--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Welcome to Today Explained. I'm Sean Rameswaram.
--:-- Amanda Mull: I'm Amanda Mull, a senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today, we're talking about how TikTok reshaped the trend cycle. Amanda, you wrote about a strange group of items that had a very big summer. What's the story behind these trends?
--:-- Amanda Mull: Well, I have to give full credit for this to Zoomer internet users who sort of created this grouping of trends on their own. The matcha lattes go along with Dubai chocolate. Viral Dubai chocolate bars. And Le Boo Boo's.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: [chuckles] Oh, my gosh, this is a secret!
--:-- Amanda Mull: [laughs] Yeah, it's a secret. And Love Island. And Benson Boo's. And, you know, you can sort of spiral out from there.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: [laughs] Hush little matcha, don't you cry. Everything's gonna be Benson Boone crumble cookie. La boo boo Dubai.
--:-- Amanda Mull: [laughs] Yeah, it's like this set of like weird recent trends, I think, is indicative of how weird the trend cycles have gotten in consumer goods.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: In the past, trends have forever seemed a little bit weird because the average person doesn't have like a ton of insight on like where something ultimately came from that is suddenly everywhere.
--:-- Amanda Mull: Exactly. And it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But when you get down to it, a lot of, like, sort of random-seeming trends in consumer goods from decades past have, like, a pretty easy way to explain them if you dig a little bit.
--:-- Amanda Mull: Yeah, and I think that's what's changed. Trends recently seem to have, like, even less connective tissue to culture at large than they used to.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: What do you mean by that?
--:-- Amanda Mull: I mean, like, in the past, trends were often tied to some kind of cultural or social movement. But now, it seems like trends are just sort of... happening.
--:-- Amanda Mull: And I think that's because of algorithmic social media. Because when you interact with things on these platforms, when you're presented with things on these platforms, you have very little context.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So you're saying that the algorithm is just serving up random stuff to people, and then they're reacting to it without really understanding why they're reacting to it?
--:-- Amanda Mull: Yeah, that's right. And I think that's why stuff on social media tends to do the best and tends to get the most engagement if it's like highly stimulating, if it's colorful or incredibly delicious looking or outrageous or maddening or offensive.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: [chuckles] Yeah, that makes sense.
--:-- Amanda Mull: And I think that's why we're seeing so many weird trends right now. Because the algorithm is just serving up stuff that's maximally stimulating, and people are reacting to it without really thinking about it.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: That's really interesting. And I think it's also worth noting that some of these trends, like the Beanie Baby craze, have a similar feel to them.
--:-- Amanda Mull: Yeah, the Beanie Baby craze is a great example of this. Because it was fueled by people just wanting to collect these little toys, without really thinking about what they meant or why they were popular.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And I think that's what's so interesting about these trends. They're not just about the stuff itself, but about the way that people are interacting with it.
--:-- Amanda Mull: Exactly. And I think that's what's so fascinating about the way that social media is shaping our culture right now.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Well, Amanda, thanks for joining me today to talk about this.
--:-- Amanda Mull: Thanks for having me, Sean.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that's it for today's show. Thanks for listening.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If you want to hear more about the trends that are shaping our culture, you can check out Amanda's article on Bloomberg Businessweek.
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--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And if you want to support Today Explained, you can become a Vox Member. Just go to vox.com/members.
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--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today's show was produced by Danielle Hewitt, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
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--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that's it for today's show. Thanks for listening.
