5 days ago
What Is Aura Farming? Gen Alpha's Latest Obsession, Explained
Hello, friends and fellow millennials. If you're reading this, I assume that you're a befuddled parent like me who feels as though the tween or teen in your home speaks an entirely different and utterly incomprehensible language. Case in point: What is aura farming and why does the alien under your roof keep talking about it? Well, I interviewed my Gen Alpha kid, as well as a few of her friends to learn everything I could about this annoyingly complex trend and the myriad social contexts in which it can be referenced. Read on for what I hope is a clearer picture of aura farming—just don't try too hard to do it yourself, OK?
What Is Aura?
In order to understand what aura farming is, you must first have a firm grasp on Gen Alpha's use of the word aura. For starters, in Gen Alpha vernacular, aura has no color associated with it and is decidedly not a spiritual thing; in fact, the word is really just used as a way to quantify somebody's 'cool factor.' If someone has so much aura, they're really just effortlessly cool and exude some coveted social status without even trying; if the quiet kid who usually flies under the radar spills his OJ on a popular girl in the cafeteria, well, let's just say his 'aura points' will take a big hit.
What Is Aura Farming?
If you are effortless, you will be admired for your aura. You can even put effort into being effortless and get away with it most of the time. (i.e., wearing the coolest new shoe style in an Insta selfie but not mentioning it at all.) But push that strategy too far and your peers will take notice, which brings us to the concept of aura farming.
If you're hunting down aura points, flexing too hard (i.e., showing off), and inadvertently making a mockery of yourself by flaunting too much cool, chances are you're in the business of aura farming. For us millennials, there are some more familiar phrases to describe this behavior: 'so desperate,' 'such a poser,' and 'trying way too hard' come to mind.
The terminology comes from the world of video games where 'farming' refers to doing the same task over and over again to rack up points or rewards. Think: chopping wood or slaying low-level monsters for hours to get better armor. 'Aura farming' borrows that concept and applies it to the social sphere. It's the subtle (and exhausting, IMO) art of projecting a curated vibe across all aspects of your identity—online and IRL.
Now, here's the tricky part. As with most Gen Alpha trends, there's an inherent contradiction here—namely that aura farming isn't always a negative thing. In fact, aura farming can win you actual aura points if you do it successfully on social media and garner a following as a result. In fact, aura farming actually originated with a kid who took his dance moves to the front of a boat in Indonesia and became the country's tourism ambassador (see video above). Most aura farming you find on TikTok continues to be some imitation of this kid's moves, but the idea has evolved to include other ways of being unexpectedly cool.
Other examples of admirable aura farming include Michael Jackson (who many dub as 'the original aura farmer') and Timothée Chalamet as Atreides in Dune.
Ultimately, the concept of aura farming is saturated with irony; it's all about trying to be cool on social media whilst maintaining an air of randomness to your oh-so curated content.
Why Are Kids Obsessed with Aura Farming?
So, is aura farming a compliment or a dig? I can't say with any authority because my impression of this trend is that it really can go both ways. And that, friends, is precisely what Gen Alpha loves about it. From Italian brain rot to all things Ohio, Gen Alphas really likes to lean into absurdity, ambiguity and randomness. If there's rhyme and reason to any of this, I'm decidedly too old to identify it.
I do, however, know that aura farming requires a real delicate touch. Do it right and you'll go viral and become a really big deal; do it wrong and you're just the butt of a joke. But, hey, it's the social stock market and anyone who goes public better be ready to take some risks.
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