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Gen Z Trends · The Slippery Slope

• 0:12
  OK. I want to talk about something a
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  little more lighthearted, but yet maybe some people think it's
• 0:21
  pretty serious. But what?
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  What is up with this? Should I call it a trend, this
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  thing with the the the next generation?
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  You know, part of me thinks that maybe this is just me because
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  I'm getting old and I find myself just scratching my head
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  when I'm talking to other generations and I'm sitting
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  going, what are you talking about?
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  And then watching some of the things that pop up, pop up on my
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  news feed and that and this come across as the latest trend on
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  TikTok, the latest Gen. Z trend.
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  And you're sitting there going, how is that the latest trend
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  that's been around for like 100 years, 200 years.
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  And I've seen a few different things come up on the news feed
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  and this, all these new trends that Gen.
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  Z come Gen. Z, what is it Gen.
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  Z, Gen. Z any or whatever they want to
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  be called come up with and you sit there going, that's not how
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  is that a trend And you didn't and they all talk about it as if
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  as if they invented it. So the first thing, first one in
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  this news article, the bedroom habit.
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  I refuse to give up, despite how gross some experts say it is.
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  And the whole thing, the the basically the article is just
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  about making your bed and how it's a good routine to get into
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  to making your bed first thing in the morning.
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  Funny enough, I remember my parents used to say, yeah, get
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  up, make your bed in the morning.
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  Generational thing my parents grandparents used to do.
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  Get up. You make your bed first thing in
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  the morning. I'm not a big fan.
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  Maybe I'm just too lazy. It's like my wife gets up first
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  thing in the morning, makes the bed.
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  It's something that's been drilled in, drilled in from
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  generation to generation. I'd guarantee great grandparents
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  in World War One they would have been getting up, making the bed
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  first thing in the morning. What really struck me with this
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  article was this young lady saying retired U.S.
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  Navy Admiral William H Mcraven popularized the idea of making
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  your bed first thing in his commencement speech to graduates
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  at the University of Texas in 2014.
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  So apparently he popularized the idea in 2014.
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  No one else has ever thought about it.
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  He then went on to write a book promoting this concept,
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  promoting the concept of making your bed.
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  This Admiral came up with the concept make your bed.
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  It'll set you off. Start you off for the day and
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  I'll sit there going Surely this lady can't be serious.
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  It goes on to say if you want to make the, if you want to change
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  the world, start off by making a bed, he said in his famous
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  speech. Apparently it's a famous speech
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  about making your bed. I'm like, come on fellas, this,
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  this. Making your bed first thing in
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  the morning and starting your day with making your bed is not
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  an idea that came out in 2014 anyway.
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  Anyway, so I'm. I'm still reading again in my
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  news feed. Maybe it's because I've been
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  looking up. I'm looking up trends and that
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  again at my news feed, ABC News, Young people in China embrace
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  stooping, stooping culture of turning rubbish into I just saw
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  the stooping culture and I actually thought, stupid me
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  thought it was like a person walking along, like stooping
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  down or something. I had no idea what they're
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  talking about. Turning rubbish into treasure.
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  Here we go. So this is what's happening in
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  China. As night falls on the streets of
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  Shanghai, Mikaiko Mikiko Chen can often be found prowling.
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  She's prowling, prowling through the winding alleyways of the
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  city, hunting for discarded items.
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  I pick up all sorts of things, Chairs, wine boxes, wardrobes,
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  bowls and cups. It's like treasure hunting for
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  me, she says. It's best to do this during
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  nights because waste collectors will take all of them away
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  during the next day. The 27 year old digital marketer
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  is among the first adopters of stooping in China, a practice
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  that refers to picking up discarded furniture and other
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  goods on the street for reuse. She says the concept was
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  inspired by New Yorkers who often leave unwanted things on
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  the Stoops or doorsteps leading up to the entrances of
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  buildings. The core concept of stooping for
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  me is to make the best use of things.
