On August 19, Michael Koziol wrote a super spicy take for The Sydney Morning Herald. “There comes a point when each generation must accept it is no longer relevant to any serious discussion of what is trendy, cool, or fashionable,” declared Koziol. “For millennials, that time is sadly upon us.”
Now, I like an enjoyable yet scorching hot opinion as much as the next lad. However, while Koziol’s ideas are super engaging, I reckon that some of them are worth pushing back on. This is because the internet has democratised culture.
The Legend of Hasan Piker
Hasan Piker is an American political Twitch streamer. He broadcasts himself from a room in his house as he chats to a camera about the day’s biggest news topics. He advocates for unions, gun control, and for dudes to be less like Andrew Tate.
As of August 26, Twitch Stats has recorded that Piker has over 2,150,000 followers on this platform. He has on around 33,000 people clicking on his live content every time he’s streaming. The highest number of folks he’s simultaneously streamed to this year is over 150,000. This is to say nothing of his avid Twitter following, Instagram success, and popping off YouTube channel. Moreover, a whack of the audience he’s cultivated would be Gen Z kids. Oh, and Piker is 31 years old.
The fact that this millennial man can make Gen Z think that universal healthcare is cool demonstrates that culture is shifting. If what’s trendy was ever solely dictated by the baby-faced among us, which I seriously doubt, then it’s now turning into a two-way street. Piker will borrow slang from the teenagers in his audience, and these teenagers will in turn be shaped by Piker’s ideals.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Piker’s audience will occasionally joke about him being an “old man” in a tongue-in-cheek way. Some chatters may even roast him for partaking in some millennial cringe. However, you’d be a fool to claim Piker wasn’t crushing the zeitgeist game at the moment.
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Is Cheugy Even Real?
There’s a belief that in the so-called millennials VS Gen Z war, zoomers will call the cringeworthy things that millennials do “cheugy.” You know, actions like frothing over scented candles or falling in love over Tumblr. However, according to InsideHook’s Logan Mahan, this just isn’t the case.
“The current narrative around cheugy seems to be the notion that Gen-Z is using the word to make fun of millennials for their out-of-touchness, basic style, and gauche behaviour,” wrote Mahan. “But to me, a Gen-Zer who spends almost every breathing moment I have scrolling through TikTok, it appears millennials and zillennials are by and large the ones actually spreading the gospel of this supposed youth-speak.”
So, this isn’t to say that millennials aren’t capable of era-specific cringe. The Latch has covered how this gen is known for taking a sec to make sure a video recording’s working, otherwise known as a millennial pause. This just isn’t a big enough deal for Gen Z to use a new word to roast their elders. Additionally, there’s a huge chasm between being occasionally lowkey yikes and never being able to be fashionable again.
Are Millennials Officially Old?
To seriously claim that being in your 30s makes you old is some peak melodrama. If you are in fact around this age, then you have your whole life ahead of you bud. You’re hopefully at least 50 years away from having a cocaine party at your retirement village that’ll take you out. Seriously, don’t panic. There’s plenty of time left for you to get cheugy.
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