We find ourselves in delirious mid-August: a closing chapter of summer where the impact of multiple festivals, the odd holiday, and a lack of grown-up supervision at work combine to cause feelings of acute disorientation. TikTok has offered Gen-Z an antidote: being “very demure, very mindful, very cutesy”.
You might have seen Jennifer Lopez instructing you how to consume a fizzy drink “demurely”, or the White House’s official Instagram post a photograph of Joe Biden with the caption: “Cancelling the student debt of nearly 5 million Americans through various actions. Very mindful. Very demure”, and thought – what now? Which would be fair.
