It’s midnight. You can’t fall asleep. You might as well play on your phone instead of staring at the ceiling if you are going to be awake. While you are partaking in the typical doom-scroll you find yourself continuously executing, you come across a video with the hashtag “corecore”. The photos and videos are fast-paced with a “Truman Show” feel and evoke a sense of melancholy inside you. Now you are in the rabbit hole of corecore. Videos and pictures that are meaningless on their own, become a wake up call to your brain that is stuck in the social media “loop”. 

Corecore may sound weird to those who aren’t chronically online, where many niche groups use core as the end of a suffix to describe a niche group. An example would be cottagecore, a group of individuals who enjoy whimsical or idiosyncratic clothing and décor styles. Another commonly known group of people with the suffix “core” at the end of their name would be “hardcore”, describing individuals who look for the thrill in life and are very dedicated to their cause. Corecore seems to have started circulating the internet as early as January 2021, with an original anti-capitalist and or environmental message portrayed. 

The best way to describe corecore is anti-trend. Ironically, it is a trend that criticizes what is popular on social media. A consistent amount of corecore videos include montages of beauty tips, weight loss fads, and other self help tips all in a fast paced manner. The montage ends typically with a black screen, or another set of videos, trying to persuade the watcher to not allow social media to change their wavelength of thoughts. A similar thought that is also used in corecore videos is nihilistic thoughts. Many videos show speeches or podcasts that express how meaningless life has become with the invention of social media and the more so the prevalence it has on society. 

While there is no specific purpose with the corecore trend, one that is commonly acknowledged by viewers is one of less online consumption. Less consumption of beauty tips, meaningless words, workouts, men who try to turn you mad, and social media in general. Corecore is trying to motivate you by trying to drown out the noise social media creates in your mind. To change the habit of just scrolling throughout your day and instead go out and exist with the living. Corecore is essentially trying to teach the art of living.

In a sense, corecore is a visual therapy. A therapy for those constantly logging online. Corecore expresses the emotions that you may not even know you felt. Feelings of doom that cannot be simply put into words, expressed through music and images. Acknowledging the grip social media has on us, and fighting back against it. Letting the grip loosen and then finding yourself taking a breath that is no longer diluted.