Gen Z Worries They’re Old After Failing to Understand Gen Alpha’s Memes

• Gen Alpha is starting to create memes, and one of the first ones is about singing toilet creatures.
• Gen Zers are coming across the bizarre videos, and realizing they don’t understand them. 
• It’s making them grapple with age, and beginning to feel outdated already.

After years of mocking millennial humor for being “cringe,” Gen Zers are complaining about feeling “old” and “outdated” as Gen Alpha starts to create its own memes.

Much of the internet loves to hate on other generations. But so far, Gen Alpha, which encompasses those born between the early 2010s and mid-2020s, has mostly managed to avoid being dragged into discussions about generational differences.

But with the oldest members of Gen Alpha becoming tweens, this seems to be beginning to change.

Gen Alpha have already spent years online, and now they’re developing their own meme culture

One of the emerging trends causing confusion among members of Gen Z is based on the popularity of “Skibidi Toilet,” an animated YouTube series about singing and dancing toilet-like creatures that want to take over the world. 

Its creator, who goes by the YouTube username “DaFuq!?Boom!,” has over 22.6 million YouTube subscribers, and most of their “Skibidi Toilet” videos have between 20 million and 46 million views. Meanwhile, their TikTok account has over 1.9 million followers. 

The first episode of the series was posted as a YouTube Short in February 2023. This episode, and the rest of season one, shows the toilet creatures causing confusion in public places, including in what appears to be a cafeteria.

The soundtrack of each epsiode is a snippet of “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Biser King. The song went viral on TikTok and became a meme at the end of 2022 after Turkish creator Yasin Cengiz, who goes by the username @yasincengiz38 combined the song with videos of himself dancing next to plates of food, while moving his midsection in time to music. 

One Twitter user referred to the sketches as “Gen Alpha’s Slenderman,” a character that became an internet meme after it was created in 2009 by a user on the then-popular comedy forum “Something Awful.”  

Skibidi Toilet seems to be going down the same route, becoming a sort-of meme on TikTok and YouTube Shorts as users are inserting the character into sketches based on Minecraft and interacting with internet figures like MrBeast.

Gen Zers are suddenly realizing they’re not the youngest people on the internet

Many Gen Zers appear confused about the memes, which have become associated with Gen Alpha.

One Twitter user who said they are 15 tweeted that they’d overheard their sister, who was born in 2013, calling Gen Z “old and stupid.”

“Please help me what the fuck is a skibidi toilet i feel old,” they wrote.

To try and clear up some of the confusion, one TikTok user posted a video of her younger brother trying to explain “Skibidi Toilet” to her, seemingly to not much success.

Many users commented saying that they now understood how their parents felt when they were trying to explain bizarre references to them when they were younger. 

In another TikTok video, a user who goes by @thehannahmichelle wrote that Gen Z is “the next cringe generation on the chopping block,” suggesting that Gen Alpha will begin mocking Gen Z for their sense of humor in the same way that Gen Zers mock millennials. 

In the caption of her video, she refers to “Skibidi Toilet,” and says that she doesn’t understand it. 

The video, which has been viewed over 5.6 million times, has sparked discussion among viewers. 

Several people referenced the “Skibidi Toilet” videos and said that they did not understand them either. One person joked about future “Skibidi Toilet nostalgia posts” that they believe will become a part of internet culture for members of  Gen Alpha.

There were also many comments from viewers expressing their fears over the passage of time. 

“Please I’m only 19 I can’t be old yet,” wrote one viewer. Another wrote that they felt “outdated already,” and that they were “horrified” by the idea of not being a teenager next year.  

Gen Z,  born between 1997 and 2012, is often perceived to be the most online generation. In recent years, they have created trends that are directly opposed to those embraced by millennials in the past, making everything from their skinny jeans to emoji use and work culture outdated.

Gen Z has also witnessed millennials grapple with being overtaken as the “it” generation, which may have made them more sensitive to something similar happening to them. While Gen Alpha is becoming increasingly interesting to marketers, the oldest member of their generation is still only 10 years old, so Gen Zers can rest assured they still have a while to go before they’re no longer the youngest adults the room.