The Rise of Play Among Youth Culture

Young people are growing tired of doomerism, edgelords, and nonchalance, and now, a new counterculture is taking shape: the rise of playfulness.

2018-2019 brought the youth mental health crisis into the mainstream and gave rise to parasocial creator-to-fan relationships as vulnerable content gained popularity. In 2020-2023, friendship-centered creators and power-duo podcast hosts owned the internet. In 2024-2025, as a response to the U.S. Surgeon General ringing the alarm on the loneliness epidemic the year prior, third spaces and niche gatherings popped up everywhere. In 2025, niche social clubs, members-only spaces, and URL-to-IRL experiences became all the buzz. And right now, another shift is underway - this time, it's play. In…

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