"Beyond their fixation on incredibly thin scarves, ukuleles and ungainly Sharpie art, these ['millennial optimism'] posts seem to obsess over the era’s supposed ease and quirkiness..."

"... to have Natalie Portman put on a Shins song and change your life. To wear ill-fitting running shorts like Michael Cera and seem approachably awkward. At the time, simply listening to superficially 'indie' music could signal some kind of eccentric individualism — yet it was individualism that was increasingly available on a mass scale. If you could identify with Seth Cohen on 'The O.C.,' squeeze into a sweater vest and listen to Death Cab for Cutie: Congratulations, you’re indie.... But for the Zoomers posting these clips, there is a pleasure in the opposite of independence: a homogeneity and cohesiveness that seems welcoming and communal..... That dreamy, half-real, lost world of social media, to Zoomers, is one that seems untethered from hierarchy — not yet tainted by algorithms and calculated recommendations. A cookie-cutter simplicity (or 'basicness,' when critiqued) could emerge: cheugy sunsets and sentimental drives into the country. The sad truth, but also the poignancy, of these videos, is that they fetishize an era that led directly to the one we’re in today...."

Writes Casey Michael Henry, in "Things Are So Bad, People Are Longing for Cringey Millennial Culture/Sepia tones, film cameras and ukuleles are a fast route to an imagined past of ease and quirkiness" (NYT gift link).

Unsaid things.

That's a favorite tag of mine and I've even blogged about the tag.

In 2014, I said: "I feel that I've found the psychic key to my favorite tag: 'unsaid things.'... Did you know that before I started blogging I believed myself to be a person without political opinions? I used to read the New York Times every day and feel that I had no opinion. It was such a distinctive feeling — no opinion was my opinion — that for a while, to counteract it, I challenged myself, upon reading at least one article a day, to arrive at an opinion. What do I think of that? In blogging, early on, I had to tell myself to stop before moving to the next item and write one more sentence. You have to say something about that. I had to make it a discipline: To write one more thing...."

And in another 2014 post, I wrote: "Unsaid things is one of my favorite topics, and things that fall into this category are things that, aptly enough, most people would leave unsaid. There's a convention in human society not to outline the secret motives of others. As long as someone hasn't actually said something, you ought not to act as though you know what that thing is. But I'm here to transgress on that convention. I think I can and should do it...." (7 reasons why are said at the link but I will leave them unrepeated here.)

So naturally, I'm powerfully drawn to this article by Ariana Eunjung Cha in The Washington Post: "The 'Gen Z stare' — and the decline of saying things out loud/We’re speaking fewer words every year. Scientists worry what that’s doing to our brains" (gift link).

First, I don't like the focus on the number of words.

"[S]ocks and sandals were fully associated with nerd-dom, meaning that soon it was time for fashion... to embrace the twosome again."

"And so it did, with multiple brands, including Fendi, Miu Miu and Dior Men all showing sandals and socks on recent runways.... That this has happened at the same time that Gen Z has become increasingly vocal about its general discomfort with visible toes — the subject of multiple 'who let the dogs out' memes and Reddit threads — is probably not a coincidence. (Gen Z, after all, is the consumer group most brands are most eager to attract.) Whether that reaction is due, as some have posited, to a fear of fetishization — there are accounts on OnlyFans devoted solely to feet — or some other generational quirk, it’s a real thing."

From "Are We All Supposed to Wear Socks With Sandals Now? A teacher wonders about the etiquette rules of contemporary footwear" (NYT).

Complicated! I'd like to say wear socks and sandals in whatever combination expresses the youness of you, but as between the people who have publicly overembraced a supposed rule against socks with sandals and the people who are squicked out by the sight of toes, I'd like to skew toward the toe-haters. But make a good sock choice. Wear socks that say: I know what I'm doing.

And for you Roman Empire buffs: "ROMAN SOCKS AND SANDALS: FASHION OR FAUX PAS? In this article Mark Griffin explores the history of this unlikely pairing." ("'Udones' were made either of pieced together cloth or woollen yarn using a type of knitting called 'nalbinding' or something that looks similar to netting called 'sprang.'")

"The best experiences I’ve had have been going to swingers’ parties held in the West End and stately homes in the countryside, but you don’t find out the venue until hours before..."

