Gen Z, one of the bolder generations to exist today, is credited with having the courage to question societal norms. However, having grown up around social media, minuscule attention spans, and overstimulating cartoons, Gen-Z is taking a step back. Unlearning the urge to constantly remain online, the 30-second short-form videos have held the larger part of the population hostage.
But, they have come up with yet another trend, labelled the Gen-Z ‘timeout’. In an attempt to disconnect and calling it ‘healing,’ it has often existed along the many cisterns of the Internet. ‘Study with me till the candle melts’ is yet another rendition of his effort to recalibrate the focus and end the distraction from the deep dark hole of doomscrolling.
What is Gen-Z timeout? Internet reacts
The Gen-Z timeout has four strict rules: ‘No phone. No TV. No music. No food. Just silence.’ As the Internet goes down a spiral to decide whether the Gen-Z way of mindfulness is genius or just a rebrand of meditation, the generation is also being labelled lazy. While others jump to their defense, the need to disconnect via a ‘timeout’ has been called ‘one of the saddest things’ on the Internet.
Reacting to the viral TikTok post reshared on X (formerly Twitter) a user replied “And just like that, meditation was cool again.” “It’s one of the saddest things I’ve seen. Gen Z is addicted to social media and constant stimulation—unable to exist without distraction. When simply sitting in silence for fifteen minutes becomes a trend, it’s no experiment; it’s a symptom of addiction,” opined another.
On the other hand, the Twitterati was surprised that ‘doing nothing’ was something people were amazed by, calling it ‘depressing’. Echoing the sentiment, a user on one side of the debate said, “Being lazy with a phone or without doesn’t make a difference.” They then suggested that Gen-Z engages in productive tasks like reading, household chores, and even lending a hand in the garden, for example.
Supporting the effort
Those who supported the Gen Z timeout sympathise with the generation. They acknowledged their constant need to remain chronically online was ‘all they knew’. “I genuinely think this is a good. People are making fun of them, but honestly, if all you’ve known is “constant screen time and dopamine” what else do you expect them to do?” opined a user. “Gen Z had to speedrun through dopamine addiction first to realise that doing literally nothing feels revolutionary,” read another comment.
“Its kinda pointless if you are doing it for content purposes…Because you need to then spend more time online editing and posting the video,” was the view several netizens felt, pointing out the paradoxical. While others noted, ” The fact that Gen Z has meditation going viral should be a shame on US, not THEM.” Summing up the debate in its entirety, a comment read, “One of the defining features of Gen Z is taking something everybody knows about and pretending they invented it by giving it a different name.”
