This new design trend has the internet baffled

A tweet about a puzzling new design trend started what may have been the first meme of 2018. On New Year’s Eve, @PeteOtway tweeted a photo of a magazine suggesting that one way to “keep the look neutral” in a room is by turning one’s books backwards:

As book lovers, we might disagree with Lauren here too. But now the magazine’s caption is lighting up the internet with “Lauren keeps the look neutral by…” memes. A quick search shows that this trend of back-to-front books isn’t exactly new. These Instagrams were posted several months ago:

And it looks like this trend of backwards books is still gaining steam. Book lovers everywhere are worried for humanity, but you have to admit that it does look kind of cool: