For years, “cringe” was an insult. It described people who tried too hard, cared too much, or showed emotion without irony. Online culture trained people to avoid embarrassment at all costs. The safest position was detachment. Cool meant distance.
That seems to have shifted.
Now it seems that openly celebrating awkwardness, sincerity and emotional honesty seems to be the new cool. Younger audiences increasingly reject polished perfection. They want people who seem real, even when that reality feels uncomfortable. The rise of “cringe culture” says something important about exhaustion with performance.
This helps explain why shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation continue to find new audiences (although some of us have always thought they were pretty awesome). Both series built entire episodes around awkward silence, failed jokes, social embarrassment and emotional overexposure. Michael Scott became one of television’s defining characters because he lacked self-awareness. Leslie Knope became beloved because she cared too much. Neither character protected themselves with irony.
Years ago, that kind of earnestness looked embarrassing. Now it looks human.
Recent commentary around these shows often describes them as “comfort watches”. Viewers return to them because they feel emotionally familiar and strangely safe. People do not watch them because the characters are cool in the traditional sense. They watch because the characters fail publicly, keep going, and remain sincere.
That sincerity matters more now because public life increasingly feels curated. Social media encourages branding. Public figures receive media training. Ordinary people learn how to present themselves like products. The result often feels controlled and empty.
That is why comments from Billie Eilish on the podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler (episode which aired 5 May) landed with so many people recently. Eilish spoke about hating media training as a teenager because she felt pressured to stop speaking honestly. Amy Poehler responded by saying authenticity was central to who Eilish is and that suppressing it would feel painful.
The conversation also touched on cringe itself. Eilish talked about rewatching The Office and embracing things that once seemed embarrassing. That shift reflects a broader cultural mood. Being emotionally honest now carries more weight than appearing effortlessly cool.
Faith communities should pay attention to this.
Christianity has spent years trying to avoid appearing cringe. Churches often try to appear impressive, relevant, polished or culturally fluent. Christians sometimes speak as though faith needs better marketing to survive. The fear underneath all of this is obvious. Nobody wants to look foolish.
The problem is that Christianity has always looked foolish to somebody.
The teachings of Jesus Christ do not naturally align with status or self-protection. Jesus tells people to love enemies, forgive endlessly, serve the poor, surrender power and welcome children. He washes feet. He spends time with outsiders. He dies publicly in humiliation.
From the perspective of power and image management, Christianity has always contained elements that seem embarrassing.
The apostle Paul understood this clearly. He wrote that the message of the cross appeared foolish to many people. Christianity began with a crucified Messiah, which sounded absurd within the power structures of the ancient world. It still sounds strange inside modern cultures obsessed with self-creation and personal branding.
That does not mean Christians should celebrate bad behaviour, anti-intellectualism or performative awkwardness. There is nothing holy about being obnoxious. But there is something important about refusing to build faith entirely around image control.
The current cultural embrace of cringe reveals a deeper hunger for honesty. People are tired of endless performance. They are tired of personalities designed by algorithms. They are tired of watching people pretend not to care.
The Office understood this before social media fully took over public life. Michael Scott constantly humiliates himself, yet viewers still feel affection for him because his need for connection is real. Parks and Recreation works similarly. Leslie Knope believes local government can improve people’s lives. Her optimism often looks ridiculous, but the show treats that optimism seriously. The humour comes from awkwardness, not cynicism.
That distinction matters.
For a long time, irony dominated culture because irony protected people from vulnerability. If everything is a joke, nothing can truly hurt you. Cringe culture moves in the opposite direction. It allows people to admit they care deeply about things again.
Faith depends on that kind of openness.
Prayer looks strange from the outside. Worship looks strange. Singing together looks strange. Confession, forgiveness and hope all require vulnerability. Christianity asks people to believe that love matters more than image, status or control. That will always appear awkward to some degree.
Perhaps that is why sincerity resonates again. Many people now recognise that constant self-awareness becomes exhausting. The need to appear detached eventually creates loneliness.
The strange thing about cringe is that it often disappears when people stop trying to protect themselves from embarrassment. Earnestness becomes compelling when it is genuine. That is true in comedy, music, friendship and faith.
The current return to awkward sincerity will probably not last forever. Cultural moods always shift. Irony will return in some form because people still fear vulnerability.
Still, this moment reveals something important. People want honesty again. They want room for imperfection. They want public figures who seem human. They want stories about connection instead of coolness.
Christianity does not need to become cringe on purpose. It already carries elements the culture considers awkward. The question is whether Christians will keep trying to sand those edges away.
Jesus never seemed particularly interested in looking impressive. That may be exactly why people still pay attention to him.
