Alienation, not indifferenceResearch shows deep levels of alienation among Gen Z, or young people born between 1997 and 2012. Gen Z is among the most socially isolated and psychologically distressed generations on record. Although commentators often dismiss Gen Z’s humor as nonsensical or nihilistic meme slop, scholarship suggests that it acts as a collaborative coping mechanism, driven by a desire for authenticity. Casting Gen Z’s reactions as nihilistic obscures the values and institutional distrust connected to them and fails to appreciate their egalitarian and pragmatic ideals. In this case, those boundaries risk ignoring and, thus, further alienating Gen Z.Gen Z’s humor shows that almost anything can become a joke.