VSCO girls are “the Tumblr girls of 2019”, according to Urban Dictionary, but they’re also the evolution of the “basic bitch” millennial that took the internet by storm five years ago. VSCO girls have just traded in pumpkin spice lattes for Hydro Flask water bottles, Ugg boots for Birkenstocks and North Face jackets for oversized tees. They also love puka shell-chokers, Pura Vida bracelets, and Fjallraven backpacks.

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But for all her internet stardom, the VSCO girl has also been widely criticised. She’s been buzzed about since Lauren Strapagiel of BuzzFeed News reported on her in July, subsequently appearing everywhere from The New York Times to The Cut. Several Instagram accounts aggregating photos of the #VSCOgirl aesthetic have popped up, and the VSCO girl has fallen victim to countless memes and YouTube parody videos.

The VSCO girl makes me feel old

While the internet loves to hate on the VSCO girl, I don’t.

But she is the first Gen Z trend that makes me, a millennial, feel old. I’m 27, born in 1991, and I'm so separated from Gen Z that the VSCO girl has never appeared on my Instagram feed. And when I told my millennial friends I had been writing articles about VSCO girls, they said: “What’s a VSCO girl”?

I even had to Google “how to pronounce VSCO girl”. (If anyone knows, please email me.)

Not to mention that scrolling through the accounts of popular VSCO girls such as Summer McKeen and Sydney Serena makes me feel inherently uncool, even though I’m well aware that’s half the point. How are these teenagers so much more effortless-looking than I was at their age (or ever will be)?

My teenage self and my adult self just don’t identify with the VSCO girl. My middle-school “emo” phase of Converse and black studded belts slowly evolved into a wardrobe of seagull-emblazoned Hollister jeans and overpriced Abercrombie & Fitch shirts during high school. Those styles might look nothing like today’s bronze-skinned, Brandy Melville-loving VSCO girl, but they were just as popular in the mid- to late-2000s as the VSCO girl is today.

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And while I currently own some VSCO girl staples such as mom jeans, crop tops and Glossier Cloud Paint, I am as far from saying “And I oop” (another VSCO girl catchphrase, this one referencing a Twitter meme born from a 2015 viral video of the RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Jasmine Masters) as a baby boomer is from asking someone to “Netflix and chill”.

The VSCO girl reminds the rest of us that we’re getting older

If my reaction to the VSCO girl says anything, it’s that the rise of the VSCO girl highlights more than just the latest internet culture trend – it also shows the rest of us that we're getting older.

Previous generations have long thought of millennials as “the youth”. But the truth is, we’re ageing as all generations do. The youngest millennials are still young – they are turning 23 this year, according to the Pew Research Center. But the oldest millennials are turning 38. While the 30s are still a youthful decade, they’re also the prime years for traditional life milestones such as getting married, having babies and buying a house.

While millennials are busy “adulting” and dealing with financial struggles, there’s an even younger generation out there focused on growing up and making their way in the world. And several elements of the VSCO girl’s look are a response to the world in which she’s living.

Just consider the VSCO girl’s attempts at being environmentally friendly, from her stainless steel Hydro Flask to her love of metal straws. While this part of her aesthetic has been mocked, it also shows that Gen Z is attuned to social and world issues. Even at such a young age – Gen Zers are 22 and under, according to Pew – they care about making a difference for their futures.

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The rise of the VSCO girl highlights Gen Z’s relationship with technology

Gen Z is the first digital-native generation. Millennials were introduced to the internet and social media, but Gen Z was born into a digital world.

Instagram wasn’t around when I was in high school, and YouTube was something I used to watch Three Days Grace music videos on repeat. It was definitely not a place where my more popular peers took me on a wardrobe tour or inside their day at school.

Social media didn’t influence millennial style back then – the look was instead inspired by music, celebrities and magazines. While those still inspire trends today, they're sharing space with influencers and photo-editing apps. As a result, Gen Z has created a whole new kind of aesthetic for itself.

And that aesthetic is a reaction to the digital culture that millennials created. The VSCO girl’s casual beach-wave hair, “no-make-up” make-up, and carefree 1990s-meets-surfer aesthetic is antithetical to the heavily contoured, carefully curated fashion Instagram influencer. And her wardrobe staples, such as Crocs and Birkenstocks, are helping to fuel the “ugly fashion” movement that eschews the look that’s been conventionally popular.

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For VSCO girls, it’s all about looking laid-back, not perfect. But by defying trends, they’re creating trends of their own. And it’s especially ironic that they’re evoking the 1990s, displaying a sense of nostalgia for a time few of them can remember – or never even experienced.

But millennials did. I may have once been the one explaining the meaning of “bae”, “on fleek”, and “thirst trap” to the baby boomers in my life, but now I need someone to explain to me WTF TikTok is.

The tables have turned. Is this what a baby boomer feels like?

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