Nostalgia for 2016 hits social media, some hopeful, if complicated, mental health statistics about college students, and teens would rather send a voice note than make a phone call. But first:
Slang of the Week – Ragebait
Ragebait: similar to clickbait, ragebait is content created to intentionally provoke rage or anger. This form of attention-seeking online behaviour is perpetuated by commenters claiming “this is ragebait!”, thus giving it more engagement and views. In an attention economy, content creators find creative ways to keep eyeballs on their videos, and making viewers angry is an effective way to do it. Ragebait reached a fever pitch this year after it was crowned as Oxford’s 2025 Word of the Year.
And now for our three conversations..
1. 2026 is the New 2016
What it is: People are feeling nostalgic about 2016, posting throwback photos to social media and yearning for simpler times, all in Instagram’s iconic Rio de Janeiro filter. Even celebrities are participating.
Why it’s popular right now: The year was 2016. An idyllic time before TikTok, COVID-19, brain rot, doomscrolling or AI slop; it was all about the dog and flower crown Snapchat filter, the mannequin challenge, oversaturated pictures, beloved Vines, and we can’t forget about the clowns. It was an era where people curated their Instagram grid and focused on perfecting their contour. A decade later, we’re in the age of the art of the nonchalant photo dump and maintaining “glass skin.” When you look closer, both time periods bounce between artificiality and authenticity; social media today is less about filters and more about perfectly capturing a moment without looking like you’re trying too hard. And while on the surface, 2016 online was more “artificial,” with heavier makeup and filters, TikTok users say (language) they felt more authentic back then.
Continue the conversation: Do you ever wish you were born in a different time period?
2. The Kids Are Gonna Be Alright
What it is: For the third year in a row, rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation have actually gone down in college students, according to a study of 84,000 students by the Healthy Minds Network.
Why it’s good, but complicated: The annual survey also asks university faculty and staff to share their perspectives about mental health on their various campuses. And according to a data summary by UCLA’s Newsroom, “About half of faculty and staff surveyed said they have conversations with students about mental health, and most recognize worsening trends [emphasis ours]. However, about half are not confident in recognizing a student in distress.” The picture that emerges is of a student body that is learning (successfully) to work through mental health struggles, while the adults around them might have a harder time recognizing and anticipating their resilience.
Continue the conversation: Are you surprised that mental health issues are going down in college students? What would you attribute that to?
3. The Death of Dialogue
What it is: A piece in The Independent wonders if the voice note’s rise in popularity is killing the art of conversation.
What it means: The article from The Independent refers to a UK study focusing primarily on Gen Z’s aversion to phone calls. It claims voice notes are the preferred option over a call (with texting remaining the most popular method of communication). This invites a natural question: why? Why have the popularity of voice notes risen in recent years? Is it because they help us preserve tone, and they’re easy to record? Is it because Gen Z allegedly struggles with social situations? Is it because everyone simply wants to have their own podcast? While it might be any of those things (causation famously being hard to prove), it does illuminate the world in which teens are growing up.
Let’s translate this one further…
While personally I am unsure if voice notes (or even texting for that matter) has “killed the art of conversation” as The Independent claims, it does get people to click an article and marks a shift in culture that’s worth examining.
I would explain this shift toward voice notes in two ways. Firstly, it stems from a relational desire to be heard and understood, fully, with the context (tonal or informational) lacking in texts or written communication. But secondly, and maybe more tellingly, it is a consequence of our move toward monologue at the expense of dialogue.
As young people continue to watch more YouTube, consume more podcasts, or just listen to influencers yap at them, they’ve become predisposed to this more monologic communication. It’s one-directional and unconcerned with the response of the listener. Full disclosure, I am far from immune, and in all honesty, going off on long rants is something I consistently struggle to not do on our podcast, even though it is designed with conversation in mind.
I share my podcast habits to prove a point: this is broader than just voice notes. It’s about how we engage in practically any form of communication with one another. Maybe as a culture, we’ve learned to prioritize being heard instead of hearing. Comment sections and TikTok videos lend themselves to one-way conversations. We shout our opinions from the rooftops but rarely listen to the quiet whispers of the people around us, of our neighbors and our kid’s teacher and the person sitting next to us at church. Maybe we killed the art of conversation. It makes me think of the book of Job, where Job’s “friends” spend 20 plus chapters talking at Job about his troubles. To their credit, they do spend a week mourning with him, but after that, they become full of their own wisdom, unwilling to listen to Job or the Lord.
All of this matters as we disciple the next generation. At Axis, we believe in the power of true and genuine conversation. It’s why we include a tangible way to start conversations in every resource we create, as a way to hopefully spark dialogue instead of the classic parent/mentor/coach/youth leader monologue. With that in mind…
For more context and nuance, check out our Roundtable podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the meantime, here are three questions to help you continue the conversation with your teens:
- If you could choose between a voice note or a phone call, which would you prefer? Why do you prefer it?
- Who’s someone in your life who makes you feel heard?
- What’s one conversation I could be a better listener in?
Parenting together,
CJ Fant and the Axis Team
In Other News…
- The Indiana Hoosiers won an electrifying College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, punctuated by an iconic, fourth-down touchdown run from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.
- BookTok’s beloved People We Meet on Vacation, an Emily Henry book-to-movie adaptation, has debuted at No.1 on the Netflix film chart with 17.2m views.
- A new trend on TikTok involves impersonating owls.
- “Bringing random items to school” is a TikTok trend where kids pull increasingly unhinged objects out of their backpacks purely for laughs.
- The tremendous success of a stationery store in Chicago is being hailed as indicative of the “return to analog” trend, as the popularity of journals, calligraphy, and sending snail mail letters surges.
PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!