Among older colleagues, particularly millennials who entered working life before smartphones were ever-present, the habit of scrolling tiktok before getting out of bed sounds excessive or indulgent. Yet data increasingly shows that this moment of morning scrolling is a defining feature of how younger generations organise time, attention, and routine.
In Cyprus, according to the Statistical Service, more than nine in ten internet users participate in social networks. Among people aged 16 to 24 and 25 to 54, frequent internet use approaches total saturation. The difference between generations, therefore, is where time accumulates, and when.
A Cypriot habit
Recent research presented by Insights Market Research in collaboration with the University of Nicosia illustrates this clearly. Around 80 percent of Gen Z in Cyprus have a TikTok account and spend an average of nearly three hours a day on the platform. Among millennials, fewer than half are active users and average daily time drops to just over an hour. Usage continues to decline among Gen X, both in participation and duration. TikTok is not absent from older cohorts, but it occupies a smaller and more contained space in their daily routines.
This gap becomes most visible at the edges of the day. Studies across Europe and the United States show that younger users are far more likely to reach for their phones immediately after waking. Surveys in the UK indicate that almost two thirds of people under 35 check their phone within five minutes of waking up. For many, TikTok is the first app opened. Scrolling offers a quick sense of what is happening, what others are doing, and how the day is beginning elsewhere.
Generational Gap
Millennials often relate differently to screens in the morning. Many associate the start of the day with email, news headlines, or messaging, tools that mirror older work-centred routines. TikTok, by contrast, has no fixed purpose and no clear endpoint. Its algorithm does not ask what the user wants to do, only whether they want to continue. That distinction shapes how different generations perceive the same behaviour.
Pew Research Center data shows TikTok use drops sharply with age, but the intensity among younger users remains striking. Gen Z users are more likely to describe their social media use as constant, fragmented, and woven into everyday transitions. Time on the platform is spread across short intervals, including mornings, commutes, and late evenings.
Legislating screen time
This pattern has broader implications. Platforms compete not for hours but for moments, especially moments that are unstructured and habitual. The morning scroll sits precisely in that space. The European Union has begun to treat this design logic as a policy issue. Ongoing scrutiny of TikTok under the Digital Services Act focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and personalised recommendations, all of which encourage prolonged engagement without conscious decision-making.
For workplaces, the generational tension around TikTok often masks a simpler reality. Younger users are navigating a digital environment that has normalised constant input and rapid shifts in attention. Older colleagues, shaped by different technological rhythms, are often surprised.
In that sense, the morning scroll reflects how different generations have learned to move between rest and productivity, private space and public life. As social media continues to evolve, these quiet moments at the start of the day may prove more revealing than total screen time figures ever could.