“I hate the nonchalant thing,” Manon Turpin, a junior at Berkeley High School said, when commenting on increasing nonchalant attitudes at BHS. Nonchalant, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is an adjective used to describe a person or mannerism “feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm.” Being “nonchalant” has risen to popularity in BHS and in teen slang all over social media. Searches for “how to be nonchalant” spiked 241 percent in March 2025 on Google, according to the Movchan Agency. Is nonchalance prevalent in BHS? How do students observe its effects in real time? And how does it affect the classroom and social structures of the student body?
In a Jacket survey, some BHS students described being nonchalant as being reserved and unaffected. Other students wrote in things like, “not sharing opinions,” “acting indifferent,” “farming aura,” and “letting the critics talk while I stay in motion.” Whether or not being nonchalant is authentic, or a persona, seemed up for debate. “(Nonchalance) just feels really stupid … the most nonchalant thing you can do is be yourself,” Turpin said.
Students also commented on how nonchalant behaviors can affect a classroom environment, in group tasks and individual work. “I think (it) kind of makes the school environment a bit less welcoming and open, because people don’t share their true reactions or emotions about certain topics,” Corinna Leaf, a junior at BHS, said.
Some BHS students worried that the culture of nonchalance affects the way they interact with each other outside of academic settings too. “I think that it’s harder to make friends when you’re trying to pretend to be someone you’re not, and trying to act like you don’t care about anything,” Turpin said.
Leaf, similarly, is concerned about the depth a relationship can have if someone is acting nonchalant. “I don’t think people know how to interact with each other on a deeper level. I think people just have a basic level of interactions … and don’t learn to build deeper connections,” Leaf said.
Students also considered that these consistent behaviors of being “too cool for school” could potentially have effects on other students who weren’t originally participating in the fad. “People don’t share out or engage in meaningful conversations because they are too afraid of what others think and how they will react, leading to silent classrooms with students pretending to not have opinions or care about school,” Turpin said.
“It’s made stuff boring and like, makes you feel like you need to be like that too,” Teiji Moss, a freshman at BHS, said.
However, some BHS students commented that a students’ nonchalant attitude doesn’t have to be a negative attribute, and may not even be a subject of concern. “I don’t think people care about acting nonchalant, really. I think most people just care about (their) grade in class,” Marc Pons Whitelam, a BHS junior, said.
Additionally, Moss noticed a difference in nonchalance depending on grade level. “Upperclassmen are probably more nonchalant … I mean, especially juniors or seniors, because they’re probably ready to leave high school,” Moss said.
Overall, the effect of nonchalantness is up for debate, as some students feel it is a contributing factor to quiet classrooms, while others don’t think it plays a big role. As BHS rolls into 2026, and trends continue to cycle through, will the nonchalance pandemic continue to prevail at BHS?