The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: What Is an 'Alpine Divorce'?

Credit: @everafteriya, @datnygn, @act.on.demand.imp - TikTok

A weekly deep dive into the current trends, slang, and viral videos of youth culture in terms that even the squarest can understand.

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In this week's Out-of-Touch guide, we're talking about Alpine divorce, diagnosing exactly how messed up the younger generations are through their viral videos, and looking at some dumb food trends popular among young people.

What is an “Alpine Divorce”?

If you've been seeing the phrase "Alpine Divorce" showing up in your feeds lately, here's the 411 (as they used to say): An Alpine Divorce is when a man takes his wife on a hike, usually in the mountains, and then just leaves her there to fend for herself.

The phrase dates back to a short story written in 1893 by Robert Barr called "An Alpine Divorce," but the renewed interest in the subject stems partly from the case of a Austrian mountain climber who was recently found guilty of gross negligent manslaughter after leaving his girlfriend behind on the hike, but mostly from a video posted by tiktoker @everafteriya, which purports to document a mild case of Alpine Divorce.

Her man didn't leave her to die, but @everafteriya's sad tale was has been played over 19 million times and has over 18,000 comments. It spread from TikTok to X to Threads and everywhere else, and women all over are sharing their own stories of being left behind on hikes and climbs.

Viral video of the week: Act on Demand

Younger generations fear more than just being left behind, as you can see in this week's viral videos. On the surface, the footage posted by Pennsylvania improv troupe Act on Demand seems boring, but if you know what you're looking at, it's like a portal into the damaged collective soul of Generations Z and A.

Check this out:

and this:

For older people, it's hard to understand why these videos have millions of views—they look like footage of any beginner-level improv class to me; neither particularly good nor particularly bad—but young people are seeing something different.

Here are some of the top comments on the videos above:

is this a humiliation ritual

Some of these are so egregiously bad that I have to know what went on in their mind prior

World’s worst improv class

Do they pay for this or is this a support group?

It goes on like that. Tens of thousands of commenters dragging strangers who have the temerity to be learning to do something. And there's another level of commentary, too. A semi-ironic fandom is developing, with people posting compilation videos and edits of Act on Demand:

Videos of people caught doing embarrassing things have always been popular, but the members of Act on Demand aren't doing anything more embarrassing than publicly being beginners at Improv.

Younger people don't go to parties anymore. The don't socialize. They don't have friends, have sex, or get drunk. They don't take risks. They don't live their lives. All these things involve being in new situations where you might not be in control, where you're vulnerable, an vulnerability means you might be "cringe." The fear of being cringe overrides all other concerns, even the need to socialize.

At the same time, younger people so crave social interaction that they'll settle for a simulation of it. They'll watch a beginner improv class to obsess over the inner lives and relationships of totally average strangers in Pennsylvania, they'll enter into parasocial relationships with people they'll never meet, and they'll turn to machines to be their friends.

Four dumb food trends among young people

But enough about our dystopian future; here's a palette cleanser (pun intended) of four dumb food trends popular among young people.

Sour plates: TikTok user Haskell has kicked off a trend for "sour plates," that is, preparing traditional food with ingredients from sour candies to create sour meals. It's as gross as it sounds. While some people are trying them, it's more of a joke than a widespread trend.

Loaded water: Loaded water is water enhanced with something: a flavor boost, fruit juice, electrolytes, carbonation, and even vitamins or prebiotics. The idea is to increase hydration by making water more palatable, but the problem is, when you add fruit juice to water, you're not drinking water; you're drinking juice. Water is defined by the absence of other ingredients, so "loaded water" can't even exist.

Boy kibble: Boy kibble is like girl dinner, but so much worse. There are variations, but boy kibble usually consists of rice and ground beef, often served without spices or vegetables.

Eating like a lurking alligator: OK, I actually approve of this one. A new trend on TikTok sees young men eating like lurking alligators in their bathtubs. Check it out: