A polyglot YouTube sensation with 6.65M subscribers, Xiaoma has become known in the last few years for popular videos where he surprises people by speaking their language, whether it’s Mandarin, Urdu, Twi, or another of the 68 total languages he has learned. He travels the world engaging with people and celebrating their cultures. The most recent audiences he surprised, though, were made up of Gen Alpha high school students and Gen Z college graduates in the U.S.
Xiaoma spent weeks learning Gen Alpha slang, he said–where some of the slang itself is AAVE that has since been appropriated–and delivered speeches at Philadelphia’s Westtown School for their Language Week and Ohio State University for their Multilingual Language Education commencement ceremony. Amid his own self-aware, self-described nerdiness, many audience members peppered his speeches with appreciative laughter, but there were still messages in both that stood out.YouTube polyglot Xiaoma shares the latest language he mastered: Gen Alpha slang. youtube.com
To Westtown, Xiaoma shared that “it occurred to me that all of you are already in some sense multilingual, whether you realize it or not, and that's because you speak the Gen Alpha dialect of English,” he said, adding that language opens up the world for people, expanding their knowledge of culture, giving them new connections and points of view. Or, as he shared in Gen Alpha slang, “Picking up another language gives you front row seats to how people around the world give the deets. It's like unlocking infinite drip, allowing you to catch dubs across cultures, connect deeper with the squad and stan new perspectives that would otherwise leave you ghosted.”
To Ohio State University graduates, Xiaoma conveyed how important it was that these rising educators seek to understand their students and keep learning themselves, again by using the aforementioned slang. “When you talk to someone in their own language, you just ate and left no crumbs. You feel snatched just knowing you understand a whole new world,” he said. “Because your students may not remember your worksheets, but they'll never forget the day you spoke their language.”
What’s even better is that in the YouTube video, Xiaoma offers subtitles for all of the elders in the Internet audience, be they millennial, boomer, or what have you. People were appreciative of them, too. “I laughed when he said he would include subtitles in standard English, until I realized I needed it,” one commenter wrote on YouTube. “We appreciate your efforts to preserve these rare languages,” wrote another.
Though there’s a generational divisiveness that runs between Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennial, and Boomer culture that’s been heavily articulated in the last few years, a speech like this points more toward a mutual understanding than a mutual separation.
And yes, it’s fun, funny, and occasionally (purposely) funny-cringey listening to Xiaoma, by his own admission an “aging, 34-year old millennial,” take on slang, some of it much older than Gen Alpha. But the truth behind it all is that learning a language allows people to form links to each other and to lives they might not have known otherwise. If slang can be used to illustrate such a concept and begin to bridge a generational divide, all the better.
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21 products that are gaslighting us into thinking they’re essential when they’re not
Some things in life are actually necessary—clean water, decent healthcare, basic human decency. But then there are the things that feel like they’re gaslighting us. The things we’re told we can’t live without, even though we survived just fine before they existed. Things like "smart" fridges, lawn fertilizer services, and yes—whole body deodorant.
Recently, our sister-site Upworthy asked their Facebook audience the question: What's a product or service that feels like it's gaslighting all of us into thinking it's necessary? More than 8,000 responses poured in. The answers were passionate, funny, and surprisingly unified.
Here are 21 products, services, and systems people called out for pretending to be essential—when they might actually be optional, overpriced, or flat-out invented.
1. Whole body deodorant
"Take a shower," said Shannon H.
“How did we ever manage all those years without it!! 😂😵💫” added Karen R.
Others noted it may help people with medical conditions—but for the average person, it's definitely a marketing creation.
2. Health insurance
It topped the list. Erica L. explained: “My doctor prescribes, the pharmacist issues meds, nurses care for people, surgeons do surgery—Health Insurance stands between health care and patients and says no, exclusively on whether they think it’s financially effective to treat you.”
Important note: Health insurance can provide life-saving access for many—but what people are frustrated by here is the profit-first system, not care itself.
3. The wedding industry
Multiple people slammed the high cost of modern weddings.
