If You Want to Know If Someone's Gen Z or Millennial, Just Check Their Socks

A TikTok theory suggests that the way you wear your socks can reveal which generation you belong to

First it was side parts. Then it was skinny jeans. Now it's ankle socks.

For millennials keeping track, there's yet another thing we're doing wrong with our fashion that's making us stand out in a crowd. In short, we're still cheugy (and yes, the word cheugy has officially become cheugy, too).

According to Phoebe Parsons on TikTok, creator and host of FIT(ish) podcast, only millennials wear ankle socks — and Gen Z would absolutely never.

"This is exactly how you can tell the difference between a millennial and Gen Z, just by looking at their feet," she says in the video before showing photos of a couple women in workout gear. "Are their socks up? Or are they wearing hidden ankle socks?"

After showing the different photos, she explains that Gen Z "exclusively" wear taller socks pulled up their calves, while millennials stick to ankle socks at all times for fear that they will show over the tops of their shoes.

(Before we get mad at her for calling us out, she is one of us: she shows off her ankle socks at the end of the video.)

Parsons' comment section was full of millennials who felt incredibly called out (apparently rightfully so) and aggressively defended their ankle socks. Many of them noted that pulling their socks up made them feel like children and evoked the feelings of childhood — not necessarily in a good way.

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"If they'd been as aggressively bullied over the smallest hint of sock as we were, they'd never dare," one commenter wrote, garnering over 5,000 "likes" as of this writing.

Other commenters chimed in to say that ankle socks elongate their legs, so they're only thinking of the aesthetics of it all, while a few more pointed out that tall socks leave a dent in their calves, and that's not cute on anyone.

Hailey Bieber might be proof that there is some merit to this theory — she's been rocking quite a few pairs of tube socks this year. The 26-year-old Gen Z model and entrepreneur has been photographed more than a handful of times with her trusty socks pulled artfully up her calves.

More proof? On the flip side, millennial Olivia Wilde has been seen exiting the gym on several occasions wearing ankle socks. Wilde, 39, almost always has her ankle socks hidden spectacularly out of view under her sneakers.

But as with any theory, it's just that: a theory. There were those blessed few who replied to the original TikTok video to make sure everyone knew that they were solidly in their 40s and wearing their socks pulled up because they're "not like other girls."

And you know what? We love that for them, because you should just wear your socks — and jeans and hair — however you want.

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