The crystal cube of agony
Keely Adler and added
Teen Subcultures Are Fading. Pity the Poor Kids.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/mireille-silcoffnytimes.comKids are not failing by wanting to be cottagecore or meatcore or this new preppy. It’s the culture available to them that is failing, by no longer being able to connect any of these categories with lived experience or social meaning. Kids, in all their blowzy creativity — the same creativity that invented movements from Romanticism to hippiedom to
... See morehttps://www.nytimes.com/by/mireille-silcoff • Teen Subcultures Are Fading. Pity the Poor Kids.
1. How have the definitions and perceptions of "preppy" evolved over time, especially in the context of current teenage culture and social media platforms like TikTok?
2. In what ways has the landscape of subcultures for teenagers shifted from more tangible, immersive experiences to online, ephemeral aesthetics? How does this impact the sense of community and belonging for young people?
3. What role does technology, specifically social media and the internet, play in shaping and influencing the cultural identities and expressions of today's teenagers, as discussed in the document?
“It seems like Gen Z is getting really tired of presentation culture, as you might call it,” Zeke, a 21-year-old biologist and frequent Discord chatter, told me. “The idea that everything you do has to be a representation of your personal identity.”
The Atlantic • The Personal Brand Is Dead
Severin Matusek added
A generation’s currency is measured in trends, the moments that make an era mouthwateringly memorable. Only these fads are no longer dictated by a handful of tastemakers. Instead, what gets crowned as cool is often determined by how well a trend appeals to the rhythms of a specific platform. An idea’s artistic or cultural cachet depends on how easi... See more
Jason Parham Culture • The Age of Everything Culture Is Here
Keely Adler added
Keely Adler and added
It makes sense that norms are shifting in this direction as Gen Z’s influence spreads. Raised on social media, with access to once illicit bad-taste touchstones like Rocky Horror just a click away, they’ve largely replaced IRL subcultures with a constellation of aesthetics—cottagecore, dark academia, Y2K—to be performed, then discarded or demoted t... See more
time • Welcome to the Era of Unapologetic Bad Taste
Keely Adler and added
The proliferation of “-core” style nicknames reminds me of what Kaitlyn Tiffany described as a staple of digital life, dating back to MySpace, Tumblr, and BuzzFeed quizzes: the urge to identify with esoteric aesthetic subcultures such as “cottagecore” and “romantic academia” and “pastel goth” because you want to locate your niche and belong somewhe... See more
No Bells • Deep-internet bubbles: How microgenres are taking over SoundCloud
Keely Adler added