It’s all work, no play — and it’s causing the cool kids to hate it here.
When Gen Z’s not busy bashing elders for their antiquated antics, the domineering demographic seems to enjoy rebranding things to their liking.
Whether changing the problematic name of a fashion staple or redefining what it means to be a virgin, twenty-somethings have a penchant for putting a cheeky spin on everything — now including New York City’s buzziest borough.
“From now on Manhattan is ‘Work Island,’” penned NYC transit influencer Jared, 24, in the caption of his popular video proclamation.
“Why would I go to work island for fun?,” he continued in the clip, which has garnered over 587,000 TikTok views, echoing the sentiments of fellow content creators who’d previously granted Big Apple’s business core its new moniker.
“That is the bridge-and-tunnel mindset to a T,” added Jared, who’s based in Brooklyn but works near midtown. “Like, why would I leave my home borough to go to the borough where I work?.”
And overloaded online audiences couldn’t have agreed more.
“This is a perfect explanation. When I was in school [Manhattan] was fun, but now that I work and have to commute routinely I hate Work Island,” commented a co-signer.
“I live upstate but work in Work Island, and I fully support this rebranding,” chimed a separate 9-to-5er.
“I used to live in Work Island and my mental health was rock bottom. Now I live in Westchester and it’s so much cleaner and nicer,” noted another.
Riders of the “work island” bandwagon have even gone as far as dubbing the Murray Hill section its capital, labeling the bustling neighborhood a “scary place.”
But not every working stiff born after 1997 views Manhattan through a negative scope.
Some Gen Zers enjoy living and laboring on “work island” so much that they’ve taken on avant-garde side-hustles to afford a squat within its ritzy zip codes.
“New York City is expensive,” East Villager Natalie Abatemarco, 25, a part-time babysitter previously told The Post.
“The money I make babysitting doesn’t supplement the cost of living in New York City 1000%,” she said. “But it does provide a little cushion that allows me to enjoy fun things like unplanned dinners and drinks with friend around [Manhattan] or getting tickets to a show — things that I, otherwise, couldn’t afford.”
