Honestly, I think the reason media with younger audiences tends to be labeled as “cringe” is because young people approach their interests with an earnest excitement that adults find disquieting and uncomfortable. No, the Proper and Adult way to do things is to be alienated from your own emotions and approach everything with a disaffected irony, because god forbid you have a Genuine Emotion.
there’s also ableism involved. many times, people have described me as cringey for my literal autistic traits: not only my being deeply passionate about interests, but also my describing my favorite body stims.
please remember that in a healthy, adult relationship (romantic or not), you should be able to talk about things that are bothering you. if you are bottling up your emotions and holding it against someone when you haven’t told them what is wrong, you’re not engaging in healthy behaviour. but also, if your friend/significant other makes you feel as though you can’t talk about what bothers you- i.e. has made you feel guilty/gotten extraordinarily angry when things were brought up in the past- they are not engaging in healthy behaviour.
Exodus from the blue hellsite 