It all started with seeing my kids consuming their media. Unlike their predecessors, Gen Z and Alpha are now more curated and personalized than ever. My kids’ main source of entertainment is mostly streaming services: Netflix, Disney+, Youtube, you name it. They are rarely exposed to ads, and even if they did (through Youtube), it was a simple click of a “Skip” button or an immediate switch to a different video. Gone are the days of sprinting to the toilet when the ads appeared, or when kids had the same collective memory of certain brands and ads.

From there. I noticed several things about my kids. First, they are not super fussy about their appearance, and second, they didn’t really know how to do some self-grooming things unless I told them how to do it (okay, I know how it sounds, but bear with me; I have more to say/write about this).

The first observation: My kids are not super fussy about their appearance. This sounds like a good thing, and it is! At the same time, it’s kiiiiinda amusing for me that these two, a teen and a preteen, are not super worried about acne. Flashback to their mom’s teenage years: One acne could mean the end of the (social) world, because why? Because those Biore and Clean & Clear ads said so. The armpit area on your shirt got wet because your body is doing what it should, a.k.a. perspiration? Gasp, not on our watch, according to Rexona ads. In some ways, ads made us super conscious of how we looked and presented ourselves in public. Also, speaking of acne, remember Biore nose strips to pull those blackheads? When the ads aired, it seemed just overnight everyone, including their cats and uncles, was sporting nose strip on their nose, and I used to live in a small town in Central Java.

The second observation: My kids didn’t really know how to do some self-grooming routine unless I told and showed them how to do it in detail. Yes, it’s my job, responsibility, and duty to teach them how to do it. Do you know how I learned the steps to apply a face wash properly on my face? Skincare ads. Biore anti-acne face wash. I honestly thought my kids knew about it, so when I gave Wira a brand-new Biore For Men face wash, I got so surprised when he asked me: “So how should I apply this?”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“This. Thanks, ibu, for the face wash. How do I apply this?”

(Wait. Whaaat. You didn’t know? Wait. OF COURSE HE DOESN’T KNOW. He never watched ads, let alone face wash ads!) “Uh. Sure, let me show you how to apply this…”

The experience with my kids made me realize that, at least, a (major) chunk of Millennials were raised by the mass media. We learned some of our life skills and self-grooming based on what the media dictated to us, and I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or not. Life skills, yay. Body dysmorphia and unhealthy obsession with “looking perfect” because the media is showing a certain “qualities” of what being beautiful is, not yay.