these harms have evolved alongside shifting usage patterns, platform affordances and social norms. Second, the papers highlight the value of theoretical plurality, drawing on developmental psychology, actor–network theory, latent state–trait theory and stimulus–organism–response framework to capture the multifaceted effects of social media. Third, the international scope of the studies spans the USA, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, which underscores that while social media is global, its consequences are locally embedded and culturally mediated. In doing so, this Special Issue advances the originality agenda outlined in the proposal by re-examining established concerns through the lens of pandemic-induced change. Rather than treating COVID-19 as a temporary disruption, the contributions collectively suggest that it accelerated lasting structural shifts in digital behaviour that warrant sustained scholarly attention.
Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that article Rabbanee, F.K., Lee, S., and Phau, I. (2026), “Guest editorial for the Young Consumers Special Issue on ‘Social media, cyberbullying and Gen Z’“, Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, Vol. 27 No. 2 pp. 165–167, Link to Guest editorial for the Young Consumers Special Issue on ‘Social media, cyberbullying and Gen Z’Link to the cited article, incorrectly listed authors Rabbanee’s, Lee’s and Phau’s affiliations.
Author Rabbanee’s affiliation has now been amended from “School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Singapore, Singapore” to “School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Australia”.
Author Lee’s affiliation has now been amended from “School of Marketing, Curtin University, Singapore, Singapore” to “School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Australia”.
Author Phau’s affiliation has now been amended from “Curtin University, Singapore, Singapore” to “School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Australia”.
This error was introduced during the article publication process, for which the publisher apologises.
