People, even celebrity couples, are logging off, going outside, and heading straight for the grass in the UK.
From parks to backyards, residents have been enjoying the rare stretch of sun whenever they can, often timing their outings for early mornings or late evenings to avoid the peak of the heatwave.
Pictures of celebrity couples like Harry Styles and Zoë Kravitz have also been circulating online.
Highlights
- From parks to backyards, residents have been enjoying the rare stretch of sun in the UK.
- Even celebrity couples were snapped soaking up some sunshine while “touching grass.”
- Experts believe the recent “touching grass” behavior may be a result of the general atmosphere across the world.
- But as the trend grows, questions around safety and health can arise.
People are logging off, going outside, and heading straight for the grass in the UK
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“Why is everyone in the grass in England? These are all within days of each other. What does it mean?” a social media user wrote on X, sharing pictures of people lying in tall grass and soaking up some sunshine.
The trend left some netizens amused, while others were mildly horrified.
“Girl, that’s like their first interaction with the sun since like mid-September 2025, let them be happy,” one said.
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“It’s not raining? What else do you do? Summer is for frolicking in the grass,” said another.
But not everyone defended the sunshine-seekers. Many were more concerned about the insects and ticks that could potentially crawl up their shorts.
“The amount of ticks is making my skin crawl already,” one said.
Another asked, “Do they not have mosquitoes in the UK?”
Even celebrity couples were snapped soaking up some sun while “touching grass”
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Experts said the trend isn’t just about good weather or even an Instagram photo-op. It may be tied to a mix of environmental factors and a broader cultural moment.
Heatwaves are not only reshaping how people spend time outdoors, but digital spaces and the now-irreversible screentime have become increasingly overwhelming.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the heat wave was a factor, though it has been so oppressive in the UK that I might have expected people to escape to the indoors!” Colin Ellard, Professor of Psychology from the University of Waterloo, told Bored Panda.
“It is hard to know whether the behavior is increasing or not, but I would hazard a guess that yes it is a literal manifestation of the slang ‘touching grass’ that we’ve been talking about for about 10 years now,” continued the Environmental Psychology expert.
“Touch grass” started as internet slang but evolved over time.
Originally, people on the internet would say “go touch grass” as a sarcastic way to tell someone they were spending too much time online, making them argue, overthink, or blow things out of proportion.
Hence, the phrase implied that they needed to head outside, get some fresh air, and regain perspective.
Experts believe the recent “touching grass” behavior may be a result of the general atmosphere across the world
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Experts believe the recent “touching grass” behavior may be a result of the general atmosphere across the world.
“This year has been an incredibly intense time for the world in so many different ways and, at the same time, with so much penetration of AI, deepfakes, etc. into social media, I think we may feel inclined to roll up in a ball, grass or not, in response,” Ellard said.
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The instinct to be outdoors in the sun could also be deeply rooted in natural human behavior.
“We are evolutionarily predisposed to seek out natural settings, including those with views of sky, sea, or plants. The scientists call it ‘biophilia’ and there is lots of evidence that this kind of exposure has restorative effects on our minds and our bodies,” Ellard said.
“It helps us to deal with stress, helps to reset our ability to pay attention to things, and even stabilizes physiological mechanisms that help us to deal with stress,” he added.
The instinct to be outdoors in the sun could also be deeply rooted in natural human behavior
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Hence, after long periods of grey skies, especially in places like the UK, spells of much-needed sunshine can fuel the urge to be outdoors, almost making it instinctive.
But as the trend grows, questions around safety and health can arise.
Lying in the grass is not always as harmless as it appears, due to concerns about insects and allergens, in addition to the extreme weather conditions.
“I would imagine that the risks in most parts of UK are fairly modest,” Ellard said.
“One would have to be careful about allergies and possibly insects and perhaps air pollution on ‘heat dome’ days, but these would mostly not be severe risks except for those who are very young, very old, or unwell,” he continued.
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Tick bites can sometimes be dangerous by transmitting bacteria, parasites, and viruses, possibly leading to Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Living in woods or tall grass, ticks are small, wingless bugs that latch onto the skin, bury their heads and feed of blood for hours or sometimes days.
Tick-borne illnesses can lead to symptoms like fever, itchiness, muscle pain, headackes, chills, nausea and vomiting.
Such trends also reflect how quickly certain behaviors can spread like wildfire and take on a life of their own.
Sociologists describe behaviors like this as “collective behavior.”
“It’s essentially a phenomenon where groups of people engage in an atypical, unexpected behavior. It spreads rapidly, is not entirely bound by existing norms or rules, and tends to disappear very quickly too unless it is incorporated into culture,” Dr. Jeffrey S. Debies-Carlan, assistant professor of sociology at the University of New Haven, told Bored Panda.
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“The Frisbee is a good example of something like this that became institutionalized rather than fading away,” added the expert on Social Psychology and Urban Societies.
“The first thing to point out is that there actually isn’t that much novelty here if you compare it to earlier episodes. Just last year, there was a ‘lying on the floor’ trend.”
“This was pretty similar, and the rules were simple: take a picture of yourself lying on the floor somewhere and post it on social media. The main difference was that it was largely indoors.
“Back in 2018, there was one in China that was similar too, but you were supposed to pretend you had fallen and the photo had to show your possessions around you as if, for example, you had just dropped them. Go back further, who remembers ‘planking’?”
Such trends largely differ from the fads of earlier eras because of the additional dynamics of new technologies
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Debies-Carlan said such trends largely differ from the fads of earlier eras because of the additional dynamics of new technologies, which “have the capability of spreading trends faster and further, and also add new incentives to do so.”
What is key to note is that this kind of “collective behavior” follows a similar pattern of group behavior. Such trends are not governed by strict rules or social institutions (such as laws, traditions, or formal expectations). Instead, they run on very loose, unwritten guidelines, like “lying down,” “being in the sun,” or “posting a photo,” he explained.
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“It’s flexible and can also vary by individual to some extent. It could be just for fun, to cultivate a sense of belonging with other people, to do what others are doing, and so on. Of course, on social media, there could be motives like getting hits or showing off to your friends,” he continued.
People also tend to put their own spin on trends. Something like lying on the grass might just be for fun for some, but for others, it can also be a way to talk about cutting down screen time or appreciating nature.
“It’s like adapting a popular story and retelling it, using the same characters, for your own message. The familiar elements are creatively repurposed, which eases communication with other people,” he said.
Debies-Carlan also noted that such trends can, with time, become old and disappear or become dormant for a while, “especially as they become too predictable or formulaic.”
“As my examples above suggest though, that doesn’t mean they are gone forever,” he added.
“The amount of ticks is making my skin crawl already,” one commented online
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