Unlock hundreds more features
Save your Quiz to the Dashboard
View and Export Results
Use AI to Create Quizzes and Analyse Results

OR
Sign inSign in with Facebook
Sign inSign in with Google
Quizzes > Society & Culture

Gen Z Pop Culture Trivia: Cringe Trends Challenge

Quick, free Gen Z trends quiz to test your pop culture smarts. Instant results.

Editorial: Review CompletedCreated By: Su Myat ThazinUpdated Aug 25, 2025
Difficulty: Moderate
2-5mins
Learning OutcomesCheat Sheet
Paper cut style icons of viral memes and dance moves on a coral background for a Gen Z trivia quiz

This quiz helps you spot cringe trends and test your Gen Z pop culture trivia across memes, dances, and viral moments. Keep the challenge going with the Gen Z slang quiz, sharpen your score on a broader gen z quiz, or check your vibe with a quick cringe test.

Which dance challenge became viral on TikTok in 2020 and was created by Jalaiah Harmon?
Electric Slide
Macarena
Renegade
Floss
The "Renegade" dance was choreographed by then-14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon and exploded on TikTok in early 2020 after hundreds of creators replicated it. Its fast-paced arm movements and syncopated beats made it stand out from simpler trends. Although the Floss also gained huge popularity, it was created by Backpack Kid, not Harmon. .
The dangerous 'Tide Pod Challenge' involved participants doing what with laundry detergent pods?
Photographing them for art
Eating them
Using them as fashion accessories
Throwing them at cars
The Tide Pod Challenge was a hazardous social media fad where people filmed themselves biting into or swallowing brightly colored laundry detergent pods. Poison control centers in the U.S. reported a spike in calls after videos went viral. Medical experts strongly advised against it because of the risk of chemical burns and poisoning. .
What year did the phrase 'OK boomer' become popular as a Gen Z retort online?
2018
2020
2019
2017
The phrase 'OK boomer' emerged as a succinct way for younger people to dismiss outdated attitudes associated with the Baby Boomer generation. It gained mainstream traction on TikTok and Twitter during 2019. The catchphrase even inspired merchandise and political commentary. .
The 'Distracted Boyfriend' meme features a stock photo of a man looking at another woman. In which country was this original photo taken?
United States
Italy
Spain
United Kingdom
The image that became the 'Distracted Boyfriend' meme was shot by Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem. The photoshoot took place in Girona, Spain, as part of a stock photo session. Once the image was licensed for meme use, it spread rapidly online. .
Which short-form video platform was the predecessor to TikTok, known for its six-second clips?
Snapchat
YouTube Shorts
Instagram Reels
Vine
Vine launched in 2012 and allowed users to create and share six-second looping videos. It fostered a creative community and coined many catchphrases and trends that Gen Z still references. TikTok later built upon this concept with longer videos and more sophisticated editing tools. .
The 'Harlem Shake' meme in 2013 used a track by which artist?
Baauer
Marshmello
Skrillex
Diplo
The 2013 'Harlem Shake' meme features a bass-heavy track by the producer Baauer. The viral format starts with one person dancing alone, then cuts to a wild group dance when the beat drops. It became a worldwide phenomenon with thousands of user-generated videos. .
The 'Kombucha Girl' reaction GIF features which social media personality?
Taylor Tomlinson
Brittany Tomlinson
Laura Vitale
Chloe Kim
The 'Kombucha Girl' meme comes from a Vine by Brittany Tomlinson, where she tastes kombucha on camera and shows a dramatic range of reactions. The clip went viral and was used to express mixed feelings in countless memes. It remains one of the most popular Vine-era reaction videos. .
What is the central premise of the 'Gonna Tell My Kids' meme?
Recreating iconic movie scenes with pets
Sharing childhood photos with exaggerated captions
Posting unrelated images and captioning them as famous figures for future generations
Predicting celebrity scandals
In the 'Gonna Tell My Kids' meme, users post images of random things—often mislabeled—and humorously claim they will tell future generations that those images depict famous people or events. It pokes fun at how stories can be distorted over time. The trend peaked on Twitter and Instagram in early 2020. .
The 'Skibidi Challenge' dance is based on a song by which Russian rave band?
Ivan Dorn
Little Big
Pussy Riot
t.A.T.u.
The 'Skibidi Challenge' stems from the track 'Skibidi' by the Russian rave band Little Big. The quirky choreography and catchy beat inspired millions of TikTok videos in 2018. Little Big's satirical style helped the song cross international borders. .
Which stock photo model is featured in the 'Hide the Pain Harold' meme?
András Arató
John Doe
Ryan Reynolds
Fabio
The man behind the 'Hide the Pain Harold' meme is a retired electrical engineer named András Arató. A Slovak agency photographed him for stock images in 2011, and his awkward smile quickly became an iconic reaction image. Arató eventually embraced his meme status and even appeared in interviews. .
The 'Giga Chad' meme features images of which fitness model?
Chris Bumstead
Ernest Khalimov
Simeon Panda
Lazar Angelov
The ultra-masculine face in the 'Giga Chad' meme belongs to Russian model Ernest Khalimov. His sculpted jawline and chiseled features made him a symbol of exaggerated masculinity online. The meme is often used humorously to compare ordinary people to this 'ideal.' .
In what year did the 'Blue/Black vs. White/Gold' dress illusion go viral?
2016
2015
2014
2017
The dress that some saw as blue and black while others saw white and gold became an internet sensation in February 2015. The viral illusion sparked debates about color perception and lighting. Scientists later explained it as a matter of how the brain interprets ambiguous visual cues. .
The animated web series 'Skibidi Toilet' became a viral sensation in 2023. Which YouTube channel created it?
Smosh
DaFuq!?
CollegeHumor
Vsauce
'Skibidi Toilet' is the creation of the YouTube channel DaFuq!?, combining surreal humor with bizarre animation. It premiered in early 2023 and quickly spread across TikTok and Reddit. Fans praised its offbeat style and rapid-fire episodes. .
The original 'Dancing Baby' 3D animation, one of the first internet memes in the late 1990s, is also known by what name?
Baby Cha-Cha-Cha
Infant Boogie
Crazed Infant
Baby Groove
The Dancing Baby animation, which spread via email chains and early websites, was originally titled 'Baby Cha-Cha-Cha.' It was created in 1996 as a test file for Kinetix Character Studio. The clip became a viral phenomenon long before modern social media. .
0
{"name":"Which dance challenge became viral on TikTok in 2020 and was created by Jalaiah Harmon?", "url":"https://www.quiz-maker.com/QPREVIEW","txt":"Which dance challenge became viral on TikTok in 2020 and was created by Jalaiah Harmon?, The dangerous 'Tide Pod Challenge' involved participants doing what with laundry detergent pods?, What year did the phrase 'OK boomer' become popular as a Gen Z retort online?","img":"https://www.quiz-maker.com/3012/images/ogquiz.png"}

