The youth barometer analyzed Swedish youth's trend predictions for the year 2024. Uncertain times seem to have divided young people into two camps, writes HS Vision columnist Hilla Körkkö.
About two years. In my opinion, Swedes have typically been ahead of Finns in all kinds of trends.
However, now the situation has changed. If you ask the Swedish youth, it seems that the country is going back in time for a good seventy years in terms of trends.
And it's not just about clothes.
Lifestyle and looking at preferences Ungdomsbarometern asked young people what the hottest trends of 2024 might be.
More than 15,000 Swedes between the ages of 15 and 25 participated in the study. The results are divided according to three macro trends: economy, health and aesthetics.
The young people's predictions included, for example: “monk mode”, “looksmaxxing” and “soft girl”.
It's about the concepts and keywords used in the social media service Tiktok. Young people add them to their videos, where they present their lifestyle that fits each concept.
The terms used on the Internet are not new. For example Forbes wrote about the “monk mode” trend already in the fall of 2023, but according to Swedish youth, it is now reaching the mainstream in the country.
War comes close, and Swedish minister urges to be prepared for the fact that it might even come to your home country. Uncertain times, the historically low exchange rate of the krone, climate change and the last chills of the pandemic seem to have divided Swedish youth into two camps.
Roughly speaking, you could say that young people are divided into those who equip themselves and those who cower.
According to the youth barometer, some young people want to maximize their performance in 2024, earn more than before and dress impressively. Others, on the other hand, want to reduce consumption, retreat to home conditions and focus, for example, on comfort when dressing instead of shopping.
The division is clear between the sexes.
The majority of boys are those who would like to live effectively, showily and earn money. On the other hand, most of the girls would like to withdraw and slow down.
According to the research, both girls and boys want to invest in mental well-being, but the majority of girls do it for the sake of mental health balance. Most of the boys, on the other hand, want to feel well in order to be able to perform in the best possible way in their everyday life.
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The trends wrapped in Korean internet slang sound translated in Finnish as if the year might as well be 1954.
According to Swedish youth, the term “Monk mode” refers to exactly this.
According to youth research, “monk mode” means isolation, introspection and concentration reminiscent of a monk's lifestyle.
On Tiktok users present their daily routines as part of the so-called monk mode challenge. The days include meditation, sports, stretching and reading moments. The use of social media should be limited, as should ready-made foods and white sugar. For example, alcohol must be completely abstained from.
“Looksmaxxing” means masking one's appearance to the extreme in accordance with some kind of Western beauty ideals. According to the youth barometer, the word has its roots in Swedish game slang and game characters whose abilities can be “maxxed”, i.e. maximized.
For one reason or another, strong jaws are in the center. They can be seen by the representative of the looksmaxxing trend popular on Tiktok, a Virginian by Dillon Latham by rehabilitate, for example, by breathing through the nose. Latham has nearly 250,000 followers on the service. His videos have collected a total of more than 7 million likes.
The example of the trend is an American writer by Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho – the protagonist of the work Patrick Bateman, investment banker and serial killer by profession.
Girls' in the couple, the so-called “soft girl”, the aesthetics and lifestyle of soft girls, became the biggest trend. The whole thing includes a restrained appearance, soft clothes and a simple and slow life, pilates and skin care.
According to the BBC the so-called soft girl trend originates from the Nigerian influencer community. Originally, its purpose was to bring relief to life in difficult conditions. It has been considered a precursor to the so-called “soft quitting”. The last one is practically about a person having a more relaxed attitude to his work than before in relation to the rest of his life.
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The girls stay at home while the boys go to the gym or work to earn money.
According to a Swedish study, soft girls are also the antithesis of the so-called “boss girl” power. Soft girls prefer to stay at home than, for example, at work.
to Korea the trends wrapped in internet slang sound in Finnish as if the year could just as well be 1954.
The differences between the sexes will have an extreme effect among young Swedes who will tune in in 2024.
The girls stay at home while the boys go to the gym or work to earn money.
On the other hand, based on trend forecasts, the norms attached to different genders also seem to mix. The boys work hard, the girls take it easy.
Even if the young people's predictions do not come true, it is at least clear that the “online and offline worlds” overlap into one reality. Tiktok is a platform for the construction of identity, where social gender is shaped under the cross pressure of trends and an uncertain social situation.
Is the youth ruined again? No. It's just a product of its time.
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