This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: In China, young people are encountering a myriad of challenges, from societal pressures around success to life in a highly surveilled society, that have led them to turn to the internet in search of a balm to soothe their pain. What has emerged is a host of content called "digital ibuprofen"—viewed as a way to numb the anxieties of modern living.
The most popular digital ibuprofen at the moment is the Japanese webcomic "Chiikawa" (2020), a portmanteau of the Japanese words for small (chiisai) and cute (kawaii). Set within what has been called a "post-apocalyptic gig economy," "Chiikawa" follows the daily lives, jobs (like weeding and monster hunting) and struggles of small, emotional creatures. The appeal of the sweet, strange world to disaffected young people becomes apparent as darker themes emerge.
These animals face challenges like taking exams to get higher pay, doing menial labor to survive and suffering burnout. Along the way, they try to avoid scams and monsters that want to eat them. But amid it all, they manage to maintain positivity by cultivating friendships and enjoyment, especially by sharing delicious food.
Rather than the explicit cynicism of Western cartoons such as "The Simpsons" and "South Park," much of digital ibuprofen represents a distinctly East Asian approach to social satire that uses cuteness and surrealism to disguise its message. "Chiikawa" is part of a lineage that includes characters like Aggretsuko (2016)—a cute red panda who de-stresses from office life by singing death metal at karaoke—and Gudetama (2013)—an apathetic, depressed egg yolk. Pay attention and you'll see that these characters are trying to navigate many of the same issues that Chinese youth face.
These young people spend their school years frantically studying for highly competitive high school final exams called gaokao. They are then faced with entering a brutalizing work environment where 996 has become shorthand for the normalization of working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Such unrelenting demands of work have been widely documented as China emerged from its rapid development in the early 21st century.
Burnout has become common, and the Chinese dream seems to have receded in the face of economic downturn. In response, movements such as "lying flat" (tang ping), meaning doing the bare minimum, or becoming a full-time child—taking a career break to live at home and help parents—have emerged. Then there's the impact of the explosion of China's digital landscape.
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