Brain Dump: Every Generation Becomes Uncool
Is every generation in America doomed to repeating the same societal mistakes?
This past week on the internet has been uniquely bizarre. Adults are dunking on tweens for using Drunk Elephant, while younger adults are ridiculing them for raiding Sephora. I’ve stirred up a hornet's nest in an odd corner of the internet by suggesting generations have more in common than they think. For a summary of the response to my theory that every generation becomes uncool, here's how Gen Z felt about it:
After some thought, my takeaway is; I said what I said. Making fun of people younger than you brings you one step closer to a 'get off my lawn' mentality. Definition of uncool. I expected my age group to be out of touch on the internet. I expect my peers to mock children rather than criticize the systems and content they themselves make which created #retinolgate. I didn't expect Gen Z to sound so similar. If you scroll through the comments, you'll see some strong cases of cognitive dissonance.
And that’s when it hit me; this “the kids are losing their youth because they’re shopping at Sephora” is just another moral panic.
From Oxford Dictionary: a moral panic is a mass movement based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group of people is dangerously deviant and poses a threat to society's values and interests. Moral panics are generally fueled by media [editors note: and social media] coverage of social issues.
The Cut wrote about teens using retinol in 2020. That would be Gen Z. The same generation decrying the teens using retinol in 2024. The moral panic around Gen Alpha’s lost youth, the faux concern, the disdain towards a ‘disrespectful youth…’ It was all so familiar. This interaction was particularly interesting:
From a generation that seems (rightfully) interested in acknowledging and understanding mental health concerns, commenters on my video seemed unperturbed by the fact that the kids they’re making fun of are living through book bans, even less gun control laws and virtual learning having a net negative effect on young children.
The “we are giving tough love because we care” mentality felt familiar. Like when my age group is yelled at for not having kids, or not buying houses because of avocado toast.
A couple of things before I get into what we should be doing if we care about kids:
Teens should not be using retinoids. I even wrote a Substack about. I found myself on the dunking side of the TikTok algorithm, where everyone from my peers to younger adults is making fun of tweens. The gist? They're entitled, selfish, and stupid for wanting skincare. Oh, and millennials are to blame as parents.
Should anyone under 25 use retinoids? Barring medical concerns, do we need to cause panic by even suggesting the appearance of aging? I'm scrutinizing every dermatologist and skincare expert who tells us that our collagen production slows down in our 20s and that we HAVE to start using retinoids AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We should never exploit the anxiety of aging to rack up views and followers, all in an effort to 'prevent' the inevitable march towards death.
The moral panic shouldn't center on retinoids or Drunk Elephant, but rather on the regulatory mess in our country that fails to prioritize families. Additionally, there's the issue of minimal regulation over the dozen or so tech bros who control most of the technology and forms of communication accessible to tweens. If AI and AR filters can give 36-year-olds face dysmorphia, what do you think they'll do to a 10-year-old?
Most generations buy beauty products they don’t need (I desperately wanted the edible beauty by Jessica Simpson). If one thing is certain, every generation does things older generations don’t understand.
If AI and AR filters can give 36-year-olds face dysmorphia, what do you think they'll do to a 10-year-old?
Despite having access to all the information in the world, a generational similarity is our inability to learn from it. If anything the internet is short wiring our brains, making us more reactive, less understanding, more volatile.
There’s a quote from The Holdovers that is playing on repeat in my head:
“You see, history is not simply the study of the past. It is an explanation of the present.”
— Paul Hunham
So, if you care about kids, here are some things I would recommend over a TikTok making fun of them. Unless if you enjoy simply venting into the void of infinite scroll (this, is truly, intergenerational). Maybe looking to the past will help us understand the “kids” today.
Rather than saying, 'Those dumb millennial parents are raising NIGHTMARES, what fools,' maybe ask…
Why are children raised by screens? Is it because parents are working all the time? Don’t have public spaces to bring their children? In New York you need $100K apparently to just get by and there are no “playing outdoors” to speak of.
If you’re making fun of 9-12 year olds… that means they were 5-8 when COVID hit. What happens when critical years of development are lost to virtual learning?
Why are we banning books when literacy rates are going down?
Why is there no sensible gun control in the United States?
Why are there less teachers? Why do they have Amazon wish lists?
Why are millennials having less children than any other generation?
Do we even get into the very omnipresent threat of climate change and adults acting like everyone but Jennifer Lawrence in Don’t Look Up?
If you're a millennial like me and you're reading this, thinking, 'Wait, I thought the youth would save us!' then perhaps that’s our original sin. The belief that someone other than ourselves should be the ones advocating for the change we want to see in the world. No one is coming to save us other than well, us.
And if you’re wondering what the hell this has to do with skincare (hi, I’m sunscreen lady on TikTok), I’m of the mindset everything is connected. Whether it be beauty standards, misinformation on ingredients or outrage machines — they’re all part of history and communications. AIf we don’t understand our present and the history that brought us here, we’re doomed to keep scrolling, infinitely repeating it.