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People are confessing the worst fashion trends they fell for in a hilarious confessional

Travis Kelce is kind of one of them.

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Unknown men in top hats (groom and ushers?) by Wakefield, … | Flickr

Remember that time Travis Kelce wore a top hat on stage at his girlfriend Taylor Swift's London concert? Well, he almost didn't remember either.

On his New Heights podcast, with his brother Jason Kelce, they flashed a picture of Abe Lincoln. Travis says, "That would never be me because I'd never be seen with that f-ing hat on." Jason laughs uproariously. Shortly after, Travis pensively recalls, "I remember wearing a top hat not too long ago." He's asked, "Where did you wear a top hat?"

Travis replies (complete with an English accent), "When I was in London!" He tries to cover for himself. "So I got caught in my own lie. I enjoy wearing those, but only in front of 80,000 people." (Jason kindly tells him he pulled it off.)

Taylor Swift L GIF by MOODMANGiphy

Top hats aren't the only accessories or articles of clothing someone might wear and later regret. A Redditor posed the question, "What's the most cringe-worthy fashion trend you've ever followed?"

People from all generations chimed in. They mostly agreed with one another, though "crocs" seemed to inspire some debate.

AT LEAST HE AVOIDED THE SOUL PATCH

One person opted to share a whole slew of bad decisions: "I did the whole super-thick Vans, baggy jeans full of holes, silver chains. Every t-shirt had graffiti or aliens on it. I think the most cringe-worthy was my 6-inch faux hawk. It looked more like a wave about to crash onto the shore. Kind of like I had walked face-first into a wall or something. Luckily, I was too young to sport a soul patch."

season 1 bass GIF by PortlandiaGiphy


DECADES OF BAD DECISIONS

An older commenter shared two decades of embarrassing choices: "In the 1950s, we wore crinoline petticoats that we dipped in gelatin and hung out in the sun to dry and stiffen them. In the 1960s, we teased our hair, sprayed it, teased it again, sprayed it until it was like steel wool."


Hair Tease GIF by BuzzFeedGiphy


BELL-BOTTOM BLUES

The Seventies weren't spared either. One Reddit user admits they wore "leisure suits and saddle oxfords in the 70s." Another proclaims, "Bell bottoms!" (Though, if you saw the Superbowl, it looks like Kendrick Lamar might actually be bringing those bell-bottoms -or at least a boot-cut pant - back in style.)


Kendrick Lamar GIFGiphy

LOW-RISE AND PRINTED

Many agreed that low-rise jeans and "print trends" now make them cringe.

One exclaimed, "OMG, the print trends! Owls, birds, mustaches, bacon, keep calm logos, the silhouette of two women sitting down."

Another admitted that the low-rise jean trend meant they could never sit down. "Low-rise jeans... I had to stand everywhere I went."

season 3 lol GIFGiphy


WHERE ARE YOUR EYEBROWS?

After someone mentioned bleaching their hair, another upped the ante: "I see your 2000s bad bleach dye jobs. I raise you... plucked eyebrows so damned thin that when it was fashionable to have thicker eyebrows, well, tough sh-t. Because we plucked them all out years ago. Now, I’m condemned to draw part of my eyebrows on until I leave this mortal coil or thin eyebrows come back around. Whichever is first, I suppose."

Make Up Teacher GIF by Teachers on TV LandGiphy


OUR MVP…

And this might be a personal favorite, due to its wonderfully cringe-worthy randomness: "You ever heard of the trend where you just wear a jester hat everywhere? Yeah, me neither, but for some reason, I did that throughout my teenage years into my twenties."

Glow Up Court Jester GIF by BBC ThreeGiphy

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Education

People think Gen Z lacks resilience because they've been 'coddled.' Let's unpack that myth.

It's not that Gen Z hasn't seen enough. They've actually seen too much.

Photo credit: Canva

Gen Z was raised in an entirely different world.

As a parent of three Gen Z kids, I’ve spent lots of time up close with today’s teens and young adults. Looking at my kids and their Gen Z peers (ranging from age 13 to 28), I’ve noticed where the stereotypes of their generation hit the mark and where they miss. Some stereotypes are just typical complaints that older generations always have of "young people these days," but there's one barb that Gen Xers and boomers frequently throw out that I think is way off: Gen Zers lack resilience because they've been coddled and protected from the harsh realities of life.

