A Guide to Children’s Culture for Out-of-Touch Adults: What Is “sharkism”?
Summer, when young people throw away their textbooks and have a little fun. But for this generation, fun has a different definition than it does for you. Instead of partying on the beach with a wine cooler, today’s kids are surfing social media, hacking AI systems for fun, and emulating the styles of the previous generation. But hey, digital rebellion is still rebellion (of sorts), and kids will always find a way to squeeze a little life out of whatever nightmare they were born into.
What does “fishing for sharks all summer” mean?
If you hear a young man say “fishing for sharks all summer long,” it has nothing to do with catching great white sharks. “Fishing for sharks” is slang for looking for people to hook up with. It’s usually used by young men to refer to women, but it’s not necessarily gender-specific. Here’s how its creator explains it:
Of course, this term has been parodied:
And the dances were created:
But is the term “sharking” problematic? It is certainly objectifying and predatory, but my sense of the cultural climate tells me that such concerns are losing cultural currency among young people: kids are either being relaxed or degraded, depending on your point of view. Case in point: Jersey nails and Y2K nostalgia.
What are (and why) ” Jersey Shore nails”?
Young gents who are sharking this summer may be eyeing up the young ladies with “Jersey Shore nails”: that is, the gaudy, glittery, attention-grabbing nails they wore on the MTV reality show Jersey Shore in the early 2000s. Think long acrylic nails with fluorescent animal prints, chrome tips, glitter, and any other sparkle you can imagine. Here are a few examples.
The infamous “duck nails”:
Actual Jersey Shore Jersey Shore Nails:
Jersey Shore manicure in My Little Pony style:
Jersey Shore nails are part of a larger trend of Y2K nostalgia. Something about the excess and debauchery of turn-of-the-century pop culture appeals to young people. In response to the “sad beige and sweary” style of many millennials, the pendulum has swung back toward the more outlandish and depraved style of the early 2000s, hence the lot of babydoll tees, fishnets, low-rise jeans, and layers. So many layers.
As with all nostalgic trends, there’s another level. The young people who embrace the aesthetic usually haven’t experienced it in real life, so their interpretation is far from the truth, which says as much about them as it does about the early 2000s. This video perfectly illustrates the conflict between “TikTok Y2K” and “Real Y2K”:
What does “my 90 out of 30” mean?
“My 90 in a 30” (and variations like “My 90 in a 35” and “My 100 in a 30”) is a way to describe a song that makes you want to race your car. Kids are making videos of themselves sharing the song with the lyrics “my 90 in 30” in videos like these:
ChatGPT Outage Goes Viral
With the school year ending, kids no longer use ChatGPT to “help” them with their homework; they make it say ridiculous things and deliberately distort it. The creator of this trend, ChatGPT Says Things , uses the text-to-speech version of ChatGPT to make videos like these
and this:
Soon others began offering their own variations, such as:
Like all things AI, it’s hard to say why ChatGPT is blabbering out random words and unrelated sounds instead of just doing what it’s told. I’m sure there’s a horrifying explanation, but regardless, I love that young people are using technology in ways its creators didn’t intend. It’s a small burst of rebellion, an injection of humanity into the digital hell these kids live in. It also breaks the spell of AI. Artificial intelligence can seem eerily human, and it’s heartening to see kids making and sharing videos about how AI is just a weird machine. It’s like a peek behind the curtain at the great and terrible Land of Oz.
The Rise of AI in Bible Stories
In the information age, everyone has to reckon with it, even God. Religiosity has plummeted among Generation Z, with 34% of them saying they have no religious affiliation , compared to 18% of baby boomers. Meet the influencers of the AI Bible.
There’s a growing trend online where people are using AI to create videos imagining what it would be like if biblical characters were on TikTok. For example, here’s Moses parting the Red Sea:
And Mary, documenting her famous pregnancy:
What about Eve, recently expelled from the Garden of Eden?
Is there something sacrilegious about an image of Mary saying “Like, subscribe, and pray”? It seems so. But I like these videos. They’re an interesting, thought-provoking use of AI, even if it grates on my ex-Catholic sensibilities to hear Gen-A brain-rot lingo coming out of Jesus’ mouth. You could see these clips as commercialization of the sacred, but then, if there is a God, he’s in AI and on TikTok, and how else would he speak to young people if not in their language? I asked God what he thought of this kind of content, but he didn’t get an answer.
Viral Video of the Week: Girl Sings Moana on Plane
The video below has been viewed more than 34 million times since it was posted less than a week ago on TikTok . It documents a young girl serenading passengers stranded on a Delta Airlines flight that was delayed for more than two hours.
Whether this is a genuine moment of human connection in an alienated world or the worst travel nightmare imaginable depends on your perspective. I’m somewhere in the middle. It’s sweet to watch a kid live out a dream, she doesn’t ruin the song, and what else am I supposed to do on a crowded plane? But then, she sings for a long time . As TikToker Brody put it in the comments, “It gets to the point.” There’s a reason “leave them wanting more” is a showbiz commandment.
The comments section may be more dramatic than the video. The consensus among viewers is, “Oh my god. Please don’t let this happen to me,” but the poster of the video steadfastly defends the impromptu performance. I don’t know for sure, but it could be one of her parents.