"... either through the WhatsApp group or posted on the event’s socials. It’s way better than a nightclub. You might live in the middle of nowhere and have big, bold or boring lives, but on this night you get to be with 150 people who are all up for it.... The next party I’m going to has... [a rule that] if your outfit isn’t good enough, you have to take it all off at the door. There are body painters inside who can make anyone look good — they even do vajazzling. I remember being at a party where a beautiful blonde girl got out of a taxi wrapped in a silver cloak. She passed through the entrance hall, shrugged off the cloak, and walked into the party completely naked. I also have a friend who has been going for years and always does the same joke — when he gets in, he strips to nothing but a codpiece and walks around going, 'This is so embarrassing — no one told me there was a dress code.'"

Says Anthony, 28, quoted in "Why Gen Z say yes, yes, yes to sex parties. They’re supposedly the prudish and sober generation — so why are twentysomethings flocking to polyamorous foam parties and BDSM dungeons in secret warehouses?T hree twentysomethings reveal all" in the London Times. 

"On TikTok, there is an entire subgenre of 'millennial cringe' compilations featuring 30-somethings making goofy faces."

"If you sustain a cool, detached pout, you’ll never risk being lumped in with the googly, giggly millennials repeatedly dragged online."

I am reading "How the Gen Z pout became armor against millennial cringe/It looks like the 'duck face,' a durable look born in the aughts. But it’s not" (WaPo)(gift link).

This is not my culture battle. I'm a boomer. I don't have to worry about the hostility between Gen Z and the millennials. I wondered whether this was a made-up problem — "googly, giggly millennials"? 

But I went to the link on "millennial cringe" and, oh, no!

"I love the Gen Z’s. I love their attitude. They think the world is in a bad place and that we’ve got to make it better."

"That’s their thing. They’re into making things better. I’m a Gen Z, too. I moved to New York from Detroit at 24, and I’m still 24 in my head, so they’re my people. The Gen Z’s only like talking to people their own age, and since they can tell I’m like them, they talk to me. If someone looks over 30, I don’t even interview them.... I never know who these people are. I don’t read the newspaper or follow the news. I cry when I read the news, so why would I? But I don’t get star-struck. Back in the 1970s, I met every celebrity there ever was at Studio 54, where I was a house photographer, so I don’t get star-struck."

Said Judi Jupiter, quoted in "Judi Jupiter, a 76-Year-Old Social Media Star, Is Gen Z at Heart/In the 1970s, she photographed Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry on wild nights at Studio 54. Now she’s chronicling a new generation" (NYT)(that's a gift link, because there are a lot of photos).

And here's her Instagram, so you can check out the videography.

That one quote really struck me: "I don’t read the newspaper or follow the news. I cry when I read the news, so why would I?" It's a good question. You do not have to read the news. You can abstain.

And by the way, you don't have to answer when people prod you to reveal your politics.

"It’s certainly a conspicuous choice following a year in which D.E.I. programs have been dismantled and the party in power..."

"... has been debating how friendly to be with a white nationalist. That may not be what Pantone means by 'peace, unity and cohesiveness,' but I have to imagine it will come up for some viewers.... This white, in particular, strikes me as a little flavorless. It’s the color of cottage cheese and dental floss, of marshmallows and AirPods."

Said Callie Holtermann, participating in a NYT conversation titled "Pantone’s 2026 Color of the Year Is ‘Cloud Dancer’/A shade of white will be the defining color of the next year..." (NYT).

"It reminds me of the clothes I put on when I’m in a rush and the foods I eat when I have a stomach ache.... Personally, I miss Viva Magenta from 2023. An insane choice, but at least it was a choice. Cloud Dancer feels like a product of being too tentative to make a statement in any direction. Which is, of course, its own kind of statement."

Here's how Pantone presents its color:

"We were just kind of living in some turbulent times.... It’s almost turned to a rebellious act to have those right-leaning views."

"And I thought, you know, owning a T-shirt like the 'Reagan Bush ’84' one was kind of a cool way to join the movement of the antiestablishment younger generation of conservatives... [It's less confrontational than] wearing the red MAGA hat around, triggering the libs, so to speak. It’s kind of a peaceful, respectful way to say that, you know what, it’s okay to have a different opinion than you and disagree. I’m going to wear my Reagan shirt — it’s a more respectful way to voice my opinion.... I’ve been even criticized from the right for wearing the Reagan stuff...."

Says Kieran Laffey, George Washington University college student, quoted in "Why Gen Z conservatives love the ‘Reagan Bush ’84’ tee/They weren’t alive in the ’80s, but to them, 'Reagan is still a vibe'" (WaPo).

The article notes that you can easily buy these shirts on line. They just look vintage. We're told it's "the conservative take on a band shirt or the once-ubiquitous Che Guevara tee."

ADDED: Why not get ahead of the trend? Here, on Amazon (commission earned!):

"Unlike the millennial generation — which largely absorbed technology as destiny, first in its techno-utopian promises, later in its gigified disappointments..."