Study Outcomes

  1. Recall Viral Memes -

    Identify the iconic memes that went viral during Gen Z's rise, understanding their origins and why they became cringe trends.

  2. Identify Dance Crazes -

    Recognize the most awkward and memorable dance challenges that took over social media and see how they reflect youth culture.

  3. Analyze Cringe Trends -

    Distinguish between fleeting fads and lasting phenomena in Gen Z trends, evaluating their impact on pop culture trivia.

  4. Apply Pop Culture Knowledge -

    Use your grasp of generation z trivia questions and answers to compete in quizzes and demonstrate your mastery of internet culture.

  5. Challenge Peers -

    Engage friends in friendly competitions to test collective knowledge of cringe trends and crown the ultimate trivia champion.

Cheat Sheet

  1. Memetic Half-Life and Evolution -

    Memes follow a "half-life" pattern where engagement drops by about half every 24 - 48 hours (MIT Media Lab, 2015). Remember M-LH: "Meme's Life Halves" to recall how quickly trends fade from Reddit to TikTok. Tracking this helps you ace generation z trivia questions and answers on meme longevity.

  2. Origins of Viral Dance Crazes -

    The "Renegade" challenge, created by Jalaiah Harmon in 2020, illustrates how grassroots creativity fuels mainstream impact (Journal of Youth Studies, 2021). Use the mnemonic "Jalaiah Jives" to remember the name behind the viral moves in your cringe trends quiz. Knowing these origin stories boosts your confidence in any Gen Z pop culture trivia showdown.

  3. Cringe Psychology and Social Distance -

    Research in the APA Journal of Social Psychology (2018) defines "cringe" as a protective social distancing response to norm violations. Think "Cringe Cues Cognitive Gap" to recall that awkwardness signals a violation of shared expectations. Applying this concept answers tricky questions in your Gen Z trends quiz about why certain clips make us wince.

  4. Nostalgia Cycles in Youth Culture -

    Studies at the University of Glasgow (2019) find pop culture tends to recycle every 20 - 25 years, explaining why early '00s trends are resurging. Mnemonic: "Quarter”Century Comebacks" reminds you that yesterday's cringe can be tomorrow's comeback. This context is perfect for generation z trivia questions and answers on throwback references.

  5. Algorithmic Amplification on TikTok -

    Harvard Business Review (2022) shows TikTok's "For You Page" algorithm gives new creators a 1% chance to go viral within hours, powering overnight sensations. Remember "FYP = Fast Young Pop" to recall how algorithmic boosts shape new cringe trends. Knowing this insight strengthens your responses in any Gen Z trends quiz or cringe trends quiz.

Make a Quiz (FREE) Copy & Edit This Quiz Create a Quiz with AI

Celebrities Quizzes

Powered by: Quiz Maker