Extended Response #3: Wholesomeness Content
Last week, Amy Francombe asked why GenZ loves wholesome and humble content. Here's what I had to say on the matter
Read Amy’s Evening Standard Article “How Gen Z became obsessed with ‘wholesome” here
Q: Wholesomeness was once associated with sexual chastity and evangelical Christian purity, but over the recent years has rebranded as a Gen Z aspiration* across social media. What helped shift this?
In terms of language, I don't think the word wholesomeness has been too exclusive to sexual chastity and evangelical Christian purity - like, cute ducks have always been wholesome. However, as adorable was uploaded to social media it initially lived as Dog Instagrams and using the phrase ‘Faith in Humanity Restored’ across the net, but 10 years on, the content has grown up in tandem with GenZ maturing into copious and well-fueled niche accounts (see @boopmynose and consistently viral cutie @2ah.in). This content genre needed a name so it could be found, and the internet decided it should be called wholesome.
For why I believe wholesome is so popular I think, fundamentally, cute and wholesome content is just likeable. It’s good. It’s nice. I love it. You love it. We all love it. As I address in my article “The Booms and Busts’ of Online Authenticity”, some things are just undeniable, and loving wholesome content is human nature so will earn such a response.
*tackling this in the second question.
Q: Why do Gen Z strive for wholesomeness these days?
There is a generational shift to being empathetic resulting in interesting uses of wholesomeness.
Firstly, the shift. In the wake of globalisation and woke, there’s been an expansion of possible identities (race, sexual orientation, gender, classes etc) and what identities we will come into contact with, making a need to be more empathetic so we are considerate of all types of being. Empathy is expected, but moreover, it’s now a flex.
As shared by a teacher in a Reddit thread “What's the difference between 1999, 2009, and 2019 students?”, they say the kids of 2017 are “MUCH nicer to each other … but there’s this strange undercurrent of competition to be “The Most Good Person” - which is where I feel the strive for wholesomeness enters the chat.
It’s cool to be kind so there is a rise in it, but it’s both genuine and a trend. PFPs of cute faces, including a deep-fried image of a kitten in a photo dump or signing off TikTok comments “bestie x” is common, being wholesome is keeping up with the Joneses.
As well as being the flex of the day, I’ve seen wholesomeness and wholesome “things” as vehicles to underscore inner circle relationships. Peers and collectives citing each other as “family” and posting wholesome things they do together is a means to signal their tight bond and that, perhaps, not everyone can be let in. As they say, you can’t choose family so if you’re in you’re in, if you’re not - you're not.
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Less pessimistically, and to reference what I said earlier, wholesomeness is just nice to see - so why not post it? Why not DM a compliment? Why not help out if you can? Why not stop and smell the roses and tell everyone how great that is?
GenZ are trading fit pics for loving exchanges with Dad making what really matters a bigger flex material goods.
Q: What are your favourite examples of this wholesomeness trend in action?
A follower of cult Instagram account @ihategum could afford Gum’s merch, so another community member bought him a tee. here
TikToker Cole Caetano @karvetv finds genuine creators whose content had no to few views, then profiles them on his account of 524.7K followers funnelling subscribers and adoration to their accounts, digital goodwill.
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End of Questions!
That’s enough from me, time to read Amy’s article which also featured my fellow MØRNING person Letty Cole here is you haven’t already.the
What do y’all think?
Do you think people use it as means to maintain inner circles?
Do you love wholesomeness content?
Is it a trend or is it forever?
till the next time i start typing…
lol, emily chapps :)