Dropping things on your foot and rating how much it hurts is a growing trend on TikTok. The meme's popularity may be indicative of something deep and troubling in youth culture. So, maybe, is injecting butterflies and turning goth. You be the judge. What is "Amialivecore?" On his substack "The Trend Report," Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick pulled together a ton of disparate cultural expressions among online youth to identify a style he calls "Amialivecore." Fitzpatrick posits that young people are subconsciously unsure if they are actually living human beings. I think he's onto something. My interpretation of the meaning of amialivecore: Since they were babies, young people's experiences are almost entirely unreal. Everything is mediated. They have "experiences" in video games. They see the world through the vertical window of TikTok videos. They only see their friends in online posts. They build personal philosophies from memes. Meanwhile, the companies and algorithms behind the social media platforms and video games have gotten really good at dehumanization. They've identified, commodified, and shaped their dreams, desires, thoughts, and feelings so thoroughly, it's impossible for young people to know how to live authentically. So they play-act and create content in place of living. For evidence, go to see a band kids like, and compare how many people have their phones out to shoot video and how many are dancing.According to Fitzpatrick, seemingly unrelated things like the TikTok trend of dropping objects on your feet and rating how much they hurt, wearing visible tape on your face in public, and spending your time consciously trying to find a personal style illustrate young people attempting to "problem solve the question of if you are alive and if your body works and if you are indeed present in the present." Maybe eating butterflies and suddenly becoming goth are expressions of amialivecore, too.Are teens injecting butterflies as part of an online challenge?No. I can't find any evidence of an "online challenge" involving injecting yourself with a butterfly, but that's what some sources claim inspired a Brazilian 14-year-old to crush a butterfly, mix it with water, and inject it into his leg. Things ended horribly for Davi Nunes Moreira: After a week suffering agonizing symptoms, he died in a hospital in Planalto, Brazil. Medical professionals aren't certain what caused the teen's death specifically: It could have been an allergic reaction, an infection, an embolism, or the butterfly itself might have been toxic. Point is, it's a bad idea to inject yourself with butterflies, but it's also a bad idea to report on "online challenges" that almost definitely don't exist. People have been killing themselves in stupid ways since people first came out. What is the "accidentally became important at work" meme? I'm fascinated by the meme-making generations getting older, confronting adult situations for the first time, and warning/informing each other through memes. That's the vibe behind the "becoming important at work" memes that are flooding social media this week. The idea is to attach the phrase "accidentally became important at work" to an image expressing the realization of what happens when you're "noticed" at work. Here are some examples: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What does “aura farming" mean?In slang, the word "aura" describes a person who is mysterious and cool. It's a positive thing. "Aura farming" on the other hand, is ambiguous. Depending on the context, it can refer to a person who does something cool without trying or someone who is trying too hard to appear cool. It's all about context. (For more slang definition to keep your vocab on fleek, check out my guide to Gen Z and Gen A slang.)Goth is back (not that it ever really went anywhere)Like the vampires that inspire it, goth never really dies; it just sleeps in its coffin until it's time to claims new victims. Judging from TikTok, the dark aesthetic and gloomy vibe of the subculture is gaining ground with young people; maybe it's based on the recent reboot of Nosferatu or maybe it's just because goth fits the times. While some goth markers that are perennial—black clothes, Joy Division, too much eyeliner—this generation's expression of the vibe is different in key ways from their grandparents' interpretation of it back in the early 1980s. Maybe it's because I'm thinking about amIalivecore, but nu-goths seems like more of a pose than a lifestyle. The look bends more toward the theatrical and gaudy than past generations. Today's goth feels more intentional and self-conscious, like the kids bought the clothes, watched some makeup tutorials, then said, "now I'm a goth!" Old goths tended to be pale, suicidal junkies that let other people call them "goth." Viral video of the week: baby at BenihanaDo you remember the first time you went to Benihana? The baby in this week's viral video is too young to form lasting memories of his first trip to the Japanese chain with the theatrical food presentation, but it makes a huge impression anyway.