JoElla B. put it plainly: “We spend too much time and money planning one day, and not enough thought on how to blend two lives in a mutually beneficial one.”
Others called out expensive dresses, venues, and pressure to perform for social media.
4. Bottled water
Carole D. said: “Water in plastic bottles! Get a cup!”
While bottled water has value in emergencies, it’s often just filtered tap water—sold for profit in plastic.
5. Baby product overload
“Most baby products,” wrote Kelli O. “They really aren’t as needy and complicated as companies want us to think.”
6. Fabric softener
“It’s bad for clothes, bad for the Earth, bad for the wallet, and totally unnecessary,” said Gail H.
Some experts agree—many softeners contain chemicals that can reduce fabric lifespan and irritate skin.
7. Smart appliances
“Adding ‘phone controls’ to every appliance instead of making them last as long as they used to,” wrote Sherry S.
When your fridge needs a software update, something’s gone off the rails.
8. Makeup and anti-aging products
“Anything anti-aging,” said Melissa T., “Please just let me age into the gargoyle I was meant to become.”
Others questioned products designed to “fix” eyelashes, eyebrows, pores, and graying hair.
April S. added, “Products that women are convinced they MUST have in order to be ‘beautiful’ and therefore ‘loved.’”
9. Cosmetic surgery
Ron P. called out the industry as a whole. And while body autonomy matters, many commenters questioned whether insecurities are being commodified and sold back to us.
10. Ticketmaster and “convenience fees”
“Let’s go back to waiting in line at a record store,” wrote Nicole C.
Zaida B. added: “Convenience fee for online purchases—then charging $10 more at the actual event.”
11. Engagement rings
James P. didn’t mince words: “Engagement rings.”
The diamond industry has long been criticized for manufactured scarcity and marketing-fueled necessity.
12. Lawn chemicals and services
“Plant native grasses and you don’t have the pests or need for constant watering,” wrote Jamie B.
Environmental groups have raised similar concerns over runoff and unnecessary pesticide use.
13. AI and generative tech
“This stuff squeezes the lifeblood and individuality out of the human experience,” said Teresa L.
Saskia D. and others echoed skepticism about its necessity, even as many of us are being pushed to use it.
14. Funeral services
Amy W. shared: “My parents both have already paid to have themselves cremated and are very adamant that they do not want anything big done for them. In their words, ‘I won’t care, I’m dead.’”
Of course, some families find comfort in tradition—but the cost and pressure can feel overwhelming and predatory.
15. Rinse and repeat
Amy D. nailed it: “It’s just to sell more. Not even sure you need it at all.”
16. Credit Card Surcharges
Shawn S. took aim at the extra fees popping up at checkout: “That is the cost of doing business and shouldn’t be the burden of the purchaser.”
Many questioned why customers are increasingly being asked to pay extra simply for the convenience of using a card.
17. Constant phone upgrades
“Apple are notorious for releasing the same shit every year,” said Steph S.
Diana H. added, “Needing to upgrade our phones so frequently.”
Built-in obsolescence and marketing cycles drive most of the demand.
18. Vitamins and supplements
“If I took every supplement they say I NEED I wouldn’t need food. Nor could I afford it,” said Tausha L.
19. Fake pockets on women’s pants
Jessica W. said, “I have to buy men’s pants for work because women’s pants would just get torn up too fast!”
Form over function, and then they charge more for it.
20. Disposable everything
“The ‘convenience’ of disposable everything,” said Rick R.
It’s killing the planet—and draining wallets.
21. Tipping
“I’m sick of supplementing for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage,” wrote Susan V.
Tipping culture has evolved into something far removed from its original intent, and for many, it now feels like a burden shifted onto the customer.
The bigger picture
People aren’t saying all these things should vanish tomorrow. But when we start seeing convenience sold as necessity, and insecurity turned into billion-dollar markets, it's worth asking: who benefits from all of this?
And more importantly—who pays?
This article originally appeared earlier this year.