Digital Wellness Unwrapped: Our Top 5 Internet Trends of 2025
Welcome to Digital Wellness Unwrapped, #HalfTheStory’s spin on Spotify Wrapped, where we’ll be breaking down the top brainrot words, internet trends, and big tech moments from 2025.
Welcome to Digital Wellness Unwrapped, Half the Story’s spin on Spotify Wrapped! We’ve been breaking down the top brainrot words, internet trends, and big tech moments that defined 2025. For our final installment, we’re diving into the Top 5 Internet Trends of the year and what they say about how we’re connecting right now.
1. Feminist Literature Meets Performative Male Competitions
This one caught everyone off guard. Feminist literature absolutely exploded on BookTok while, simultaneously, men started competing in increasingly over-the-top challenges to prove their masculinity. We’re talking college campuses hosting “how long can you carry your girlfriend” contests while bell hooks and Roxane Gay went viral on the same platform.
Here’s the wild part: these opposite movements actually started real conversations. TikTok comment sections turned into unexpected places for debates about toxic masculinity and feminism. Parks became gathering spots where people showed up to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Somehow, the contrast made both trends more interesting.
2. “Alexander, Come Back to Sleep” Returns
Hamilton turned 10 this year and had a cast reunion, which meant the internet had to bring back its favourite audio. “Alexander, come back to sleep” soundtracked everything from couple content to chaotic friend groups, and honestly? It felt good.
This trend was basically Gen Z and Millennials finding common ground. A shared reference that made nostalgia feel current again. It’s proof that some things just stick around in our collective digital memory and pop back up when we need them.
3. Lookalike Competitions Take Over
Spring 2025 = lookalike competition season. It started with a Timothée Chalamet doppelgänger contest in New York and spiraled into citywide events for Harry Styles, Zendaya, you name it. Timothée even showed up to his own lookalike contest, which was peak internet chaos.
But let’s be real, these weren’t actually about finding perfect lookalikes. They were excuses to get outside and do something silly with strangers who were in on the joke. In a time when it’s genuinely hard to build community, these competitions gave people permission to just... show up and have fun. Social media coordinating ways to get off social media. Kind of perfect.
4. Aura Farming Goes Global
One teenager in Indonesia posted videos with this unbothered, confident energy, and suddenly everyone was “aura farming.” The format got copied thousands of times, some genuine, some totally ironic, but all of it worked.
What’s cool about this trend is how it shows the internet can still amplify random voices. No industry connections, no production budget, just someone being themselves, and it resonates worldwide. Gen Z and Gen Alpha care way more about that authentic energy than they do about traditional celebrity polish. This trend proved it.
5. Charli XCX and MORE Brat
In the summer of 2024 Charli XCX dropped Brat, and the entire internet went lime green. But “Brat summer” wasn’t just an aesthetic; it was a whole vibe about being messy and not having everything together that carried well into 2025. Permission to be chaotic, try things, and embrace your imperfect self. That’s soooo brat.
This resonated because everyone’s tired of the perfect curated feed. Brat summer said, “Actually, it’s cool to be a mess.” That vulnerability packaged as confidence hit different for a generation exhausted by performing online, which is evident in its longevity!
What We’re Noticing
Looking at all five trends together, there’s a clear thread: 2025’s viral moments were about connection. Gathering in parks, sharing nostalgic references, and embracing authenticity over perfection. Social media actually bonded communities this year, even bridged some generational gaps (even when we didn’t totally get each other’s humour).
Gen Z and Gen Alpha spent 2025 gravitating toward authenticity and new experiences. Less polished content, less performance, more real moments. We’re using digital spaces to find each other and then actually meet up IRL. The best trends this year were the ones that got us off our phones.
What Would You Add?
These are our top 5, but there’s definitely more. What trends defined your year? What made you feel connected? What made you actually leave your house?
Drop your thoughts in the comments or tag us on Instagram and TikTok. Digital Wellness Unwrapped is all about reflecting on how we use technology, and we want to hear what mattered to you this year.
Thanks for joining us for Digital Wellness Unwrapped 2025. This wraps up our series breaking down the year in internet culture and digital wellness.