school

Teenagers have shared what's 'cool', and boy, have times changed.

Having been out of school for longer than I’d care to admit, I consider myself slightly out of touch with what is currently ‘cool’ among kidz these days.

That said, I wasn’t too in tune with what was ‘cool’ when I was a teenager, evidenced by the fact that I continue to put the word ‘cool’ in inverted commas, and laugh just a little too hard at this gif.

HAHAH. THIS IS ME. Image via Giphy.

Thankfully, a recent Reddit thread has called on highschoolers to crowdsource the things that are 'in' right now, so tragically daggy people like me can attempt to be 'up with the times.'

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I approached the thread thinking, 'I wonder if kids are still into their I-Phones and Youtubes,' but there were actually quite a few things I learned.

Sure, there's a fundamental flaw with this strategy, given that genuinely cool highschool kids are probably not sitting on Reddit telling older people what's cool. But with over 10,000 comments, there must be some kernels of truth in there.

Being an Instagram model.

According to the most popular comment in the thread, "a LOT of people are paying for photoshoots to post on Instagram or FB, and I think a lot of them actually believe they're models/bloggers???"

I see.

This wasn't a thing when I was at school. Instagram didn't....exist.

Heheheh wooops. Image via Giphy.
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Several comments confirmed the coolness of Instagram among the youngens, with one Redditor sharing, "We went on a school trip and I found out that many girls literally just did fun things for the cool photo... I can't wait for it to be over."

Sorry mate. That phase never ends. If anything it becomes worse in your 20s. And people legitimately start to make a living from it.

Memes.

Simply from being a person who uses the Internet, I know memes are cool. What I didn't know was that they are so cool that schools have actually started to use them to motivate students.

One Reddit user shared, "Memes are really big, my school even started to use them to encourage students to get their counselor appointments to register for their classes next year."

Sorry, let me back track.

Memes were cool.

The dog. And the flower crown.

Apparently girls love the dog and flower crown filters on Snapchat. And they're really cool. I wonder why?

Kylie and Kendall Jenner. Images via Snapchat.

\_(ツ)_/¯

Saying "it's Gucci" in normal conversation.

So apparently the term 'it's Gucci' means 'it's okay,' or 'it's cool.'

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Other phrases shared by Reddit users included 'fam' (your people), 'lit' (being really intoxicated) and 'I'm dead' (you found something so funny you died).

Jesus.

Need a little more help deciphering teen speak? This Glorious Mess has a handy guide. Post continues below.

Makeup. But like, hectic makeup.

When I was at school, we all tried to get away with wearing some mascara and foundation without getting caught. But apparently, things have gotten much more intense in the years since.

This is totally natural for school. Image via Giphy.
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A teacher shared in the thread, "This may seem always popular for teenage girls but now you can tell they use high caliber stuff and watch tutorials. I have asked many of my students what brow powder they use because I've been doing my makeup for a decade longer than they have and some are better than me :(."

I think we have Kylie Jenner to blame for this.

A hybrid of 80s and 90s fashion.

The cool kids of Reddit said they wear ripped jeans, a flannel tied around their waist, fleece pants, tie dye shirts, and long T-shirts.

One user went as far as to say, 'it looks like the 80s and 90s had a baby.'

I see. Dressing like a hobo is cool.

Dabbing.

This I had genuinely never heard of. But dabbing is a type of...dance?

Apparently, it 'evolved from Nae Nae.'

Yep, that's a thing someone has written on the Internet.

Let me break it down for you. Nae Nae-ing (cool people would never call it nae nae-ing) became mainstream after the song Watch Me Whip by Silento hit the charts. It's lyrics go like this:

Now watch me whip (Kill it!)
Now watch me nae nae (Okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (Want me do it?)

Nae Nae is a dance which involves planting ones feet on the ground, and swaying with one hand in the air and one towards the floor.

It would seem 'Dabbing' is like 'Nae Nae-ing' but cooler. It looks like this:

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Just kidding. It looks nothing like that.

I need a lie down.

Here are a few other trends considered 'cool' by highschoolers:

  • Burning themselves. One teacher said, "Toward the end of the year they all started coloring black Sharpie on themselves in little squares, then pressing their iPhone light on it and rapidly turning the flashlight on and off a few times until it burned them. Go figure."
  • Pokemon Go. Obviously.
  • Calling yourself 'trash' ironically.
  • Choker necklaces.
  • Describing things as 'on fleek.'

It's a hilarious thread, but several contributers had one very important thing to say:

Nice try, Dad.