December 17, 2025
Digital Burnout Is Becoming a Daily Experience for Always-On Customers
Digital burnout describes the mental fatigue that builds up when people are constantly connected, interrupted, and expected to respond online. It shows up as trouble staying focused, irritation with digital tools, and a growing urge to ignore messages altogether. What once felt like a productivity problem is now directly influencing how customers engage with brands, platforms, and work itself.
A new report from Shift, the browser company, suggests digital burnout is no longer limited to extreme workloads or heavy social media use but is a mainstream condition of modern digital life.
What Digital Burnout Looks Like in Practice
Shift’s 2026 State of Browsing Report: Spotlight on Digital Burnout & Distraction found that 62% of users experience digital burnout either occasionally or regularly. At the same time, 31% say they rarely or never intentionally unplug.
The internet browser has become the main pressure point. Work tools, personal messages, news updates, and social feeds also live side by side, creating constant context switching. According to the report, 43% of respondents say work distractions interrupt them several times a day, making sustained focus difficult.
Rather than one overwhelming task, burnout builds through hundreds of small interruptions like notifications, tab switching, and alerts that compete for attention throughout the day.
Who Is Most Affected and Who Isn’t
Digital burnout affects all age groups though not equally. Younger users report feeling it more often. Thirty-four percent of Gen Z respondents say they regularly feel burned out online, compared with 31% of Baby Boomers who say they never experience it.
People working in tech-related roles report the highest levels of burnout, with 37% saying they feel digitally burned out on a regular basis. Constant exposure to platforms, dashboards, and messaging tools appears to intensify the effect rather than reduce it.
Interestingly, AI tools are not yet a major contributor. Thirty-five percent of users ranked AI apps last in terms of time spent online, suggesting adoption remains limited, and burnout is still driven by more familiar digital habits.
Why the Problem Keeps Growing
The biggest causes of digital burnout include endless notifications (cited by 24% of respondents), followed closely by social media overload (23%). When interruption is part of the product experience, even careful users struggle to stay focused. Over time, that constant friction turns into fatigue.
Shift’s report argues that modern digital experiences reward constant engagement, quick responses, and visibility. Over time, that design encourages people to stay connected even when it becomes exhausting.
When Burnout Turns Customers Away
Over time, this constant digital fatigue starts to affect how people behave as customers, changing how they respond to brand messages, alerts, and notifications. Separate research from CSG shows that constant brand communication is further pushing people to disengage.
According to CSG’s 2026 State of the Customer Experience report, 70% of consumers say brands send so many messages that they no longer care what those brands have to say. Almost 60% admit they have deleted important notices because they looked like marketing, and 30% say they have stopped buying from brands that won’t give them space.
Customers are simply asking for communication that feels more deliberate, useful, and easier to control. They want fewer messages that matter more. The majority (80%) says a weekly message is acceptable if it is relevant, with email still the most tolerated channel.
