Name: Locking in.
Age: It’s something gen Z – those aged 13 to 28 – are doing.
Good news. I love a lock-in myself. I’m glad the youth are seeing sense, getting off TikTok and going down the pub, where the landlord/lady locks the door at 11pm so the regulars can spend all night inside nattering and getting slowly sozzled … Er, this is a different meaning of the term lock in. Though getting off social media is a part of it. Also alcohol, though it’s more about not drinking it, than drinking it.
Oh dear. More explanation needed, please. So you know how gen Z are perceived to be the generation with the collective attention span of a gnat?
True fact. Can’t focus on something for a second without reaching for their phones. Well, they’re fighting back.
Good for them! How? There’s a trend online …
See! They’re on the internet, already! Yeah, but wait … They’re being encouraged to “lock in” and concentrate on a goal.
So it’s about focus? Correct, where negative distractions – booze, say, or social media – are put to one side until that goal is achieved.
How long does one lock in for? Depends on the goal. Steven Gilbers, assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told the Times that the phrase was originally used in sports and video games communities to refer to short bursts of intense hyperfocus. “But what I think is happening now is that it is also starting to be used for longer-term obsessive periods of focus and avoiding distractions.”
What kind of goals are we talking about? It could be getting fit, passing an exam, getting a promotion at work – or maybe making more money.
All noble ambitions. And who is encouraging this locking in? There are videos using quotes from Michael Jordan, of sneaker and basketball fame. Also motivational speaker David Goggins.
Is he at the University of Groningen? No, he’s a former US Navy Seal, ultramarathon runner, triathlete, lifter of tree trunks, inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame for his achievements, with a no-nonsense take-no-prisoners approach to getting to where he wants to be, and a fine way of saying so.
Example? “I don’t live off that hope shit,” he says in one video. “All I want is a miracle … but guess what: that miracle ain’t coming. The only way to overcome it is for you and you alone to face it.”
Do say: “C’MON, FOCUS!”
Don’t say: “Pub? Anyone?”
