Social Media Digest (Oct 30)

Freedom to rent

With the rise of the sharing economy, renting has become increasingly popular among young people. After all, why clutter closets and max out credit cards when you can rent today, swap tomorrow, and keep life refreshingly commitment-free?

For example, a DJI Air 3S drone can be rented for less than 100 yuan ($14.04) for two days, while purchasing one costs over 8,000 yuan. Similarly, many young people now prefer to rent designer outfits for special occasions rather than buy pieces that would sit unused in their wardrobes most of the year.

"Renting luxury handbags or designer dresses allows you to switch up styles often, keeps costs manageable, and saves on storage space at home," Mickey (pseudonym), a style-conscious Gen Z graduate student told New Retail Business Review.

Renting also enables people to try larger items — such as home appliances or equipment — before committing to a purchase. For instance, one can rent a Nintendo Switch for 80 yuan per week or a tent for 21 yuan per day. For products like baby strollers, which are quickly outgrown, renting offers more environmentally friendly choices.

However, renting does have its downsides. Many consumers are concerned about issues like hidden fees and product quality. To address these concerns, the rental market must continue to improve its regulations and services.

As more young people embrace renting, it's clear that owning is no longer the ultimate goal. In a world that's constantly changing, perhaps "having it all" is less about ownership and more about the freedom to let things go.

Alpha slang revolution

Generation Alpha, born after 2010, is reshaping the English language with what some call "brainrot "slang. Terms like "Ohio" (meaning weird or cringe), "rizz" (referring to charisma), and "fanum tax" (to steal food from your friends) have become popular among Gen Alpha, leaving many parents baffled.

According to Harvard graduate and linguist Adam Aleksic, Gen Alpha's slang is a way to create an in-group, fostering a sense of belonging among younger users while often alienating older generations.

"That's part of the appeal," he told NBC News. "These memes wouldn't be funny if your grandma was saying them."

Just as older terms like "cool" faced criticism when they first emerged, Gen Alpha's slang is also subject to misunderstanding and ridicule.

"One of the easiest ways to tell if someone's brain has been destroyed by social media is to notice how often they reference internet jargon," TikToker Joel Cave told LADbible, a UK digital publisher. "If you're that person, maybe you should put down the phone for a bit and go outside."

Adding to the generational divide, Gen Alpha's terms are spreading fast and evolving rapidly through platforms like TikTok, Roblox, and Twitch, thanks to social media algorithms that amplify trending phrases, according to Aleksic.

However, he noted that historically, people have always complained about younger generations "ruining" language with invented slang. "That's why they're doing it: because they're building identity. They're differentiating themselves," Aleksic said.