If we use "the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties" as a working definition of "resilience," I find Gen Z to be a mixed bag. Some of them show great resilience, some don't. A 4,000-person survey from Cigna Group found that Gen Z struggles with mental health more than older generations do, however, and child psychologist Stuart Lustig calls Gen Z "the loneliest, least resilient demographic alive today." Maybe that's true. But is it really because they've been coddled?

It's not that Gen Z hasn't seen enough. They've actually seen too much.

Some argue that the “participation trophies” and “trigger warnings” have made young people unable to handle hard things. Others argue that parents are too easy on their children. I'll concede that some Gen X parents swung the pendulum too far from their neglected childhoods, becoming "helicopter parents" who resisted allowing their kids to experience the risks, failures and disappointments that ultimately build resilience. But the idea that Gen Z as a whole has been "coddled"—overly sheltered from the harsh realities of life? That one is strange to me.

These are kids who have done active shooter drills in their classrooms their entire childhoods, and not just as a “this is something that could happen” but as a “this actually does happen with alarming regularity.” Boomer and older Gen Xers may have hid under their desks in Cold War bomb drills, but no bombs were actually ever dropped in the U.S. Gen Zers have seen the aftermath of their peers being murdered in classrooms over and over again.

What Gen Z has been exposed to is mind-boggling compared to what their parents saw ask kids, thanks to being the first generation to never know a world without the internet. Where Gen X had access to a daily newspaper and a half hour of nightly world news, Gen Z has been subjected to constant sensationalized news streams on cable TV and the internet 24/7. But it's not just the vast amount of news. Thanks to smartphone cameras and social media, today's teens and young adults have also borne witness to scenes of violence, tragedy, and trauma unfolding in real-time, on-the-ground, all around the world.

five young adults standing looking at their phonesGen Z is the first full "digital native" generation.Photo credit: Canva

Where boomers and Gen X might have seen someone's dad's Playboys, Gen Z has grown up with devices that contain disturbing, hardcore pornography. Even if they haven't accessed or tripped across explicit content themselves, it's very likely that someone in their peer group has shown them pornography that kids in previous generations would never have been able to access. And it's happening at younger and younger ages.

There's no precedent for the world Gen Z grew up in

There's anxiety that comes along with all of this exposure, even for full-grown adults who have a foundation of a simpler time to reflect back on. Gen Z never had a simpler time. They were born into the ocean of anxiety. Then they got hit by a once-in-a-century (hopefully) global pandemic, adding another layer of uncertainty to the mix.

As a whole, Gen Z hasn’t been sheltered from the harsh realities of the world; it's been bombarded by them in ways that previous generations simply weren’t during their youth. Humans—even children—have experienced hard things things for millennia and evolved to build resilience to life's challenges. What humans haven't experienced until now is having an overload of information and tragic news and disturbing content from around the world available at their fingertips 24/7. There's simply no precedent for raising kids in this world, so raising Gen Z has been one big collective experiment.

Even if conscientious parents have done their best to protect their kids from its pitfalls, the internet is not a separate thing from our lives like it was in its early days. Gen Z has grown up in a digitally connected world. Even parents who manage to hold off on phones or other internet-enabled devices longer than most eventually had to give because it's become nearly impossible to be an active participant in society without the internet. Those of us who grew up in a non-digital world can attest to how much the internet has changed our lives in various, often drastic, ways. Gen Z was born into that world, and despite being "digital natives" are not immune to the anxiety and overwhelm that comes with it.

Maybe we need to rethink what resilience looks like for the "digital native" generations

All of this means that resilience for Gen Z may look different than it did for us. Their young brains have been taxed in ways ours were not. They've had to process so much more, filter so much more, learn how to navigate so much more than we did. I actually think they're doing pretty well, all things considered. They may struggle with mental health a bit more than previous generations, but they're also so much more aware of it and willing to get help with it. They may not stay in jobs with unhealthy work environments and poor work-life balance, but that doesn't mean they're soft—quite the opposite, in fact.

