Gen Z is back. Chasing tans. Ignoring the warnings.
They’re using the UV index. But not for safety. To find the “perfect” window for a burn. 📱
It’s a strange inversion. This generation grew up slathered in zinc. Wearing floppy hats. Hiding under UPF stroller awnings like little hermits in the shade. Their parents? A mix of Gen X and older millennials. Those kids used baby oil. SPF 2 if they were feeling particularly responsible. They learned the hard way. Wrinkles. Brown spots. The fear of melanoma.
Now the script is flipped.
The kids who memorized the sunscreen songs are hopping into tanning beds. Group 1 carcinogens. Like tobacco. Like asbestos. 🚬
They think it’s clever.
A new survey from the American Academy Dermatology (AAD) drops some grim stats. One-third of Americans got sunburned in 2025. Gen Z took it worst. Severe burns. The kind that ruin clothes. Make you feel embarrassed. Keep you up at night.
And they don’t know better. Or do they think they do?
Nearly half of all Americans failed the AAD sun safety quiz. They scored a C or lower. Yet two-thirds claimed their knowledge was “good” or “excellent.” Gen Z bombed hard. A third got a D or an F. The gap between knowing what you’re doing and thinking you know it? Wide. Painfully wide.
Chasing the High
Dermatologists are confused. Not angry. Just puzzled.
The UV index measures intensity. 0 to 11. High numbers mean danger. High rays. Gen Z sees the number and sees an opportunity. Higher number, better tan? No.
Susan C. Taylor, MD, is exasperated. “They’ve got it backwards.”
She’s an associate professor at UPenn. Former AAD president. She says when the UV hits peak, you hide. Avoid the sun from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wear the hat. Sunglasses. Rash guards. Even if the sky looks gray. Clouds let UV through. They don’t block it. Taylor has seen the worst burns happen on cloudy days. The kind of days people think are safe. They’re not.
What is a sunburn anyway?
“Think of it as a total body scab.” Taylor explains it like a knee scraped raw. “That tan? That’s just the scab forming.”
It’s an injury. Every time.
Ellen Marmur, MD in New York, backs her up. UV rays hammer DNA. Cells panic. They produce melanin. That darkening isn’t beauty. It’s a distress signal. The skin is crying for help. 🆘
One in five Americans will get skin cancer. Five sunburns? That more than doubles the risk for melanoma. The deadliest kind.
Tan Now. Regret Later.
It’s not just cancer. It’s the long game of ugliness.
Wrinkles. Brown splotches called melasma. Broken capillaries. Dull skin. It comes later. Usually years later. Dr. Marmur likes financial metaphors. Protecting skin young is like stuffing thousands into the bank. Skipping protection? Withdrawing it all to buy a tan. And then paying interest.
“You’d think appealing to vanity works.” She pauses. Gen Z loves aesthetic treatments. Bottox. Fillers. Plastic surgery. So why not save your skin?
The survey found a persistent lie. More than half of adults think tanned skin is healthy looking. It’s a myth. But a stubborn one. Marmur says it’s hard to explain the future consequences to someone wanting instant gratification. “Twenty years from now,” she says, “I’ll be putting needles in your face. Cutting things off. Stitches.”
That’s the future. Right now, they want the glow.
“The potential of disfigurement feels so remote. People want immediate rewards.” — Dr. Ellen Marmur
#TanTok Takes Over
Blame the app. Or the algorithm.
There’s a whole corner of TikTok for this. Bronzed skin wins. SPF loses. Videos on “best tanning practices” rack up millions of views. 📈
Marmur ties the spike in sunburns to the pandemic social media explosion. Everyone was glued to screens. And not just cute videos of sunkissed teenagers. There was misinformation. Biohackers claiming UV light equals longevity. Influencers shouting “Sunscreen is toxic!” “It causes cancer!” “Chemicals are bad!”
Inflammatory takes get likes. Likes get views. Views get trends.
Data proves the shift. Nearly half of Americans saw sunscreen lies online. Sixty-four percent of Gen Z did. Worse? A third of Gen Z gets skincare advice from influencers. Not dermatologists. Not doctors. Random people with good lighting and a ring light.
Murad Alam, MD, current AAD president, puts it plainly. “Misinformation reinforces harmful myths. It makes people ignore risks. Evaluate your source.”
Fighting the Glow
So what now? How do you win?
Dermatologists aren’t sure. But Marmur suggests borrowing from cognitive behavior therapy. “You want that brown look?” she asks. “Don’t self-harm. Use self-tanner. Use bronzers.” Fake the glow. Save the skin.
She’s careful. Going “anti-sun” doesn’t work. Kids rebel. Tell them they can never enjoy the outdoors and they’ll listen with one ear out. Or no ear.
“Go live your life,” Marmur says. “Just make smarter choices.”
Celebrities need to help. Taylor says an influencer could kill the trend just by saying “I look better pale.” One post. Done.
Showing the gore helps too. Young people with skin cancer. Graphic surgery. Scars that won’t hide. Taylor wants those stories out there. “It profoundly affects your life. And your appearance.”
We keep talking. That’s the best we’ve got.
The lessons Gen Z learned as kids—zinc, shade, caution—are being shed like an old coat. Parents tried to instill them. Hard work. Now influencers are erasing it in 15 seconds.
Stories fade. Accounts delete posts. But DNA damage? That stays. 🏖️
Maybe the trend changes. Maybe it doesn’t. The sun isn’t going away. Neither are the UV rays.
