With the constant risk of being recorded, many young people are afraid of showing enthusiasm – let alone doing something so potentially embarrassing as dancing in public. Is there a way to set themselves free?

In a video posted to TikTok, where Katie Whitney has 2.5 million followers, she says to camera, bluntly: “This video is for Cynthia Erivo. If you’re not Cynthia Erivo … you can keep on scrolling.” Her demeanour then shifts, her voice becomes softer; more the way a person might talk to their puppy: “Hi Cynthia. Hi baby. Hey baby. How are you?” It’s toe-curling – or, in modern parlance, cringe – to watch. “I feel traumatised,” says one commenter. Others post photos of a stunned-looking Erivo and imagine: “What if the Wicked star were to actually watch this video?” Cringe!

Now 25, but having started making this kind of content – “weird skits” – at 20, Whitney is part of what is known online as CringeTok, a subsection of the internet that deals in content designed to make your toes curl. It’s in many ways a reaction to a fear of being “cringe”, which is seeping into all parts of life – from social media to classrooms to the workplace.

(Couldn’t think of a better comm to post this in given there doesn’t seem to be one for opinion pieces I could find)

  • GiveOver@feddit.ukEnglish
    5·
    6 days ago

    Kids have always been scared of being awkward and not fitting in, but I can understand why the internet has sent it into overdrive for gen Z. I’ve had younger people use “cringe” as an insult at me, but I’m too old for that to affect me. I just feel pity that they’re so scared of being themselves.

    On a more positive note, I know a secondary school teacher who got good results out of saying “Well that’s embarrassing” whenever her pupils were being twats.