I'm not saying Gen Z couldn't use some good old-fashioned life lessons about picking themselves up and dusting themselves off. But I do think we need to acknowledge that being the first internet-enabled generation has affected them in ways we are just beginning to grasp, and that adjusting our expectations of resilience and reevaluating what resilience looks like for them might be in order.

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Health

New psych study reveals what helps older people live happier lives: Investing in the young

Contributing to the next generation benefits all generations

Photo credit: Canva

Older people benefit from investing in, offering experience, and hanging with younger folks.

When we get older, we want to get better. Sure, we will tire more quickly and more often than our younger selves, but that doesn’t mean we want our later years to be ones of boredom, solitude, and stagnation. Well, a recent study is showing the secret to a more fulfilling and happier life when you become a senior. The answer? Giving back to the youth.

A study published in the The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is showing that the majority of seniors that live healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives express a trait known as “generativity.” Generativity is a concern for people aside from family, most notably younger generations. It’s the desire to engage and guide with the “whippersnappers” on a societal level through social interactions and service.

Old man and younger woman tending to a vegetable garden.Older volunteers can help boost community projects, like a neighborhood garden, alongside younger adults.Photo credit: Canva

“Contrary to popular perceptions of old age as a period of decline and inactivity, a growing body of empirical research and the lived experiences of many people reveal a different reality,” said Mohsen Joshanloo, the author of the study and an associate professor at Keimyung University. “Old age can be a time of fulfillment, productivity, and meaningful social contribution, with generativity playing a critical role in promoting active and successful aging.”

The traits within older people who practice generativity are also ones that happen to make a person happier and more whole during their senior years. They are more energetic and active, usually due to having more social connections with people from different generations and thus being more physically active to keep up with them. Generativity also tends to make elders more open to new experiences and encourage curiosity, which in turn gives them more exposure to different kinds of people from different demographics. Their willingness to share their wisdom and experience with the youth promotes more cognitive function to keep up with them, and engaging conversations keep the brain more practiced and elastic.

In short, the best thing we can do for ourselves for our lives as we get older is to team up with folks who are younger!

Older man playing chess against a young womanThere is no real "us versus them" when it comes to generations (except in chess games).Photo credit: Canva

If you have scrolled through the internet on your phone, you are bound to have seen a wide variety of boomer versus Millennial versus Gen Z and back again articles, videos, TikToks, and other forms of content. You may have even read or seen some of them here on Upworthy. But while many of these articles are intended to be good fun in poking at the various generational “teams,” there are also many that focus on the division and derision among them.

But every generation eventually gets old. It’s for the best everyone involved to push aside stereotypes and look at what we can offer the generation below us. After all, in exchange for experience to the youth, the youth can provide knowledge of the new. A bit of senior wisdom can provide youthful energy and execution of that wisdom. Who knows, maybe age won’t be anything really but a number?

An older woman and younger man having coffee and pastries together in a cafeJust chatting over coffee can do wonders for people of all ages.Photo credit: Canva

So if you’re an older person, get involved! Join community volunteer groups with the youngsters. Have coffee with your 30-something-year-old neighbors next door. Teach that teenager across the hall how to play chess. Go to the local high school basketball game to cheer them on, even if you don’t have kids that attend there. Be “that old guy” in the yoga class.

The more exposure you have to the youth, the less likely you’ll develop preconceived notions about them. At the same time, they’ll have less preconceived notions about you in return.

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Pop Culture

I convinced my Gen Z kids to watch 'Dead Poets Society' and their angry reactions surprised me

Gen X and Gen Z apparently view "inspiring" very differently.

Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers/YouTube

Robin Williams played inspiring English teacher John Keating in "Dead Poets Society."

As a Gen X parent of Gen Z teens and young adults, I'm used to cringing at things from 80s and 90s movies that haven't aged well. However, a beloved movie from my youth that I didn't expect to be problematic, "Dead Poets Society," sparked some unexpected negative responses in my kids, shining a spotlight on generational differences I didn't even know existed.