"... these Gen Z refuseniks are not trying to reform the system. They’re walking away from it. That’s why the 'No Kings' rallies often look like the world’s largest retiree convention. This new group’s politics, to the extent that it has any, are not oriented toward revolution or regulation, but toward restraint, retreat and restoration. They want silence. They want limits. And if there is any hope of clawing back a shared reality from the hall of mirrors that is the modern internet, it might lie with them. We can only hope."

Writes Ryan Zickgraf, in "Neil Postman’s ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ at 40: Truer than ever/The cultural critic saw it all coming. And yet, in Gen Z, there are signs of hope" (WaPo).

"'It’s just a lot less pressure posting on TikTok,' said Sheen Zutshi, 21, a college student in New York. She uses Instagram to send direct messages..."

"... to her friends, but sees it as a more curated option — the sort of place where someone might earnestly post a photo of the night sky, like her older cousin did recently. 'It’s just really cute, because she’s a millennial,' she said."

From "Instagram Wants Gen Z. What Does Gen Z Want From Instagram? Young people are using Instagram for everything except the app’s original function" (NYT).

"These kids never learned the proper way to be a barfly."

Said an L.A. bartender, quoted in "Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab/To the chagrin of bartenders, many 20-something bargoers prefer to close out and pay after every single drink, no matter how many they might order during an outing" (NYT).

[B]artenders have tried gently nudging them to consider opening tabs.... Others opt for something more overt.... If a group of friends closes out separate tabs multiple times at Seattle’s Central Saloon, Tiarra Horn will call them out from behind the bar: "'You guys all know each other? You guys not friends? You can’t get this round?' They haven’t even thought about it.... Someone has to bully these people. Respectfully."

"Young people in the city are very boring now. I am only in my early 30s but the difference between 10 years ago is stark."

"When I was in my early 20s, you would go out and meet new people every bar you went to. Every night had a funny or interesting story. Contrast that with the Gen Zs you see out: they sit glued to their phones, are scared of speaking to new people, vape constantly, and are only interested in the latest viral tiktok they saw. If you are in New York and spend all your time hanging with other transplants from your same home city, scrolling your phone, and order delivery from a franchise for all your meals, why even live here? You can eat chick fil a and watch TikToks in any city in the US. Guess I'm getting old!"

Says Bud Weiser — if that really is your name — in the comments section of "Why Are These Clubs Closing? The Rent Is High, and the Alcohol Isn’t Flowing/The financial decline of some of the city’s most popular clubs has put a spotlight on the realities of nightlife" (NYT).

Agreeing with Bud is Clark:

"Among Generation Z Christians... The men are staying in church, while the women are leaving at a remarkable clip...."

"[W]ithin Gen Z, almost 40 percent of women now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, compared with 34 percent of men.... In every other age group, men were more likely to be unaffiliated. That tracks with research that has shown that women have been consistently more religious than men, a finding so reliable that some scholars have characterized it as something like a universal human truth. The men and women of Gen Z are also on divergent trajectories in almost every facet of their lives, including education, sexuality and spirituality. Young women... came of age as the #MeToo movement... [a]nd the overturning of Roe v. Wade.... Childless young men are likelier than childless young women to say they want to become parents someday, by a margin of 12 percentage points.... For decades, many American churches and ministries have assumed that men... must be wooed into churchgoing and right living.... Pastors emphasized Jesus’s masculinity, and men’s ministries like Promise Keepers exhorted followers to embrace their roles as husbands and fathers...."

 
I'm reading "In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women/At Grace Church in Waco, Texas, the Generation Z gender divide can be seen in the pews. It has the potential to reshape both politics and family life" (NYT)(that's a gift link so you can read the whole thing and because there are a lot of great photographs of churchgoers).

In the comments over there, one man writes: "Could it be that these young men want a church that tells them they have the right to dominate women? And women don’t want a church like that? I wouldn’t want to be in that group of men in a church like that either. Not all men want it. They are not that insecure."

And one woman writes: "Young men are making themselves unmarriagable by buying into various cults of toxic masculinity and misogyny."

Last June, we learned of a study that found that 25% of Gen Z job applicants brought a parent along with them to a job interview.

See "So what if Gen Z applicants bring their parents to a job interview?" (L.A. Times).

This week, we learn that the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States is bringing "America's Dad" to her first interview.

I took that screenshot at Axios.

If you're at all skeptical about whether Tim Walz has been presented to us as America's Dad or you just want to experience some good, old fashioned sad laughing watch this:

"There is a sense in which young people have forgotten what faces look like."