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  Just like this is really a trend in China now, stooping, going
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  around and collecting rubbish. Hey, when I was very first
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  married in the 90s, me young wife, young young baby child
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  went to Melbourne. I've never seen this before.
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  OK, I went, went to Melbourne, went to Melbourne to live and I
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  noticed that people would randomly put what I thought was
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  rubbish out on the street. I'm talking mid, mid 90s, late
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  90s probably. It is, I can't remember the
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  exact year. Late 90s, let's say.
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  People would, you know, randomly just put stuff out on the
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  street. Next day gone next minute gone.
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  Fascinated me. What was this almost 30 years
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  ago now? 20 something years, 25 years
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  ago. And I'm looking going, what is
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  going on here? So I realized if you want
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  something gone, you've got an old washing machine.
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  Chuck it out on the street, Chuck it out on the footpath,
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  Someone sees it. Next day it's gone sure enough.
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  I I hate to tell this little Chinese girl they didn't come up
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  with it. Obviously they were doing it in
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  New York, they were doing it in Melbourne 25, they're probably
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  doing it in Melbourne 50 years ago for all I know.
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  That's just when I first saw it. I'd never seen people do it much
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  in Queensland because a lot of the Queenslanders I knew didn't
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  want to throw out rubbish. They didn't like that anyway,
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  things that they want to, things that they want to do.
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  So then you've got this, this next trend.
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  So you've got the stooping. You've got the the people that
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  think that they come up with in 2014 making your bed.
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  That'll get you off. And then you've got the the last
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  trend, which is silent walking. Oh, I'm going to do another one
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  as well. But yeah, the silent walking is
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  a movement taking Gen. Z by storm.
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  But it's copping criticism. You know why it's copping
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  criticism? Because it's just silly.
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  Let's watch this. Let's watch this.
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  I'm committing it to one silent walk a day, not me
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  unintentionally starting a movement.
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  It's called silent walking and it's about to change your life.
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  So this all started with my nutritionist recommended that I
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  start walking 30 minutes a day instead of doing like insane
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  cardio like I used to. Those workouts for making my
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  body inflamed. That's a story for another time.
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  And as I was about to go out on my first 30 minute walk, my
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  sweet boyfriend challenged me. To walk without distractions, No
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  air pods, no podcast, no music, just me, myself and I.
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  And at first I was like, no, my anxiety could never, which is
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  probably what you're thinking. But something within me was
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  like, let me just try it and look, the 1st 2 minutes are
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  mayhem. Your mind is racing, you're
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  going to have anxiety. Something happens after 2
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  minutes where your brain just gets into this flow state and
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  everything is quiet. Suddenly you can.
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  Hear yourself, Look the universe, and your intuition
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  comes to you through whispers. So if you're never alone with
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  your thoughts and you never get quiet, you're going to miss the
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  whispers. And those whispers are the most
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  important to be paying attention to.
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  After 30 minutes of silent walking, I suddenly had the
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  clarity that I had been always looking for.
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  The brain fog lifted. Not only all these ideas are
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  flowing into me because I'm giving them space to enter.
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  When you're listening to a podcast or music, you're
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  distracting yourself. You're not letting the signs and
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  the ideas. Have space to come to you.
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  Every time I finish a silent walk, I have a new idea for my
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  business. I've untangled a weird situation
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  in my head that I've been ruminating over, and I feel like
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  a lot of my current question marks get answered.
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  Look, if I can do it, you can do it.
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  I promise. Just, oh, seriously, I can't
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  take these people. I can't take them seriously.
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  So she's come up. This is a this is a trend that
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  she's apparently come up with. She said the trend.
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  Well, read this article and tell me so.
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  Apparently some other trends I've had is everything.
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  Showers. Bed rotting, Bare minimum
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  Mondays. I thought that was just Mondays
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  in my 20s from from about 18. As soon as I left high school,
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  every Monday was a bare minimum Monday, which have been adopted
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  to varying degrees of social media fanfare.
