Walk through any high school, or scroll through social media, and you may see videos about “mogging”. Popular online among teenagers, the term refers to when someone’s appearance and looks are deemed to have outshone those of another. As social media continues to spread the term around, it has led to many videos rating people solely based on appearance, promoting It online personalities like Clavicular. “Clavicular” is a content creator, often promoting mogging in unnatural ways, such as doing drugs. Students at the School have commented on his content.
Lam Nguyen, a sophomore at the School says, “I’ve seen many of his videos. He is always talking about ways to ‘ascend’ and look better. It just feels like a meme to me, but I know others can take it seriously. It’s funny to hear people ironically mention it.” Zarah Scovill, a freshman, has a similar opinion, saying, “I thought the videos online of when he got frame-mogged by ASU frat leader were funny. I find his content to be alright, because it is just very random. In my opinion, his content is more of a joke to me. When he doesn’t talk about trying to mog, he is kind of funny.”
While Clavicular’s agenda can seem amusing and overall harmless, some students believe his content can be unhealthy.
Daniela Tang, a sophomore, says she “often sees his content on a daily basis,” and that he is usually “promoting weird and unhealthy ways to look better and ‘ascend’ like ‘bonesmashing’, and doing drugs”. Tang adds that she knows people with friends who “actually take his content seriously. They watch his videos often and agree with the extreme lengths that he will go to looksmax. But overall, I think his content can be very unhealthy for some people, especially since he has such a large platform and following now.” Tang’s comments highlight one student’s opinions on how dangerous and unhealthy his videos can be, especially to high school students who may be easily influenced by the media they see online.
Similarly, Sarena Naik, a freshman, says she thinks his content is “damaging and irritating” to see daily. “I find it ironic that he often bashes women on streams for wearing makeup when he goes to such extreme lengths to look better,” she adds, pointing out the double standard he promotes through his content. Naik says the ideas behind “looksmaxxing” and “mogging” can easily have very negative effects on people because of “how easily it can be seen on the internet”.
The rise of “mogging” content has mixed opinions among students. While some students find the content to be part of meme culture and harmless entertainment, others say the content can promote a very unhealthy lifestyle. These videos of “mogging” can impact students through the unhealthy standards that are seen every day.