IF there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s categorising people simply for being born within a similar time-frame. Apparently, the youthful denizens of “Gen Z” have finally discovered that the existence of other Homo sapiens provides them with a convenient opportunity to socialise. It’s hard to believe, I know, but after making their way through the media-induced trends of “solo-maxxing,” “sleep-maxxing,” “fibre-maxxing,” “skin-maxxing” and “gym-maxxing,” they are now fully committed to “community-maxxing”.

According to the Guardian, which I have always found to be a most invaluable source of contemporary lunacy, “Gen Z are done with doom scrolling” and ready to engage with others in an effort to improve social relations. This involves what are known as “grandma hobbies” and active participation in book clubs, craft circles and hiking associations, not to mention going out of their way to speak to complete strangers in cafés or borrow tools from next-door neighbours rather than invest in tools of their own. Ingenious, don’t you think? In fact one wildly original therapist even claims that “individuals require repeated, quality social interaction to assist in developing a feeling of grounding and support.” You don’t say. I always thought atomised societies, self-isolation and rabid misanthropy were perfectly normal.

The Guardian even speculates that all this “community-maxxing” may leave its devotees so exhausted that they will have to go back to “sleep-maxxing” again. I might have to do some of that myself, in a “solo-maxxing” kind of way, simply to avoid bumping into these weirdos in public.