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Hi everyone, and welcome back to Happy Hour. 欢迎回来酒馆. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone. So I got a bit of confession to make.

Okay, do I want to hear this?

This morning I went to a cafe. I was wearing mismatched socks, my hair looking like I just rolled out of bed. I just simply didn't care.

That sounds so unlike you because you're always like impeccably groomed.

Thank you! But you know what, I didn't care, and it felt great!

Congratulations. You are officially part of the Nobody Cares Movement. It's everywhere right now not just in English speaking world. It's sweeping across the globe.

Especially in social media form-Tiktok, Instagram-in how people dress, how they live, how they think. You know the best part, the name literally tells you what it is about, nobody cares.

Yeah. It isn't about being lazy or giving up on life. It's actually the opposite. It's about choosing what to care about and letting go of the rest.

So today we're diving into the ‘nobody cares’ trend, where it came from, what it actually means, how it’s showing up in daily life and also the fascinating parallel trend happening right now in China.

And it turns out that young people everywhere are collectively deciding to stop performing for an audience that isn't watching anyway.

I remember you telling me, what was it, your niece having that attitude as well?

Yeah.

The young nowadays!

All right, so let's start with where this came from. The phrase nobody cares is a new, but its rise as a cultural touch-stone, has an interesting origin. For example, in China, it's actually started within fandom, the fan culture. A few years back, people in certain fandom, they were starting to use the abbreviation NBCS, like NoBody CareS, as a way to say that nobody was paying attention to a particular idol or a scandal.

So it was kind of shady.

Haha, I guess you can say, that idol is NBCS meant they were irrelevant. Nobody was really paying attention to them or talking about them.

But obviously the term as we can see now escaped the fan universe and took on a life of its own.

And on western social media, the phrase nobody cares was evolving in a slightly different way. It wasn't about dismissing others. It wasn't saying that nobody cares about YOU. It was a way of liberating yourself. So, you should do what feels natural to you because nobody cares.

It's like “dance as if nobody's watching.”

Kind of, yeah.

That sort of thing. Because when you first hear the phrase nobody cares. You feel like “Ah, I care about you!”

Yeah, or you feel it's dismissive. It's like nobody cares about YOU.

Yeah.

But this all comes down to a psychological concept, the spotlight effect.

I see what you mean, 就是聚光灯效应. It's... we all feel like people are watching us all the time and judging our every behavior.

This is I guess nobody cares is the point when people started saying nobody is paying as much attention to you as you think they are.

So just live your life!

Exactly. Most people are busy worrying about themselves.

So, like you going into supermarket wearing mismatched socks and with unkept hair, that was liberating?

That was liberating, because I still got my coffee.

All right. Let’s talk about the nobody cares manifesto. What it actually means?

Okay. First of all, it is not I don't care about anything, that is called nihilism. That's not a trend. Nobody cares is about selective caring. So, putting your emotional energy into things actually matter to you!

所以不是虚无主义, 而是选择性的care.

Yeah.

I think the second clarification is it doesn't mean I don't care about others. It’s I don't care about others' opinions of my harmless choices, big difference.

Yeah. I would say it's also reaction against perfectionism. It's that pressure to be curated, filtered, performing 24 * 7. It's a bit like saying I'm done pretending my life is a WeChat moment.

This is also why people don't even share WeChat moments anymore. I'm still doing that. I'm still curating it.

I don't even share pictures of myself on my Wechat moments.

Yeah, the thing is I do get what you're saying, what you call performative or performing, whether you're an actual influencer, content creator or you just an average person sharing your everyday life, your photos or your travel pics on social media, we all want to be or at least we wanted to be that perfect self.

And that felt performative, 就是表演型的, everything you share is like the perfect highlight reel.

Yeah.

And I think another thing is also deeply self compassionate. The core message is stop exhausting yourself trying to meet standards that no one is actually enforcing, give yourself a break.

Actually, you know recently on Chinese social media, there is a saying there's a new meme or a trend called爱你老己, which means, literally means loving yourself. You're basically imagining a talk, a conversation with yourself, caring about yourself, which I think it's pretty much this.

So, the nobody cares manifesto could be care deeply about what you choose to care about, release the rest. You're not the main character in anyone else's story, and that's a relief.

You're saying that I'm not the main character in other people's story? that's disappointing.

It's probably true though.

All right. So maybe in another episode in the future, we're gonna talk about the main character syndrome.

Yeah, I think that will be quite an interesting episode.

Yeah. So let's move on with nobody cares movement. Now where it gets really interesting is at the exact same time, nobody cares is exploding in the west, China has its own version of it.

There are lots of expressions around it. It's like a trend among young Chinese workers, especially in first tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, where they are rejecting the pressure to look polished and professional for the commute.

Okay.

So you remember the time, especially before the pandemic or especially maybe 10 years ago, where people dressed up for work?

Yeah, I remember kind of the bags, perfect makeup.

Even if they were taking the subway, they would still look impeccable.

Yeah. So, what do they do now?

Okay, so instead of carrying a designer bag, they're not even carrying no-brand bag. They're just carrying delivery bags, reuse delivery bags, plastic grocery bags.

Okay. So, people are carrying plastic bags to work, the kind you get at convenience store.

Yeah! And they're proud of it, they call it “跑路风” , it’s basically they're ready to run away from this life. Ready to pack up and leave.

They are even taking pride in being the worst dresser in the office as if there's no dress code anymore. There's the whole idea of “上班恶心穿搭” it’s like “disgusting work outfit” because no one cares. And in this sense, they also don't care about other people.

Okay, that is weird.

It's the completely opposite of the whole luxury handbag or luxury outfit as a status thing.

One person interviewed for an article said this whole thing isn't about being poor. It's about prioritizing -- your mental health over appearances. Why spend money on work clothes when I'm saving for something else I like.

So, basically, the same as nobody cares really is… nobody is watching you as closely as you think. Your coworkers don't care what bag you bought. Your boss doesn't notice your socks, so just stop performing.

Yeah, it's just a workplace. It's not really like people are there to make friends.

No.

So nobody really cares what you wear, as long as you're clothed, you're not going to work naked.

Okay.

Nobody really cares. I think that somehow also plays into the whole “nobody cares” attitude.

Yeah.

排版长图：Jer.ry

文稿校对：徐一鸣 & Jenny

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