Where is the Cringe?

The world as we know it, or rather the 2026 matrix we find ourselves in, isn't exactly how most of us would like it to be.

To put it mildly.

I won't list reasons because, well, candidly, it's in excess of my allotted word count, but to summarise: we've entered a somewhat sorry, scrolly, war-ry state of affairs.

(I blame Pret.)

Like I imagine many do, I find myself in my in-between moments ruminating on how and why we've found ourselves where we find ourselves, how the fuck everything went so sideways?

One thing I've observed of late and something I feel could be key to it all is the near extinction of cringe.

Specifically, your friend n’ mine, the cringe male.

Yep. Cringe guys.

There was a time not too long ago when blokes would proudly don fedoras, half-mast jeans, espadrilles, and venture local park-wards on a mildly sunny day to toss frisbees and serenade unrequited lovers with ukulele-written love songs.

Carefree, v-neck wearing optimism personified, in my book.

The charts were peppered with their kind: The Script, The Fray, The Wanted.

Mraz.

Instagram grids, were filled with their poorly lit selfies, images of home cooked, half-baked, shepherd's pies or family pets posing next to new Toms they’d just bought.
Their Instagram filters were strong, but internal filters were less so.

See what I did there.

Somewhere along the way, we all became terrified of looking foolish. Every post curated, every outfit vetted, every thought run through a mental focus group before utterance.

This in mind, it’s no coincidence, to me, that the most recent viral trend on Instagram has been "2016," in which people post pictures from that year, a wistful hark back to a more carefree time when skinny jeans ran free and so did the willingness to behave without edit.

This recent trend is what really prompted this thought piece.

People aren’t just nostalgic for the slightly more economically promising years of 2016, when millennials hadn't yet boomeranged back to their childhood bedrooms (no shade), but for a more carefree time when shame was shunned, and cringe ran supreme.

So in my work, social life and other endeavours, I vow to be more cringe, more garish, and generally turn down the embarrassment filter all whilst turning up the expression.

Eugh I just cringed myself out.

Ok. starting now.

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