I think this is probably because the perception of self-identified atheism among people younger than twenty-five or so is no longer dominated by people like Dawkins, Harris, etc. That and the fact that it's especially clear in very-young online spaces that "nothing in particular" says nothing about one's actual views and that plenty of people who describe themselves that way are at least as nonrational in their approach to fundamental questions as most religious people.
I think that's a good point. The growth in self-identifying as atheist (which when I saw this data actually took me by surprise) amongst younger GenZ is probably in part due to interacting with peers who aren't Christian or another established faith, but certainly dabble with other spiritual beliefs; pagan, tarot etc. So there's a need to define as more than just 'nothing in particular'.
There is also a tendency in American discourse to have a want to categorise 'nothings' (and atheists responding 'nothing') as potential Christians under the surface. I think because the US has been so defined by religious adherence and experienced a young boomer religious revival when Europe did not, that's there's an expectation that something similar is around the corner which while not entirely out of the question, is more likely just to be nothing more than standard western secularisation. Studies of millennials have showed that in general there isn't a return to faith, even when establishing families and having children.
Something I've been thinking about recently is how in the U.S. it seems like much of the drift into secularism has been more of a drift into a
sort of more loosy-goosy, East Asian style mixing and matching of religious traditions.
For example,
nearly 30% of Americans believe in Astrology, about a third believe in reincarnation, and over 40% believe in psychics. These are all classic New Age beliefs--which, incidentally, makes a fairly convincing argument that New Age is the second largest religious tradition in the U.S. by a lot-- but a lot of these people holding these beliefs are Christians. Similarly, a lot of non-Hindus practice yoga, a lot of non-Christians celebrate Christmas, etc. Looked at from this light, the increasing phenomenon of self-identified "Christians" as opposed to Protestants or Catholics or the commonality of people who say things like "I'm not religious, I just have a relationship with Jesus Christ" illustrate how Christianity is molding itself to fit the current moment.
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