(ETX Daily Up) – Lying in bed doing nothing. This is the new trend on Tik Tok, and it even has a name: bed rotting, the “rotten bed”. Internet users, usually members of Gen Z, film themselves in their rooms hanging out in bed. The goal? Decompress and recharge away from the stress and anxiety exerted by outdoor life.
Lately, you must have seen videos of people filming themselves in their beds… doing nothing. This new trend has accumulated hundreds of millions of views on TikTok. And like all trends that have gone viral on the Chinese social network, this one has a name, bed rotting, which could literally be translated as “rotten bed”, “decayed bed”. Invention of Generation Z, bed rotting, therefore, consists of staying in bed for hours or even whole days, doing not much: watching Netflix, stuffing yourself with junk food, scrolling on your phone or simply sleeping. . A concept the opposite of the exhausting routines to which TikTok has accustomed us. We are far from the routines that require get up at 5am. Bed rotting is closer to goblin mode spotted on TikTok in the spring of 2022.
Most often practiced by students or young professionals, this activity serves as a sort of decompression chamber. This invitation to laziness is seen by some followers as a pastime like any other. For others, it is a real way of life. The goal is to spend a moment out of time, without the usual responsibilities, far from the organization, efficiency and productivity required at work. Between laziness and doing exactly what you want, bed rotting is a way for Zs to escape, to get away from everyday life and its hustle and bustle in order to decompress.
While it’s okay to lie in bed a few times, experts warn against doing it too often, or for too long. On TikTok, the Dr. Jessi Gold, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, invites bed rotters to ask themselves why they do it. It encourages Internet users to assess whether their sleep during bed rotting is really beneficial to them or if it is in reality only an escape from active life. Because the risk of practicing this activity too often is to disturb your hours of sleep, by dint of excessive naps. By force, bed rotting could also affect the mental health (risk of depression or other mood disorders), even the physical health, of its fervent followers.