Cool to Cheugy — Why has the Internet Turned on Millennials?
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Why has the Internet Turned on Millennials?
If you have spent any amount of time on Instagram or TikTok over the last two years, you might have noticed the tide beginning to turn for millennials online. Once the ruling class of the web, there has been a noticeable shift in the internet’s attitude toward Gen Y. From poking fun at everything from their fashion choices to their mannerisms, vernacular and sense of humour—Gen Z has been giving Gen Y a hard time. But Y is that?
Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996. To reiterate, the millennial age range is roughly 26-41 today. Yep, these aren’t children anymore—they are full-blown adults with the oldest ones turning 41 this year. It’s with this aging that the once ‘internet cool kids’ have inevitably fallen victim to the trappings of the passage of time, falling behind, and getting stuck in dated internet culture.
A generation that grew up on Tumblr, Facebook, and MySpace, the quirks and humour that were created and fostered by Millennials for years on these profile-based platforms haven’t exactly translated into the video-forward platforms of 2022 ie. TikTok. It’s a tale as old as time. A new generation comes along and makes fun of the one that came before it. Hey, we still haven’t stopped saying “OK Boomer”. Maybe this is Millennials Karma, or maybe it’s just the cycle of life.
So, when did the tide begin to change for millennials online? From my perspective, as an avid TikTok user, I first noticed the trend of making fun of millennials when I saw this TikTok video. The video introduces the internet to the term cheugy. Although the word had existed on Urban Dictionary since 2013, it really took off in the public psyche in 2020 after the aforementioned video went viral. From here, it spiralled into a TikTok trend with videos titled ‘things I think are ✨cheugy✨’ and ‘is being blonde cheugy’ going viral on the platform.
@nisipisa #stitch with @taylorswift ♬ All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) – Taylor Swift
Pronounced ‘chew-gee’, the term is essentially synonymous with the word ‘cringe’, and in turn, has become synonymous with millennial behaviours. The term has been used to describe things like “Live Laugh Love”-style home décor, using internet terms in real life (“I did a thing”, “doggo”, “I can’t even”) and the ‘hashtag girl boss’ mentality. As Refinery 29 puts it, “the word denotes more than just all things out-of-style…it points to how behind a cheug might be for following a certain trend long after its prime”. And so, here is where I believe the tide began to turn for millennials online.
The trend continued to gain momentum when a 28-year-old YouTuber and TikToker @nisipisa coined the term the ‘millennial pause’. The ‘millennial pause’ refers to the split second that millennials take after they press record and before they start talking in a video. The pause is taken to account for old technologies’ inability to start recording instantly, which now results in an awkward silence at the beginning of content often recorded by millennial creators. As the Atlantic journalist, Kate Lindsay puts it “the first generation to grow up with social media, Millennials are now becoming the first generation to age out of it”.
All of this begs the question, is aging out of social media inevitable? Likely. With consumer behaviour ever-evolving, with video trends, memes, content types, sayings and new platforms emerging faster than ever before—can we keep up forever? Probably not. However, by adopting social media strategies that cater to the unique behaviour of the demographic you are seeking to target, your brand can stay relevant and connected. Dedicating time to working out how your customer navigates social media is key to executing an effective strategy. There isn’t a one size fits all solution— right now, Millennials remain loyal to Instagram, Gen Z are scrolling their days away on TikTok and Gen X is keeping up with the family gossip on Facebook, but this could all change.
Every dog has its day, and I don’t doubt for a second that one day the internet will be laughing at Gen Z for our cringe internet behaviour. The generation wars will wage on, Millennials are just their latest victim.
Authored by UMM’s copywriter, Erin Clarke & clearly a Gen Z.
