Red flag summer 🚩
The Up and Up Community weighs in on the biggest summer phenomenons… and it’s all a bit messy.
In a Reality Check with The Up and Up’s Gen Z community this week, I asked for their POV on the biggest trend of the summer. From the Labubu craze to Love Island obsession, Coldplay concert kiss cam cringe, and fear about the possibility of World War 3, their answers reveal a summer shaped by a mix of feral internet culture, anxiety, and a collective sense of unseriousness.
On the surface, meming mayhem provides levity and can be used as a coping mechanism to alleviate stress, but when you look a level deeper, these trends illuminate a generation struggling to find an identity beyond messy chaos, opting instead for groupthink and co-commiserating. It’s ok to all want to laugh at the same thing, but it also shows how lonely and judgmental we all are.
Here are my top five takeaways about this summer’s trends.
The Labubu is the physical manifestation of crashing out. All over the country (and world), young people have waited in long lines to score a coveted Labubu, the famous monster doll keychain that originated in Hong Kong… Check out this video of the long lines at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, Michigan. Let’s be clear, Labubus are not the first dolls to have a moment with young people (Webkinz and cabbage patch dolls anyone?). But thanks to celebrity endorsements and social media virality, Labubus offer a fresh take on a nostalgic fad. The fact that high profile people put them on Birkin bags added an allure to the $27.99 keychain, making them seem way more valuable than they actually are. The power of the Labubu is in what it represents. The fact that so many people are obsessed with a mischievous looking monster doll demonstrates an appetite for the unseriousness and is an ironic statement about coping with chaos.
The parasocial voyeurism of Love Island shows a generation that doesn’t know how to date. Love Island USA struck a chord for so many reasons. For one, the almost nightly dating show was interactive, with a smartphone app that allowed viewers access to exclusive videos, merch, and of course, let them weigh in remotely on the drama going down in Fiji by voting for their favorite couples. But beyond the fact that viewers felt like they could be there while sitting on their couch at home, the Love Island discourse revealed so much more. Struggling with their own romantic and sexual relationships, Gen Z loves to watch others navigate dating and hook up culture. And Love Island USA offered an extreme version of that.
Gen Z loves to hate on CEOs. There are a lot of takes about Coldplay concert kiss cam that outed the Astronomer CEO and his HR chief, including one about the basic psychology of why we were all obsessed with this saga – rooted in human nature, that you feel better about yourself when seeing someone else publicly make a mistake. Sure, that’s part of it. But for Gen Z, there seems to be a palpable and collective desire to shame CEOs. Remember when 41% of young adults under 30 said the United CEO assassination was somewhat or completely acceptable?
The fear of World War 3 was real but fleeting. In the immediate aftermath of the United States’ unprecedented strike on Iran, the internet was in a tailspin over the potential of a third World War. At the time, members of The Up and Up Community told me they were talking with friends about the possibility of being drafted. While our geopolitical situation is still in flux, these conversations were short lived.
And the fact that it was memed in the way the Coldplay CEO affair was shows that internet culture blurs the gravity and significance of high stakes current events and puts a range of content on the same playing field, even when it shouldn’t be. A few of The Up and Up Community members said the Epstein files stand out to them as a top news moment from this summer, but there is so much going on that it’s hard for any one event to break through. While Democrats may hope the Trump administration’s handling of the files hurts the president’s standing with some frustrated MAGA bros, when it comes to young Americans, there’s little evidence showing this will be his downfall.
Noteworthy reads
The billionaires and CEOs panicking about Zohran Mamdani are wrong about Gen Z, Kristin Stoller for Fortune (and thank you for including my pov!)
Why My Generation Is Bad at Partying,
forYou Haven’t Met This Version of Aryna Sabalenka Yet, Lauren Balsamo for Cosmo
Why Mom Is Coming on the Honeymoon, Tara Weiss for The Wall Street Journal