Play First: What we discovered this week
A weekly roundup of our Play First series
As part of our ‘Play First’ series, we’ve been delving into how the future of youth culture is being shaped by the values of curiosity, unity, sincerity and freedom. This week, we look specifically at sincerity and how Gen Z are re-learning how to play with a childlike innocence and earnestness.
Here’s the roundup of our pieces this week:
Sincerity on social media is giving rise to new forms of content
We look at how our heightened appreciation for sincerity and earnestness is impacting the content we consume on social media. If TikTok signalled the first shift away from hyper-curation and feigned detachment, with creators posting brutally honest videos of themselves sharing embarrassing stories, then today’s content marks the next evolution. The increased popularity of the vox pop, as well as the rise of influencer friendship groups and couples, suggests that people are searching even more for authenticity online and finding it in moments of spontaneity and human connection.
How does sincerity show up in the Global South?
Carnival in Rio has always been a key event in the cultural calendar. Since its full return in 2023 following the pandemic, it has attracted new and younger audiences globally. It has long been the world’s largest carnival, and this year saw an estimated 8 million people visit Rio de Janeiro in early February. However, perhaps more than ever before, there was the influx of parties promoted by international attendees and young Brazilian collectives who have spent time in European cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon and Milan. Carnival is all about play, its very nature is about letting go and celebrating life and the richness of Brazilian culture.
With hustle culture and demands on our productivity more ingrained in our minds than ever, creating and sustaining spaces dedicated to play can feel self-indulgent by comparison. Emma Warren’s “Up The Youth Club”, which maps the history of UK youth spaces from the 1600s to the present day, shows how they’ve shaped individual lives and society as a whole. Warren describes the youth club as “a broadly warm and welcoming space where those who are in their second decade of life can gather regularly, in person, without compulsion, to do things they like doing” - to play, in other words.
Look back on our previous Future of Cool report here. If you want to find out more about the Future Of series, please get in touch info@onro.ad