Words: Rebekah McCrorie (she/her)
How did we go from Dan and Phil to Drunk Elephant-crazed tweens?
From acid peels to “alpha males”, children have put down their Moshi Monsters and picked up their mobile phones, unfurling a sinister cradle of ludicrous beauty standards, toxic masculinity, and acute hyperconsumerism. The humble phone, once limited to basic messaging and Snake, has now become a hotbed for extremism and Incel culture, emitting a starkly different, and perhaps more menacing, type of poison. With the recent release of Adolescence placing a spotlight on the alarming, real-world ramifications of misogynistic online material, there lies one unnerving question: has the unbridled nature of the internet shattered the innocence of childhood?
Reminiscing on my own adolescence, little 10 year-old me was more concerned with nabbing a coveted spot in Stampy’s Lovely Garden than purchasing the latest skincare fad. I watched Zoella’s vlogs semi-religiously, around the time that her tragically sparse advent calendar sent shockwaves through the internet. Yet, luckily for her, cancel culture as we know it today was still in its infancy. The content dished out to me back then, circa 2017, was pretty placid and, if anything, a little cringeworthy. TikTok was known as Musical.ly (feel old yet?), the Unicorn Frappuccino held all of us in a chokehold, and you couldn’t escape Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You no matter where you went.
Back then, misogyny and toxic masculinity were still an issue on the Internet – particularly in spaces such as Reddit with the presence of Subreddits like r/Redpill and r/Incels (banned in 2017), succeeded by r/Braincels (banned in 2019). Conversely, the #MeToo movement began in late 2017, prompting a campaign of awareness and acknowledgement of sexual assault and harassment. But, it seems that in recent years, notorious figures such as Andrew Tate have zeroed in on the unimpeded territory of social media, spreading unsettling beliefs to an impressionable and juvenile audience outside of the internet’s shadowy corners.
Likewise, the popularity of beauty and morning routine-style videos extends back many years. Yet there has been a recent shift in the way such videos are presented, moving away from a carefree style and tilting towards something darker, where often extreme methods are utilised in order to reach “perfection”. It seems that striving to look “perfect” is a priority for many young girls on social media, where they are fed a perpetual stream of content advising them how to “looksmax” by sharpening their jawlines and thinning their bodies. As a result, skincare routines have evolved from a simple squirt of moisturizer to LED face masks and “morning sheds”, which look as if they are straight out of a low-budget horror film.
“Looksmaxxing” stems from Incel message boards in the 2000s, but is now used outside these spaces, particularly on TikTok. During a scrolling break whilst writing this article, a video posted by a young girl, no older than 13, popped up, with the caption, ‘How can I improve my looks?’. The comments were repulsive. One user responded, ‘Nose job and jaw surgery’, whilst another said, ‘If I made a drawing of you and posted it online, it would be taken down as antisemitism’. Many made references to “Looksmaxxing”, amongst an array of other comments that were frankly horrific. With such heinous phrases being casually thrown around, it’s no surprise that young girls on the internet feel immense pressure to look a certain way.
So, what went dreadfully wrong? How did we go from Dan and Phil to Drunk Elephant-crazed tweens? How did cheesy music videos (looking at you, Justin Bieber’s Sorry) switch to disconcerting “manosphere” content, where destructive beliefs about masculinity and animosity towards feminism are sold to young boys?
There has been an undeniably drastic switch in what children are now being fed online, but it is key to note that this malignant material isn’t strictly confined to a glowing screen in a dingy room. Incel culture, where young men unable to enter into romantic relationships develop a hostility towards women, has gradually migrated from online message boards into reality. Back in 2014, Elliot Rodger, a self-proclaimed Incel, embarked on murder spree in California, making multiple references to his detestation of women in his manifesto. But it didn’t end there – amongst other Incels he was hailed as a hero: somebody to look up to. In 2018, Alek Minassian also committed murder as part of the so-called ‘Incel Rebellion’ started by Rodger.
The internet has metamorphosed from LaurDIY and Wengie to algorithms that flood children’s screens with torrents of toxic content – flood waters which are difficult to control. There is no straightforward solution, but worthwhile steps could be taken through education, acknowledgement, and immobilising toxic mindsets in their infancy. The notion of childhood has irrefutably evolved alongside the changes in internet culture, but the innocence of adolescence can still be preserved through growth, understanding, and above all, amity.
