Fun is no longer fun according to a recent survey of teenagers conducted by the Institute for Serious Studies. “Most teenagers have given up on enjoying themselves,” says pollster Jalbert Lecave. “We now live in a society that prioritize pleasure and fun, and in order to assert their independence and individualize, teenagers are increasingly turning to serious matters to distinguish themselves from their immature and irresponsible parents."

Jalbert is calling this the Serious Generation, who have chosen to rebel against pop culture by embracing all things serious. Julie Black is a 14 year old high school student who embodies this recent trend. “First there was norm core, but that didn’t go far enough,” says Julie. “Today, teenagers would rather learn accounting than listen to music, they’d rather file taxes than play videos, they’d prefer discuss regulations and bureaucratic manoeuvring than take drugs or have sex. Fun isn’t fun anymore. Unfun is fun."

The millennials who have started to overtake the media have noticed this trend. “I think a lot of teenagers are rebelling against what a bunch of pompous assholes the rest of us are,” says tech journalist Grand Connard. “Ever since Susan Montag said it was okay to take pop culture seriously, this was bound to happen. We’ve gone too far down that road, and now we take pop culture way too seriously, so kids are putting us in our place by rejecting pop culture and embracing all things serious. They’re rejecting kitsch in favour of things that purveyors of pop culture have yet to commodify or turn into status symbols. Bureaucracy is now in, paperwork is suddenly cool, listening to long lectures about soil erosion in Mongolia is now more appealing than listening to music."

Many event organizers and party promoters have also noticed this trend. “If my parties don’t offer seminars on taxes or paperwork or something like that, no one under 20 wants to attend them,” says promoter Joe Theriault. “The size of our crowds is dictated by how much DJs talk about the beauty of T4 forms."

Julie says she’s not surprised. “Ugh, can you imagine going to a party where people have fun? That’s sounds horrible. Bland is the new tasty, and boring is the new fun. That’s what we want."