Gen Z is the generation born roughly between 1997 and 2012, the first to grow up entirely with social media. Emma Chamberlain is one of its defining celebrities, and her career — YouTube confessionals, a coffee empire, podcast candor — maps how this generation consumes fame: directly, constantly and participationally. The speed and intensity of speculation about her walk with Eden Joel are pure Gen Z celebrity culture in action.
(John Park / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0))
Mentioned in: Why a Single Hand-Hold Can Shake the Internet: Emma Chamberlain, Eden Joel and the Anatomy of a Modern Dating Rumor