Look, I do know I am not notably younger anymore. I am very a lot a millennial, which apparently means I spend my time mountain climbing, speaking about Pokémon and utilizing the phrase “hashtag”. However nothing has made me really feel older in latest months than YouTube’s 2025 Tradition and Tendencies report.This yr’s report describes a “maximalist second shaping our tradition”, and explores how at this time’s teenagers are given the “want, instruments, and distribution to make the content material they need to see”, which has led to a brand new period of what YouTube describes as “Artistic Maximalism”.YouTube describes Artistic Maximalism as being centered round 4 foremost pillars:
You could like
Audio/Visible Complexity: Densely layered data and faster-paced enhancing.Narrative Co-creation: Public-generated, huge, decentralised leisure properties with immense casts of characters and storylines.Web-Referential: Humour and concepts constructed on layers of on-line inside jokes.Globally Influenced: A seamless mix of cultural references from across the worldIn different phrases, YouTube is describing precisely why trendy content material is giving me whiplash. It is quick, it is loud, it is busy, and it is filled with in-jokes I do not get. The rise of short-form video has pushed me away from Instagram and deterred me from ever becoming a member of TikTok in any respect.
(Picture credit score: YouTube)Even the design of YouTube’s report captures the aesthetic – loud, low-fi, vibrant and brash. And it is stuffed with stats that reveal simply how chronically on-line at this time’s teenagers are. 58% of 14- to 24-year-olds agree that their sense of humour has been formed by the web, 60% of 14- to 24-year-olds agree that they’ve picked up habits, traditions, or rituals from on-line creators, and 59% of 14- to 24-year-olds agree that their sense of non-public type has been influenced by content material they’ve seen on-line.Even the phrase “mind rot” is being celebrated. “The entire attributes of Artistic Maximalism will be present in certainly one of 2025 largest cultural phenomena: Italian mind rot movies, an absurdist universe of surreal web memes that boasts greater than 450,000 uploads in 2025.”
(Picture credit score: YouTube)And, in fact, Skibidi Rest room is hailed as one of many prime examples of Artistic Maximalism. For the uninitiated (how I envy you), this collection of YouTube movies “follows a battle between bogs with human heads and humanoid characters with digital gadgets for faces.”Each day design information, evaluations, how-tos and extra, as picked by the editors.If something, the report exhibits that content material is simply going to get louder and quicker. If you happen to want me, I will be within the nook enjoying Pokémon.
