Zoomers are traumatized after consuming countless of shitty YT videos essays about cute cartoony media but-it-holds-a-dark-secret" kinda thing. They see something menial and then go
>oh my heck this is so creepy and spooky fr fr

versus every other generation being traumatized by imperialist war culture? maybe those things being "the worst" are signs that society is stable enough that the actual worst things aren't a concern for people. because, you know, we grew and learned to stop hurting each other unnecessarily

"Child-Friendly with a Dark Secret" Is hardly a new concept, especially to creepypastas. Candle Cove is considered a classic. The Tails Doll was another one.

I don't see it as something negative inherently. I find it interesting that modern kids are no longer interested in high budget media schlock that Hollywood and traditional networks have shit out. They seem to be intensely interested in works by Independents, which is great!
One of the largest IPs of modern horror was made by a solo dev with a history of failures. Plenty of horror series with millions of views are created by high schoolers.

I think it's a better time than ever for "good" horror. A majority of old school horror was absolute dog-shit (There is still modern dog-shit, do not get me wrong.), but I think we're seeing better works now than we have before.

There are many things wrong with the modern internet, but I think this one section of the internet hasn't suffered as much as the others.

Of course, I am always disturbed by how quickly things are monetized nowadays...