A squeezable nugget of comfort

Screenshot of www.ribbonfarm.com on 2020-04-17 at 12.36.37 PM.png

I was waiting for the perfect image to start blogging the idea, and last week supplied one: the Celestial Buddies plush toy that rode on the Crew Dragon test flight. The symbolism is perfect: an oddly satisfying little squeezable nugget of comfort within the disorienting, weird domesticity of a spaceship.

Domestic cozy is in an attitude, emerging socioeconomic posture, and aesthetic, that is in many ways the antithesis of premium mediocrity. Unsurprisingly, it takes its cues from the marginal shadow behaviors of premium mediocrity.

  1. Millennials and Gen. Z

    I made a prediction on Twitter on February 6th: If Millennials (b. 1980 – 2000) were the premium mediocre generation, Gen Z (b. 2000 – 2020) is going to be the domestic cozy generation.

  2. Premium Mediocre vs. Domestic Cozy

    Premium mediocre seeks to control its narrative. Domestic cozy is indifferent both to being misunderstood and being ignored.

    Instagram, Tinder, kale salads, and Urban Outfitters are premium mediocre. Minecraft, YouTube, cooking at home, and knitting are domestic cozy. Steve Jobs represented the premium that premium mediocrity aspired towards. Elon Musk represents the relaxed-playfulness-amidst-weirdness at the heart of domestic cozy.

    Premium mediocre looks outward with a salesman affect, edgy anxiety bubbling just below the surface. Domestic cozy looks inward with a relaxed affect. A preternaturally relaxed affect bordering on creepy. One best embodied by the rise of the ASMR-like sensory modality (which even the NYT has noticed) that has come to be known as oddly satisfying.

    Premium mediocrity is the same everywhere, every patch of domestic cozy is domestic cozy in its own way.

    Millennials may be the generation of premium mediocre, but I know a good chunk of them who are exhausted of pretending, and have jumped ship - or are at least ready to jump - to domestic cozy.