A Guide to Children’s Culture for Out-of-Touch Adults: Dogs Vs. Lemons
This week’s Youth Culture Report is all about the conflict: Dogs fight lemons, Gen Z fights millennials, and everyone fights artificial intelligence.
Dogs vs Lemons on TikTok
The newest pet-related trend on TikTok is posting videos of dogs eating lemon slices. These are hilarious clips because dogs don’t like lemons, so their excitement at receiving food from their owner’s hands quickly turns into a sour look and sideways glance of canine disappointment.
But since no one is allowed to have fun, some veterinarians have been quick to warn against the trend, pointing out that citrus fruits can cause “gastrointestinal distress” or even “serious clinical signs such as collapse.” Throwing food at your dog for him to catch is also a choking hazard, “especially if the piece of food is too large to swallow whole,” says Dr. Anna Forman of Everypaw Pet Insurance. In the video, the dogs almost never eat the lemon slices. They either lick it quickly and say, “No,” or they catch a piece of fruit in their mouth and spit it out, because dogs aren’t stupid.
What is “Zumer Perm”?
From the mullet of the 1980s to the ubiquitous “Rachel” of the 90s, every generation eventually develops and popularizes a ridiculous haircut that will embarrass them in the future. For Gen Z, it looks like “Zoomer Perm” is going to be a generational thing. Sometimes called a “broccoli cut” or a “bird’s nest” perm, the Zoomer perm is shaved on the sides and back and is long and thick/curly on top. If you have straight hair, you need to get a perm to get the look right. It’s a very silly haircut, but according to WikiHow , Zoomers love it because they “don’t tend to be as shy or serious as other generations, so those fun things you can do with cut broccoli are actually a positive thing , not a disadvantage.”
Gamergate 2 update
Last week I brought you the unfortunate news of the Gamergate revival , but now there’s a new problem: gaming news site Kotaku’s editor-in-chief Jen Glennon resigned late last week, leading some to speculate that the resignation was due to Kotaku’s coverage. Gamergate 2.0.
The Gamergate degenerates are of course wrong about this (and everything else). The resignation came because the site’s owner, G/O Media, decided to change Kotaku’s focus from news and editorial content to game guides, Glennon said, adding that G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller is a weed. Lifehacker was once owned by G/O Media, so I say this with insider knowledge: G/O was in no way interested in or aware of what Kotaku was writing about.
Late Night with the Devil’s Artificial Intelligence Controversy
In the first of what will likely be years of stories asking the question, “How much of this movie is artificial intelligence?” The online film community has noticed that some of the images used in the recently released indie horror film Late Night with the Devil appear to have been created by artificial intelligence. The film’s directors Cameron and Colin Cairns quickly confirmed that they were “experimenting with artificial intelligence for three still images” that appear in the film as short inserts. The reaction from the fan community is mixed. Some called for a boycott of the film or said they would never see it. Some defended the film . Some moderates urged people to sneak into theaters to see the spectacle . Aside from the AI-generated art, Late Night with the Devil is one of the most innovative, creative, and unique horror films I’ve seen in years. It will stream on Shudder starting April 19th.
What is “Fancy Chungus”?
Since the publication of Douglas Copeland’s book Generation X in 1991, the generation gap discourse has been dominated by everyone who agrees that baby boomers suck. While the trend is alive and well on subreddits like r/boomersbeingfools , the new fad is Gen Z accusing millennials of being lame. Generation Z turned the withering gaze of youth onto slightly older people and discovered that loving Buzzfeed and Harry Potter, using words and phrases like “doggy,” “I just did something,” and “adult” are actually stupid— old people are crap. Some Gen Zers use the phrase “Chungus Fad” to describe the “lol so random” aspect of millennial culture. As a Gen Xer, I’m glad no one ever accuses us of anything or considers us important enough to hate on us, but I’d also like to point out that the most recognizable expression of Zoomer culture is the Skibidi toilet . Watch this YouTube video from KnowYourMeme for a deeper dive into the latest generational conflict.
Viral video of the week: I used only vintage technology for a week
In this week’s viral video, YouTube comedian Kurtis Conner challenges himself to only use outdated technology for a week. It’s objectively funny to watch someone completely decked out in vintage equipment that barely works, and Conner is a funny guy, but on the other hand, this video says something about the value and importance of technology. Much of the equipment it offers would have been a first when it was new 20 years ago, but now literally everything from a wristwatch camera to a portable TV to a tiny Palm Pilot voice recorder and all the Xbernaut features. a laptop computer is available to everyone even on the cheapest smartphone. Is anyone happier? More satisfied? I would say no, but that’s what I always say about everything.