The Zoomer: The 21st-Century Kid That Society is Raising
With the meteoric rise of the meme, society has been lapping it up ever since its inception. There are colleges like the University of California Berkeley that have even added Meme Studies to their bachelors degree programs. We all laugh about it just like how many people laugh at the Gender Studies degree. But there may be a legitimate reason why it’s been added.
I’ve been doing an analysis on the memes embodying people, such as the 30-year-old “Boomer”, the Doomer, and the Bloomer, and I’ve talked about their place in society. Now it’s time to be that guy to explain another meme and their place in society: the Zoomer.
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The Zoomer is a meme originating from the Wojak/Feels meme much like the Boomer, Doomer, and Bloomer. The Zoomer is closest to the Boomer where they just don’t care about society. However, there are two distinct differences between the two memes. One is that the Boomer is the representative of the Millennials, especially older ones; the Zoomer represents Generation Z.
An even bigger difference is that while the Boomer is indifferent about society and just has fun with no intent in harming anyone else, the Zoomer tries to be edgy in order to get clout and appear cool on the Internet without caring about the repercussions for their actions.
The Kid/Teen that drinks Mountain Dew and eats Doritos while playing Fortnite
The Zoomer is the embodiment of the 4chan underground culture in society. They are the ones that are always screaming, “Oh baby, a triple!” or shouting about how they “no-scoped a noob” on Call of Duty. They also like playing Fortnite and make fun of Minecraft.
This may seem harmless, but they’re also the reason why many multiplayer game chats are toxic. They’re the ones that say the n-word or tell people to “kill themselves” as a joke, when a lot of us know suicide or yelling racial slurs is not only unfunny, but offensive. They also like autotuned mumble rappers as well, such as 6ix9ine.
They do this to impress their online peers and to score cool points and gain clout for their trash-talking. I remember playing Call of Duty and CS:GO all the time throughout high school and having to mute my speakers or headphones because everyone was shouting dumb slurs, swearing, yelling in their mics as loud as they could, or just downright having a mental breakdown and blaming their computer for lagging their game. All you have to do is search “kid rages on Fortnite” or “gamers raging” and you’ll find unlimited amounts of compilations of this stuff.
So what does this have to do with their place in society?
In all seriousness, this Zoomer is very toxic and can be very much a nightmare for a parent to deal with. I’m not a supporter of “physical discipline”, spanking your children or whipping them with a belt. I have plenty of opinions on that. However, it feels like the Zoomer can be an exception to that rule.
The Zoomer is very much likely to not see much sun. (I mean, I didn’t either, but I’d like to think I wasn’t that toxic on CS:GO.) Their only source of a social life comes from playing multiplayer first-person-shooters with people either as toxic as they are or fragile like the Doomer. They don’t realize that some of the things they say have many more consequences in real life unlike when they say them behind the screen.
The Zoomer is the result of a society where either parent is probably too busy working at their jobs and making money, and to make up for lost time, they spoil their kid by getting him all the latest gaming consoles and gaming gear to keep him happy. They don’t realize they are making the problem worse. They are the “spoiled brats” people keep talking about. Eventually, most of these Zoomers grow out of the toxic ways, but many of them still exist.
Are they part of the problem in society?
Honestly, yes. When you aren’t held responsible to your actions, you think you can get away with it.
Take Jake Paul, for instance. He is known for his hi-jinx with his posse called “Team 10” (which is all but defunct at this point). He also starred in the Disney show, “Bizaardvark” (which he got fired for after being on there for over a year). He is most notably known for hopping on news vans, starting a mattress on fire in a pool (while fires were happening nearby Los Angeles, by the way), slandering his former girlfriend and being accused of abusing her…I could go on.
He acts like such a Zoomer. In fact, he may be one of the reasons why the Zoomer meme was a thing. But he’s not just a Zoomer himself. Most of the members of Team 10 acted like he did, and those that left didn’t like the toxicity and craziness within the Team 10 house. And let’s not forget about his fans…oh, good God, the fans…
This isn’t just about Jake Paul, though. I’m sure he’s trying to adjust to adulthood because let’s be honest, he had no accountability. He was born in the suburbs of Cleveland in a middle-class white family where he and his brother Logan were the sports stars and popular as you could be. His mother didn’t do much to hold them accountable, and aside from training them hard in sports, their dad didn’t do much either. In fact, he’s just like them.
The House that Made the Zoomer
Look, I know this went from talking about a meme to talking about Jake Paul. But the point here is this: the house that made both Jake and Logan Paul is the house that made the Zoomer: An upper-middle-class family, usually white and living in the suburbs, whose parents are hard-workers, the soccer moms, and the breadwinner fathers, who buy expensive things to make their child happy.
But that’s the problem. Is it their fault that they both work hard? No. But they should give love and time to their children instead of giving them shiny objects or expensive things to replace that. They’re not bad parents, they’re trying the best they can. But they don’t realize that they’re raising the Zoomer.
The Zoomer has grown up in the toxic world of online gaming where it’s “be the bully or be bullied”. They’re the ones that perpetuate cyber-bullying because that’s all they know. They don’t realize that the online world doesn’t correlate to the real world like they think.
They’re going to enter politics like the Boomer, not caring in the world what’s going on around them. Then they’ll say something stupid when they get drunk and they’ll be looked down upon by society as the outcast. And if they’re not careful, they’ll end up like the Doomer, an outcast who hates society. They’ll rely on those video games as a way to cope because it’s the only thing they know, only then it won’t help them feel good nor will it make them feel meaningful.
The Zoomer is the 21st-Century Kid that society is raising without realizing it. The world is already a toxic place in its own way, and the Zoomer will soon have to adapt or, as I said previously, become the Doomer. A lot of them grow up and end up either being the Generation Z version of the Boomer or become the Bloomer, full of happiness, blissful ignorance, and purpose. It’s up to them, their parents, and the environment around them to decide who they grow up as.
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