It was way past midnight. But still, my cousin Zainab was displaying no signs whatsoever of putting down her phone and going to sleep.

She had come over for a few days during the winter holidays and I had offered to share my room with her. But now, I was starting to think it wasn’t a really good idea. At last, I couldn’t bear it any longer.

“What exactly are you watching that is so interesting it can’t wait until morning?” I boiled over.

“See for yourself. Here… isn’t it the cutest thing you ever saw?” she said and handed me the phone.

“Whoa! What is this thing?” I asked.

“It’s a Labubu doll. This vlogger has a whole collection of them. They are so adorable,” she said.

“I believe the right word is ‘ugly!’” I retorted.

“Oh, come on! They’re cute. Besides, it’s the latest trend. Celebs are crazy for these! I have already ordered one online,” she said.

“Seriously? Are people buying these scarecrows? Why did you waste your money on such a thing? It is not even good-looking, let alone ‘cute’!” I was literally surprised.

“You know what? Just go to sleep and lecture me in the morning,” she replied and dropped the conversation, leaving me pondering the absurdity of internet trends.

Two days later, I contacted my friend Najia. The phone call lasted for one hour. I asked her what she had been doing lately.

“Nothing much. I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up with and had to make it up to my enraged mother,” she replied.

“Why? What happened? Did you break her favourite vase or something?” I inquired.

“No, that wasn’t the case. I had actually tried the viral trend of smearing your hand with sanitiser and setting it alight, thinking it wouldn’t burn. But the flame caught the sleeve of my shirt and, before I could throw water on it, it had burnt the skin of my forearm. And now my mother’s really angry about it. She said I was mad to even think of doing such a dangerous thing,” she explained.

“Okay, let me process this… you deliberately set your hand on fire under the influence of a dumb trend!” I almost screamed.

“Yeah… but it looked so thrilling… anyway, let’s talk about something else,” she said in an annoyed tone. So, we talked about random stuff for a while before ending the call.

To all those reading this right now, can you actually believe it? With such stupid trends, we can’t say where the world is heading. And this is not it. The other day, I went to attend Maria’s birthday party. The room was decorated so grandly that it seemed ridiculous. Just then, I saw Maria. She was wearing a white T-shirt with stains of mud on it.

“Did you fall into a puddle or something?” I asked.

“Seriously, man. This is the latest fashion. These mud stains are fake!” Maria answered, looking as though I had asked something completely dumb.

I know most readers would be thinking, “It’s not true!” If you don’t believe me, satisfy your doubts and Google it yourself.

Another day, my friend Sarah was showing me her art journal. One of her sketches was of a ballerina with a cup of coffee for a head. She told me it’s “Ballerina Cappuccino”, an AI-generated viral photo by Brainrot.

“Doesn’t this look weird?” I asked.

“I believe it looks rather pretty,” she said.

“Like the Labubu dolls?” I asked again.

“You know about those?” she inquired.

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “A cousin of mine is crazy for them.”

“Well, you know, I Googled the reason people are obsessed with such trends, and it said that they just don’t want to be left out. It’s called FOMO — Fear of Missing Out,” she explained.

So, long story short, people everywhere are following and keeping up with the latest (dumb) trends just because other people are doing the same and no one wants to look strange. Like Naila, who spent her pocket money on a luxury mini purse in which only an earbud can fit, saying to me, “What do you know about fashion!”

Or maybe Sana, who showed up at the school fair wearing her jacket backwards, telling me, “It’s the latest fad.”

I think I’m glad I’ve got common sense. I can tell what is stupid or logical, dangerous or harmless. I’m happy that I didn’t burn my hand doing that trick or make myself look cringe by wearing a “trendy” outfit. I’m content being ignorant of these dumb yet viral trends. I think I’ve got JOMO — Joy of Missing Out.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 14th, 2026

© Dawn Young Magazine