As a kid, the ultimate form of announcing the start of me-time was returning from school and turning on the television. For Gen Zers like me, that usually meant catching up on an episode of Doraemon on Disney TV or negotiating screen time for the 7 pm episode of Ninja Hattori, the TV adaptation of the Japanese manga series illustrated by Fujiko Fujio, which aired on Nickelodeon, homework miraculously done at the speed of light. I was six then.
As I moved through my tweens and teenage years, cartoons were replaced by YouTube videos. Around 2017-18, when smartphones became more common and data plans a lot cheaper, long-format YouTube content became the “it” thing to watch. Watching styling and shopping challenges and lifestyle-based content on channels like POPxO shaped choices, interests, and, in my case, a career path as well.
In today’s IG age, the content tweens are consuming leans more YA than Sephora kid. They’re watching The Summer I Turned Pretty and Never Have I Ever, know too much about Sterling Point and Off Campus; there’s nothing in that liminal space between “kids’ stuff” and shows wholly unsuited to their years. Things routinely break through parental controls.
For today’s tweens, challenge videos and memes have taken the place of cartoons. They are glued to video games, videos of toy unboxings, and challenge-based content. A PwC report suggests that 68 per cent of YouTube’s viewership also comes from the same generation of kids. They are also drawn to niche interests and fandom-based subculture—think content creators like Mr Beast and pop groups like Katseye, and short-format content spanning memes and videos of food challenges and LEGO models being built painstakingly.
Below, six tweens spill the tea on what they’re watching, scrolling, playing, and obsessing over right now.
