The term “remaja jompo” or ‘decrepit teenagers’ has become very popular in Indonesia. Started booming in 2021, this new phenomenon is still discussed by a lot of people until present time, especially on social media.
“Remaja jompo” is usually addressed to young people who often get fatigue, body aches, or any other symptoms that old people usually experiencing in their daily life[1].
However, being such a promising content material on social media that interests lots of netizens, is this trending phenomenon really occurs in real life? To know deeper about this new phenomenon, in July 2022 Snapcart asked respondents about “remaja jompo” physical issues with some questions.
From 3000 samples who were born as Generation Z, which is divided into two groups; adolescent (12-18 years old) and young adult (19-25 years old), we can see that most Gen Z often feel easily get body/muscle aches and fatigue rather than any other “jompo” or ‘decrepit’ physical issues. However, those who answered “never experiencing these symptoms” are minority in this part of question. Therefore, the graphic shows that remaja jompo phenomenon indeed happens in real life, which means that the youngsters’ usage of “remaja jompo starter pack” (that’s how people on social media call it) or a group of health care products that old people usually use are not just a joke for social media content material.
Coping with “Jompo” Physical Issues
If we often see old people using health care product like hot patch to reduce their physical pain, then what kind of health care product that become the youngsters’ favorite to cope with their “jompo” physical issues.
Different from the elderly, Gen Z have different taste in choosing their “remaja jompo starter pack”. Unlike their senior, Gen Z prefer to use eucalyptus oil/aromatherapy than any other health care products. According to some studies, young people tend to use eucalyptus oil/aromatherapy because of its good various scents that make them feel comfortable and less embarrassed when they use it in public[2] and its ability to help them coping with insomnia[3], especially with their ‘stay up late’ habit[4] which might create this kind of sleeping disorder[5].
Furthermore, our survey also found out that only 8% of Gen Z who use those health care products very rarely (once a month), meanwhile others confessed that they mostly use the products in uncertain times (40% adolescents & 30% young adults), and many of them choose to use those products regularly. From this data, we can assume that “remaja jompo starter pack” products have almost become young people’s new best friend, aside from their cell phone.
A Long-Term Phenomenon or Just a Temporary Trend?
Covid-19 pandemic is believed to be the main reason of why this phenomenon occurs. Being forced to spend a lot of time at home for more than a year, young people become less physically active, and their life schedule is twisted[6], which have impacted their daily habit and lifestyle.
Moreover, the relation between pandemic and “remaja jompo” phenomenon could also be proven from health care products such as balsam and massage oil transaction history data from Snapcart on a graphic below.
Taken from transaction history of consumers who work as blue-collar worker, housewife, part-time worker, skilled professional, student, and other occupations from 34 provinces in Indonesia during January 2021 until June 2022, the data above shows us that housewives are the ones who need health care products such as balsam and massage oil the most. And interestingly, students are in the 3rd highest group among these 5 occupations, who buy balsam and massage oil with quite a lot of amounts, meanwhile blue-collar workers who usually work by using their physical power are surprisingly in the 2nd lowest group (9%) who use those kind of health care products.
This ironic fact represents that most people who try to reduce physical pain are those who spend a lot of time at home during pandemic. Therefore, the graphic above has proven that the pandemic situation indeed has great influence for “remaja jompo” phenomenon.
So, if Covid-19 pandemic finally comes to an end someday, will this phenomenon still stay among young people or poof…vanishing in the air just like other trending things that ever occurred in this world? Let’s take a look at these questions that we also asked to respondents in our survey.
Our survey shows that the majority of Gen Z (74%) are interested to use their “remaja jompo starter pack”, but 22% of them are still in doubt to continue using some of those four kinds of health care products, and only 4% of Gen Z who have decided to stop using those products.
Even though the data above has already shown us that “remaja jompo” is very possible to be a long-term phenomenon, but we also found another interesting facts about those who answered “don’t know yet”; do they have certain habits that would make them finally join the majority of Gen Z who answered “yes” or even “no”?
So for further information, we asked those who answered “don’t know yet” about their lifestyle, and here are the results.
From the data above, we found out that they often do unhealthy behavior like not eating on time (73%), not sleeping at night (72%), consuming fast food (50%), sitting for about 12 hours per day (24%).
Additionally, they also revealed that most of them do those unhealthy behaviors because they are busy doing tasks from work/school/college (59%) and feeling comfortable in doing it (41%), which indicates that a lot of Gen Z might find difficulties in doing healthy life habits due to their job or educational demands.
However, even though those unhealthy behaviors might become their daily habits, but we figured out that they still do exercise or any sport.
Even though they are getting used to unhealthy life behavior, the data above reveals that most of them still try to keep their body healthy by doing exercise/any sport sometimes (67%) and 7% even often do it. However, some of them also has answered that they are not doing any sport/exercise (26%).
Logically, based on this data, the majority of “still in doubt” group of Gen Z were supposed to answer that they are not going to use those “jompo” health care products in the future, because exercise/sport should have helped their body in coping with their “jompo” physical issues. But unfortunately, their hesitation is in fact reasonable enough because a group of doctors said that if someone does exercise/any sport only in certain occasion, then the positive effect won’t be perceived by her/him[7].
Thus, these facts about the lifestyle of these Gen Z who still feel hesitate in using the health care products might indicate that they are potential consumers who would join those who answered “yes” (will continue using “remaja jompo starter pack” in a few years ahead).
Where the Hesitation Comes
From the case above, we have already known the reasons behind why this 2nd majority of Gen Z did not answer “no”. However, why didn’t they answer “yes” instead? Let’s try to analyze it.
So from this survey, we know that there are some Gen Z who don’t use those “jompo” health care products (8% adolescents and 6% young adults), and here are their reasons.
This survey shows us that those who don’t use “jompo” health care products are mostly because they feel that the symptoms will go away by itself (55% adolescent and 74% young adults), while 38% adolescents and 42% young adults choose to not use the products because they dislike the products’ scent or flavor. And additionally, those who answered “others” also told us their own personal reasons, as represented by this graphic below.
This graphic shows us that one of many reasons why Gen Z don’t use “remaja jompo starter pack” is mostly because they are not interested to use those products. So that’s why from both charts above, Gen Z also tend to use “remaja jompo starter pack” only when they really need them. When their “jompo” pain finally hits the peak for quite a long time.
Nevertheless, though some Gen Z are not interested to use “jompo” health care products, but we found another interesting fact from this question below.
This graphic reveals that most Gen Z feels comfortable in using “jompo” health care products, but sometimes they feel embarrassed to use it because those products make them feel like an old person. And the ones who feel uncomfortable are only minority among them.
Therefore, these interesting facts might tell us that actually, many young people have felt “in love” with “jompo” health care products. But sometimes the “old vibes” could make them feel less interested to use the products.
Interested to know more about interesting facts behind consumer behavior? Contact us here.
Sources:
[3] http://jurnal.globalhealthsciencegroup.com/index.php/JPPP/article/view/372
[5] https://penalaran-unm.org/kebiasaan-begadang-menimbulkan-gejala-insomnia/
[6] https://www.antaranews.com/berita/2459737/terapi-atasi-kecemasan-remaja-pada-masa-pandemi
[7] https://doktersehat.com/gaya-hidup/olahraga-kesehatan/kesalahan-yang-sering-terjadi-saat-olahraga/