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  Now the latest Gen. Z movement.
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  Take the youngest generation. Ironically, it's not new that
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  it's not that new at all. Silent Walking.
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  I love the way. It's like I love the way.
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  She's explaining how you know you'll have all these great
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  euphoric moments and it'll just transform your life.
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  You know the brain fog will lift no music.
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  Who would have thought that? If you, if you have some time to
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  yourself, don't listen to music or podcasts except for the
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  slippery slope, of course. Maybe you'll have some time to
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  work out some things that have been troubling your mind.
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  But anyway, I I just. And is it just me, or is like
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  every second person from the Gen.
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  Z generation suffer from anxiety?
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  I've never. I swear I I'm Gen.
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  X like thick smack bang in the middle of Gen.
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  X and I've never heard of this, this suffering from anxiety
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  until until this generation. And it's like every second
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  person I've met from this generation is always like
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  anxiety. They've all got anxiety.
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  I've got no idea what's going on.
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  Anyway, last one, last one, and this is this isn't really a
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  trend. This is just, I don't know
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  someone, someone coming to reality about having to work 9
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  to 5. Have a listen.
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  Have a listen to this. I don't have time to do
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  anything. I don't.
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  I want to shower, eat my dinner and go to sleep.
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  I don't have time or energy to cook my dinner either.
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  Like I don't have energy to work out like that's out the window
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  like. I'm so upset.
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  Oh, my God. Nothing to do with my job at
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  all. But just like the 9:00 to 5:00
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  schedule in general is crazy being in the office 9 to 5.
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  Like, if it was remote, you get off at 5:00 and you're home and
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  everything's fine. But, like, I'm not home.
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  It takes me long to get home. And like, like people that drive
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  to the office, like, it doesn't. You don't get off at 5:00.
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  And I know it could be worse. I know I could be working
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  longer. But like.
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  I literally get off. It's pitch black.
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  Like, I don't have energy. How do you have friends?
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  Like, how do you have time to like meet like a guy?
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  I don't know. Like, how do you have time for
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  like, dating? Like I don't have time for
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  anything and I'm I wasn't going to do this episode because I
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  thought I wouldn't like. But it's just a this is just a
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  bit of a what the flipper, you know?
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  I mean come on. I can't.
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  I shouldn't say this. My kids are, they're Gen.
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  Z. But I do find it hard to take to
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  take this generation seriously. I mean, they complain about
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  working 9:00 to 5:00. They think they come up with all
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  these trends, which aren't trends.
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  They're just things that have been around for a long time and
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  they've just kind of put a bit of a different spin on it,
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  maybe. I've got no idea.
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  I mean the silent walking, for crying out loud.
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  Oh, but I tell you what, Gen. Z, they are entertaining.
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  They are entertaining as heck. Because I don't know if it's
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  just the narcissism or just the like the silly way that they
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  talk, but oh, they're an entertaining generation.
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  I'll tell you. I'll tell you that.
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  But let me know what you think. Hey, I mean really, is this
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  really the way Gen. Z's all think, or is it just the
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  TikTok is? I've met a few then that's that
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  seems like the way they think. They all think they've come up
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  with everything. They've come up with every new
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  trend. Everything they do is something
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  brand new. And I said they're going, dude,
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  not only did I do it, my parents did it.
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  My great my grandparents did it. I you're blowing my mind.
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  I don't know what you're thinking here.
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  Anyway, I should probably hope my kids don't watch this.
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  They'll be annoyed at me. Oh, you got to do it.
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  You got to do a silly episode every now and then after a
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  serious, you know, let me know what you think.
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  Gen. Z.
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  And if you're in Gen. Z, let me know what you think.
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  Is this really the way you all think?
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  You know, you all come up with the trends.
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  You all think you're setting trends.
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  Anyway, I'm Jay Fallon. Thanks for listening to.
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  It's what the flip. The slippery slope.