A Christian Response to “Looksmaxxing” and Gen Alpha Slang

It all began when I was spooked by two teenage boys trying to vape in my workplace’s restroom. Upon seeing my approach, the two youths quickly hid their vapes, said, “Sorry, Sir,” and ran out of the bathroom. Not only was I left aghast because underage vaping is both harmful and illegal, but I was also stunned by the fact that they had called me “sir.” This one simple word, said by two teenagers, triggered in me a profound sense of being old.

You may have experienced something similar in your life. I would end up surviving my experience in the bathroom, but I started to ponder the power of words, generational differences, and societal beauty standards.

The two closely related, contemporary phenomena that capture these three ideas are Gen Alpha slang and “Looksmaxxing.” Gen Alpha slang is a rising and continually adapting online language that is gaining popularity among people under twenty-five. Gen Alpha slang includes words like “rizz” (short for charisma), “sigma” (someone who is cool or admirable), “mogging” (performing better than someone else), “mewing” (a facial exercise to enhance one’s jawline), “cooked” (to be in trouble), “glaze” (to praise), and “unc” (someone who is old, like me).  “Looksmaxxing,” another word in the new dictionary, describes the effort to achieve maximum beauty and has become somewhat of a societal phenomenon, particularly among young males. The idea of “maxxing,” has also been gaining popularity in relation to other activities like “summermaxxing,” or “hobbymaxxing.” You have probably heard at least some of these words.

While on the surface these words seem silly (at least to us “uncs”), this new vocabulary gives you a glimpse into what is going on in the minds of our youth. As illustrated in Luke 6:45, the words that come out of our mouths show what is in our innermost hearts. These words highlight the desire to stand out, to be better than their peers, to have value and meaning, to command respect, to be beautiful or handsome, and to be attractive to the opposite sex. Gen Alpha slang is deeply connected to a hyper-sexualized, comparison-driven, online culture that is bleeding into the everyday lives of our youth. To make matters worse, these standards are often too high to meet without serious effort and sometimes at extreme personal cost.

Looksmaxxing is the answer that social media has provided to these astronomically high internet standards. This movement is being led by young, influential male social media voices like “Clavicular” (the preferred name of social media influencer Braden Peters), who is known for encouraging steroids, methamphetamine use, experimental weight loss drugs, bone smashing (hitting your jaw with a hammer), facial and jaw reconstruction surgery, and other extreme solutions to optimize beauty standards—I would not recommend listening or watching any of his social media content. These influencers claim the benefits of looksmaxxing include increased attention from the opposite sex, higher pay, greater self-worth and self-confidence, increased social value, and a better, easier life. This solution hits at the core of what is expressed in Gen Alpha slang and targets what many young people (and honestly, old people too) are most self-conscious about, and it promises the solution to their loneliness and unhappiness.

The most insidious thing about this trend is that it is not completely untrue. It is important to be healthy and take care of our bodies. There are many benefits of being healthy and taking care of our bodies. Our bodies are gifts from God, and we should respect and care for them. However, this trend turns into an idol. And it places a heavy burden on our youth to meet a standard that they were never really meant to bear. If Isaiah 53:2 describes Jesus, the coming messiah, as unattractive and lacking in majesty, then looks cannot be the only thing that matters.

When I think back on my quarter-life crisis, my mind considers the unsafe behavior those two high school students were participating in. Maybe you can relate; whether it is vaping or some other unscrupulous, unethical, or dangerous behavior, my tendency is to highlight and focus on the thing that needs to change. In many ways, looksmaxxing is just like vaping. It is a tool that accomplishes a purpose that addresses a very real need and concern. If we just focus on correcting looksmaxxing, something else will inevitably replace it because the root cause has not been addressed. While it is apparent that looksmaxxing is a problem, its roots may differ for each person and will require wisdom and prayer to address.

If you are an “Unc” like me, you probably will not become fluent in Gen Alpha slang overnight, but I know that if we pay attention to our youth and learn the language, we will begin to uncover the roots that underpin whatever weeds are sprouting. Ultimately, we know that Jesus is the true vine, and it is only by being grafted in that we are able to produce fruit, and be truly satisfied in this life. Or, if we were to use Gen Alpha Slang, we should seek to “Christmaxx” in everything we do, and “glaze” the true alpha, the one who “mogged” the devil, who made it so that we are no longer “cooked,” but are now “sigmas,” not because of our own “aura,” but Christ’s “aura” in us.