Anne Wilson deleted social media, says ‘it’s destroying us, slowly but surely’ 

One of the youngest and most popular singers in Christian-country music says she believes social media is taking a toll on society – and that the anxiety it caused led her to delete all social media apps from her own phone.

Anne Wilson is a 24-year-old singer who has landed 21 songs on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, while both her 2024 album Rebel and 2025 album Stars reached the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

But unlike many in her generation, Wilson has intentionally distanced herself from social media, saying the anxiety isn’t worth it.

“I think that there’s some positive [aspects of] social media,” she told Heartlander News – before adding that the overall impact of “social media and phones” is just the opposite.

“[They are] destroying us, slowly but surely.”

Wilson is one of the most outspoken Christian voices of her generation, having authored the K-LOVE Fan Award-winning devotional Hey Girl and the new book Rebel: Following Jesus When the World Walks the Other Way, in which she encourages Christians to stand boldly for their faith.

But it was a book written by someone else – a Tennessee pastor – that prompted her to re-evaluate her relationship with technology. That book, The Digital Fast by Darren Whitehead of Church of the City, challenges Christians to step away from screens for 40 days and pursue a closer walk with Christ, free from digital distractions.

“In 2023 I got rid of all social media on my phone,” Wilson said. “I still don’t have it to this day – I have no social media on my phone. I basically made my phone a dumb phone.”

Wilson actually used a flip phone for a full year before switching back to a smartphone – but without the social media apps such as Instagram.

“My friends … thought I was insane,” she said, laughing. “I don’t like phones. I mean, the amount of anxiety I get just from a text dinging on my phone or looking at something on my phone – it’s so anxiety-inducing, and I think that they’re having a very negative effect.”

“I’m very against all of it,” she said of smartphones and social media. “I think that we’re better off looking at each other in the eyes and talking to each other.”

Wilson noted that her generation, Gen Z, consistently scores higher than older generations in anxiety and other mental health challenges.

“I think Gen Z struggles because when you think about it, you’re scrolling and you’re looking at someone else’s life and what they have and what they’re doing – versus living in your own life,” she said. “And I think it’s taught us to compare ourselves a lot and to never feel like we’re good enough. And so I think that that’s a core issue in my generation.”

Meanwhile, Wilson said she also believes her generation is hungry for God amid the rapid growth of Unite US gatherings and data showing young adults returning to church.

“My generation is finally getting to that place of desperation, like we all do as adults later on in life, sometimes not until your 50s or 60s, where you hear stories of people finally reaching rock bottom, and finally realizing ‘I need faith, and I need God, and I need to cling to Him.’ I think that it’s happening – just younger. I think that these kids are really realizing how empty this world is, and this life is, and that they need Jesus.”