Says psychology professor Renee Engeln, quoted in "Why Does Gen Z Believe It’s ‘Aging Like Milk’? Some say they fear their generation is aging more quickly than others. But as Gen Z-ers enter their late 20s, it’s more likely that they are simply getting older" (NYT).

Gen Z grew up endlessly scrolling through idealized versions of their own faces and the faces of others, Professor Engeln said. They have encountered more imagery of people with anti-aging cosmetic procedures and fewer examples of faces that have naturally aged, she added....

"There’s a classic Gen Z nihilism. My generation has spent a lot of time in a sort of destabilizing, regressive wave."

Said Rayne Fisher-Quann, 22, "an independent writer focused on girlhood and identity."

Quoted in "Goodbye, Feminist Blogs. Hello, Gen Z Content Creators? Young women are more feminist than ever, as are big brands and Hollywood franchises. But what happened to the online community blogs and zines once offered?" (NYT).

Also new at the NYT today: "Jezebel, the Oral History: 'There Was This Riotous Sense of Fun'/The site defined an era of feminism for millions of readers. According to its editors and writers, it was also an exhilarating place to work."

I can see how efforts to maintain a "riotous sense of fun" would tend to devolve into "a destabilizing, regressive wave."

"I heard that you have a collection of fake food?"/"I do. I have it all over my house. I like the worst kind..."

"... like an old, dirty piece of carrot. Or I have a bowl of cereal next to my bed with a spoon. It looks like I just forgot to take it downstairs. I kind of live in a joke shop. I always loved joke shops when I was young. So I have a lot of spilled food or things that look like something bad happened just sitting around to delight me when I walk up the steps."

From "John Waters Is Ready for His Hollywood Closeup/The director reflects on getting a star on the Walk of Fame and a museum retrospective about his career as a cinematic provocateur" (The New Yorker).

There's lots of interesting stuff in that interview. I'll just highlight this:

What do you think of this idea that Gen Z is turned off by sex scenes in movies, especially gratuitous ones? There basically isn’t a scene in any of your movies that isn’t gratuitous.

"This acceptance of the value of cosmetic work is not limited to zoomers. When I brought up this story... hands flew to necks, foreheads and eyes."

"Fingers pinched at sags, wrinkles and droops. Their owners — people in their late 20s to their 50s, mostly women, but some men, too — made clear-eyed assertions about all the things they planned to change as they got older or when they had more money and time to spare. At no point in these conversations did anyone suggest that we were fine the way we were, or that aging was a privilege instead of a humiliating process of degradation that is to be resisted at all costs. These were, as [one Gen Z influencer] puts it, 'supportive' conversations: We were supporting each other’s aesthetic aspirations. Supporting our bodily autonomy. Supporting our right to use our time and money to bend reality to our will."

Writes Madeleine Aggeler at "Gen Z has had work done — and they’ll tell you all about it/Plastic surgery used to be hush-hush. Now it’s good content" (WaPo). 

Everybody is an influencer.

I'm reading "For Gen Z, Playing an Influencer on TikTok Comes Naturally/There’s stuff to promote now. The followers can come later" (NYT).

[Gen Z] is increasingly posting on social media in the manner of professional influencers: sharing daily routines, pitching or unboxing products, modeling clothing and advertising personal Amazon storefronts. These videos are often viewed as cool and entrepreneurial by peers (and sometimes by bemused parents)....

It's "viewed as cool" — that it, it's not delusional and embarrassing to behave, in social media, as if you're already an influencer. This is a strange issue, because what is it to be a "real" influencer? What are/were "influencers"? We used to critique them as fake celebrities, fake stars, so why be "bemused" that younger people are faking the fakery? If it was fake to begin with, then faking the fake should be cool. It's savvy and meta.

"Gen Z-ers grew up with hypercautious parenting that exaggerates the dangers in life."

"They grew up in a media culture that generates ratings and clicks by generating division and anger. They grew up in a political culture that magnifies a sense of menace — that presumes that other people are toxic — in order to tell simplistic us/them stories and mobilize people’s fears.... People who grow up in this culture of distrust are bound to adopt self-protective codes of behavior.... People who grow up in a culture of distrust are bound to be pessimistic about life....People who grow up with this mentality are also less likely to believe they can control their own destinies.... As a certified middle-aged guy, I’m glad that the members of Gen Z behave... responsibly.... Politically, they lean left, but dispositionally they are cautious and conservative. But the sense of exaggerated menace has its downsides.... It’s always good to be on guard against a dangerous creep, but you may miss out on meeting the person who could be the love of your life."

 
Writes David Brooks in "What Our Toxic Culture Does to the Young" (NYT).