Even before the new year begins, hundreds of social media posts across popular platforms — such as TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube — are uploaded annually and captioned with slogans such as “new year, new me,” “clean slate,” and “this is my year” as content creators discuss their goals for the upcoming year and encourage their followers to create ones of their own.

This year is no exception, and many Americans have already begun to list out their New Year’s resolutions. This practice has become especially popular in younger generations of Americans, including Millennials and Generation Z, which some researchers largely attribute to high social media usage that can motivate some users to adopt a more optimistic perspective on life and seek self-improvement.

“It was really in my face on social media,” said junior Destiny Cruz. “Definitely on my Tik Tok.”

Cruz is one of many high school students who find themselves making New Year’s resolutions to achieve their goals in the upcoming year after finding inspiration online.

“2025 is going to be the year,” Cruz said. “Personally, I want to be more consistent at the gym…check in with my friends all the time…[and] start getting into game development.”

Senior Manuel French shared Cruz’s sentiment about wanting to exercise more in the new year.

“I would like to get into the gym more,” French said.

Cruz and French are not alone in their personal aspirations. According to a recent survey conducted by Statistica, two of the most popular New Year’s resolutions that Americans make is to exercise more (17% of respondents affirmed this) and spend more quality time with their friends and family (14% of respondents affirmed this) in the upcoming year.

In addition to her personal aspirations, Cruz added that she wants to focus more on her school work.

“[I want] to study more often,” Cruz said. “Review all of my notes [before class]…and then be more engaged in class.”

Juniors Jack Gosz and Rykan Woo shared similar academic goals. Gosz said that he would like to “stop procrastinating” on some of his assignments while Woo said that he wants to be “more organized” with his school work.

Although some students are holding themselves accountable to personal growth by making New Year’s resolutions like Cruz, French, Gosz and Woo, plenty of students plan to seek self-improvement through other methods.

Junior Joshua Friend is one student who has never planned out his goals for the upcoming year.

“I’ve just never really done [New Year’s resolutions],” he said.

Friend is not alone—per the same survey conducted by Statistica, a large portion of Americans (43% of respondents) do not set New Year’s resolutions for various reasons.

Friend said that he doesn’t usually set goals for the upcoming year because he likes “to go with the flow” and create goals throughout the year.

“I just like to see what happens,” he said.