Credits: Social Media
Embarrassing family posts put me off Facebook but Gen Z have ‘nose cover’ to fight back
Gen Z are putting their hands over their faces in family photos for one particular reason, and I wish it was a thing in my teens.
The ‘nose cover’ trend wasn’t around when I (a millennial) was at school, but it would have saved me years of stress if it was.
Gen Z loves the ‘nose cover’
In 2024, Gen Z teens are covering their noses with their hands to hide their faces when they are forced into family pictures. This stops friends from being able to see their faces in the embarrassing pictures parents post on Facebook.
Teens are tired of being made fun of by their friends, so they cover their faces to hide perceived flaws and avoid any humiliation. The nose cover involves putting your palm directly over your nose with your fingers close together, covering the middle and bottom of your face.
Parents were made aware of the trend this month thanks to a family photo that boxer Tyson Furys wife shared on her Instagram Story. Paris was celebrating her niece Valentinos 13th birthday and the teen was covering her face, as was Furys daughter Venezuela.
Michelle Harris, who has a 14-year-old son, asked him why he always covers his face in photos, and he confirmed that people at school are always looking out for embarrassing family photos of each other so they can ‘roast’ them.
So essentially the nose cover for most is just a way to avoid being a target for ridicule in their digital spaces with friends, she told The Sun – and it also allows teens to remove themselves from the photo without refusing to be in the snap and upsetting their parents.
It wasn’t around when I was a teen
Its quite sad that insecure kids feel as though they have to cover their face, although its also rather clever. Back in my teens, I was mortified by some of the horrible pictures my parents used to post of me on Facebook.
They would force me into family photos taken from ugly angles that were the most unflattering thing ever. It put me off using the platform, and I was always making sure my privacy settings were strict, so none of my friends would ever see them.
I started high school in 2010 and we were the first generation of social media teens. Posting embarrassing pictures of your friends online was all the rage even back then – thats not a new thing by any means.
However, despite all that embarrassment, we just put up with it. There was no ‘nose cover trend’ in my day. It was totally humiliating, but we laughed it off and carried on with our lives because we had to. We had no choice.
Im glad that Gen Z has the ‘nose cover’ trend to fight back, and the new generation will no longer be scarred by parents’ embarrassing photos. However, Im also here to tell any teens reading this that a bad photo of you shared online really won’t ruin your life.
It feels like a disaster at the time, but in years to come those pictures will be buried in the depths of Facebook and nobody will even remember. Youll actually laugh in the future and think about how silly it was that you cared so much – I promise!
