Diet Coke in Our Best Life: Gen Z’s ‘fridge cigarette’ and Gen X’s ‘just for the taste’

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The crack of a can and that fizzy first sip that makes your mouth swoon.

Diet Coke is having a moment. And Gen Z is calling the experience a “fridge cigarette,” comparing the hit of carbonated aspartame to an old-school smoke break.

“The ‘fridge cigarette’ is Gen Z’s newest antidote to chaos -- no nicotine, just a cold can and a quiet moment,” says Cosmo .

The New York Times waxes on about the “first sip, when suddenly ‘all the worries and cares in the world go away.’”

Somehow, the 1980s craze -- which I started drinking in junior high -- has become the darling of a whole new generation.

And I had been wondering if Coke Zero was taking over the younger set.

Nope. Diet Coke has collabs with Owala water bottles and Target, where socks that say “All I want is a Die