Cyberdecking emerges as the year's signature subculture

Gen Z is building DIY portable computers in cyberpunk aesthetics — an "analog rebellion" against AI-saturated corporate stacks. Paired with the rise of micro-communities, offline-first zine culture, shoegaze revival, and letterpress gatherings, the signal is consistent: *the public layer is being abandoned in favour of small, slow, intentional spaces.* Giles Crouch reads it as "a distress signal" — subcultures bloom when the dominant culture stops feeding people. The processing organs are themse ...