Gen Z — please don't bring back the 2014 Tumblr girl aesthetic | Opinion | laloyolan.com

Photo: Anastasia Vityukova | Unsplash The year is 2014. I’m a senior in high school, arriving home from a strenuous day of classes, immediately sequestering myself in my room with the blinds drawn. I’m wearing Doc Martens and an all-black outfit, even though I’m living in Southern Florida and it’s nearly 80 degrees outside. As if on instinct, I open up my laptop and log into Tumblr.com, blasting Lana Del Rey and The 1975 through my speakers. I scroll past gifs of Effy Stonem high off of her mind, lying in a forest somewhere in rural England and photos of startlingly skinny girls wearing American Apparel and smoking copious amounts of cigarettes.Life is good — but it’s not. In the year 2014, the “Tumblr Girl” aesthetic was something that plagued the internet and consumed many teenagers during that time. It involved dark and depressing images, the glorification of drug abuse, a fascination with artists like Lana Del Rey and Marina and the Diamonds and dark clothing. The idea of mental illness was romanticized through characters and songs, seen as something “cool” and “desirable.” This aesthetic is currently having a huge resurgence in popular media, with the younger generation idealizing the…
Read More