Young people are recording themselves…doing nothing? In an attempt to fix their broken attention spans and addiction to algorithmic content scrolling, Gen Z is “rawdogging boredom,” a.k.a. setting timers to do absolutely nothing for a few minutes. Is this just a rebrand of “mindfulness” or really, meditation? Of course! (And yes, they’re filming it for content, but we won’t dig too deep into the irony of posting their digital detoxes). Across TikTok, young users are posting time-lapses of themselves sitting in their rooms with blank expressions while a countdown timer faces the camera. Most creators list strict rules that even go beyond screentime entertainment—no devices, no music, no books, no food, or any items that draw their attention. And some get hyper-specific, banning things that they personally would reach for: one person outlawed their Rubik’s cube, another banned doing magic tricks. The challenge sounds easy to older gens, but for many teens and young adults, even five minutes of sitting idle feels almost impossible. This is a gen that’s spent...
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