I probably watched "Dead Poets Society" a dozen or more times as a teen and young adult, always finding it aesthetically beautiful, tragically sad, and profoundly inspiring. That film was one of the reasons I decided to become an English teacher, inspired as I was by Robin Williams' portrayal of the passionately unconventional English teacher, John Keating.

The way Mr. Keating shared his love of beauty and poetry with a class of high school boys at a stuffy prep school, encouraging them to "seize the day" and "suck all the marrow out of life," hit me right in my idealistic youthful heart. And when those boys stood up on their desks for him at the end of the film, defying the headmaster who held their futures in his hands? What a moving moment of triumph and support.

My Gen Z kids, however, saw the ending differently. They loved the feel of the film, which I expected with its warm, cozy, comforting vibe (at least up until the last 20 minutes or so). They loved Mr. Keating, because how can you not? But when the movie ended, I was taken aback hearing "That was terrible!" and "Why would you traumatize me like that?" before they admitted, "But it was so gooood!"

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The traumatize part I get—that film gets very heavy all of a sudden. But in discussing it further, I uncovered three main generational differences that impacted their "Dead Poets Society" viewing experience and what they took away from it.

1) Gen Z sees inspiring change through a systemic lens, not an individual one

The first thing my 20-year-old said when the credits rolled was, "What? That's terrible! Nothing changed! He got fired and the school is still run by a bunch of stodgy old white men forcing everyone to conform!" My immediate response was, "Yeah, but he changed those boys' individual lives, didn't he? He helped broaden their minds and see the world differently."

I realized that Gen X youth valued individuals going against the old, outdated system and doing their own thing, whereas Gen Z values the dismantling of the system itself. For Gen X, Mr. Keating and the boys taking a stand was inspiring, but the fact that it didn't actually change anything outside of their own individual experiences stuck like a needle in my Gen Z kids' craw.

2) Gen Z isn't accustomed to being blindsided by tragic storylines with no warning

To be fair, I did tell them there was "a sad part" before the movie started. But I'd forgotten how deeply devastating the last part of the movie was, so my daughter's "Why would you do that to me?!" was somewhat warranted. "I thought maybe a dog would die or something!" she said. No one really expected one of the main characters to die by suicide and the beloved teacher protagonist to be blamed for it, but I'd somehow minimized the tragedy of it all in my memory.

But also to be fair, Gen X never got any such warnings—we were just blindsided by tragic plot twists all the time. As kids, we cheered on Atreyu trying to save his horse from the swamp in "The Neverending Story" only to watch him drown. Adults showed us "Watership Down" thinking it would be a cute little animated film about bunnies. We were slapped in the face by the tragic child death in "My Girl," which was marketed as a sweet coming of age movie.

Gen Z was raised in the era of trigger warnings and trauma-informed practices, while Gen X kids watched a teacher die on live TV in our classrooms with zero follow-up on how we were processing it. Those differences became apparent real quick at the end of this movie.

3) Gen Z fixates on boundary-crossing behavior that Gen X overlooked

The other reaction I wasn't expecting was the utter disdain my girls showed for Knox Overstreet, the sweet-but-over-eager character who fell for the football player's cheerleader girlfriend. His boundary-crossing attempts to woo her were always cringe, but for Gen X, cringe behavior in the name of love was generally either overlooked, tolerated, or sometimes even celebrated. (Standing on a girl's lawn in the middle of the night holding a full-volume stereo over your head was peak romance for Gen X, remember.) For Gen Z, the only thing worse than cringe is predatory behavior, which Knox's obsessiveness and pushiness could be seen as. My young Gen X lens saw him and said, "That's a bit much, dude. Take it down a notch or three." My Gen Z daughters' lens said, "That guy's a creepo. She needs to run far the other way."

On one hand, I was proud of them for recognizing red flag behaviors. On the other hand, I saw how little room there is for nuance in their perceptions, which was…interesting.

My Gen Z kids' reactions aren't wrong; they're just different than mine were at their age. We're usually on the same page, so seeing them have a drastically different reaction to something I loved at their age was really something. Now I'm wondering what other favorite movies from my youth I should show them to see if they view those differently as well—hopefully without them feeling traumatized by the experience.

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