In defence of being ‘cringe’

Taylor Swift told graduates to “embrace cringe” last month as she accepted an honorary degree from NYU. Dr Roger Giner-Sorolla gives expert comment in this article about ‘cringe’ for Dazed.

Dr Roger Giner-Sorolla‘s core research interests currently are in moral emotions, specifically the self-condemning emotions of guilt and shame, and the other-condemning ones of anger, contempt and disgust. He brings this expert knowledge to this piece about self-perception. Are we possibly more self conscious about how we move about in society as a result of the years we have spent, isolating, working from home, in lockdowns?

“There is an emerging set of studies about the effect of the pandemic and lockdowns on social anxiety, and they generally find that social anxiety increased during this time, while lockdowns might temporarily reduce social anxiety due to reducing social contact but do not solve the problem long-term.”

The piece also explores the possible influence of social media on our behaviour, and the the rise of ‘main character syndrome’, where young people imagine themselves as the ‘protagonists’ of their lives.

“If people are creating content on social media, the instant feedback – often extremely positive or negative and at a much greater speed and volume of what you would get in face-to-face interactions – can increase self-awareness, often to toxic levels.”

The writer Serena Smith‘s conclusion agrees with Taylor Swift. ‘Maybe it’s cringe to say so, but we’d all do well to accept that if you’re judged no matter what, you might as well dance like no one’s watching.’

Read the full piece here