Are We In The Middle Of A 'Vibecession'? Internet Debates About Whether The Economic Downturn Is Real Or 'Vibes Based' Explained

Vibes-based internet discourse used to be reserved for niche metro-focussed reporting on art and culture, as seen in the vibe shift debacle of 2022, but the trend has seemingly started spilling into the sphere of economics.

A phrase coined by writer Kyla Scanlon, the Vibecession indicates a general sense of doom and gloom surrounding the American economy, despite the actual numbers about prices and wages indicating a positive turn from past years. The idea of a Vibecession gained traction on X, with internet users debating about the validity of the diagnosis. Here's a recap of some of the more compelling arguments from either side.

Where Does The Term 'Vibecession' Originate?

Kyla Scanlon coined the phrase "Vibecession" in a June 2023 Substack post titled, "The Vibecession: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy." She defined the term as a "period of temporary vibe decline where economic data such as trade and industrial activity are relatively okay but people feel bad. it’s mainly a disconnect between consumer sentiment and economic data."

In conversation with Know Your Meme, Scalon elaborated on how the idea came to her; "this concept has always been around -- reflexivity, animal spirits, etc … it's exacerbated because we are constantly tuned into each other."

How Did The 'Vibecession' Gospel Spread?

The term saw more usage as 2023 progressed, and was picked up by The New York Times in an editorial describing the "vibe-cession" on December 6th, 2023. The article, and many online commentators came to the conclusion that the "bad vibes" people have about the economy may stem from how the COVID-19 pandemic drastically decreased people's quality of life in a way that not everyone was able to recover from.

On X, left-leaning online commentator Will Stancil took the discussions about vibecessions as his time to shine, given that he had spent years repeatedly emphasizing a growing crevice between public perception of the economy and its actual state, arguing that much discourse online was shaped by perception more than reality.

The debate surrounding the vibecession escalated to the point where an X user supposedly working at a bar where Stancil dined posted a photo of a check showing that Stancil purportedly ate a single hot dog and a side of fries alone. While the user soon deleted the post, it had already been archived and reposted for the world to see.

What Are Some More Jokes And Discussions About The Vibecession?

For the full history of the vibecession, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.