In 2023, rat girl summer was all about embracing rodent-like mayhem, and 2024’s brat summer was all about moody, irreverent fun. The vibe in the spring of 2025? TikTokkers think it’s “dilly-dallying,” a term for relaxed wandering, wasting time, and dawdling out in the world.
In a year fraught with stress, this new viral trend is being celebrated for being pressure-free and fun…because really, dilly-dallying is a way to to connect with the outside world, joyfully and completely on one’s own terms.
‘The dilly-dally life’
Though the term dilly-dallying has been mentioned colloquially and online for years, first viral mention of dilly-dallying occurred on TikTok by creator @the.marchie in the user’s video on Nov. 20, 2022.
@the.marchie Born and bred to Dilly Dally
♬ original sound – marchie
The video was captioned, “born and bred to dilly-dally” and garnered 8.5 million views, 1.5 million likes and over 9,000 comments. The majority of the comments were in support of the creator’s giggly, high-energy admission of being a “dilly dallier.”
One comment read, “productivity has two modes: 1) mission impossible, 2) joyful dilly-dally party.” Another read, “the dilly-dally life.” Still another proclaimed, “I feel like we would be best friends!”
While mentioned intermittently between 2022 and 2025, the idea of dilly-dallying gained another wave of popularity after user @sweirdest—also known as Dasia Smith—posted a video on Feb. 16, 2025. The caption of the video read, “y’all don’t dilly-dally like I do.”
@sweirdest Yall don’t dilly dally like I do 😔
♬ original sound – Sweirdest
As she walked outside in an urban environment, the creator promoted dilly-dallying over more high-key social events. “Y’all girls gotta learn how to just, dilly-dally.” Smith said. “You don’t have to be going to the club all the time. You don’t gotta be smoking on that hookah like that. You can just go on your little walk, and dilly dally. Look at me! I’m having a good time, I’m outside.”
The video garnered 235,000 views, over 203,000 likes, and over 3,000 positive comments on the creator’s appearance and with support and appreciation for her dilly-dallying lifestyle. “All I do is dilly-dally,” read one comment. “Dilly-dallying is my whole personality,” read another.
‘Did you dilly-dally today?’
On March 1, 2025, Smith posted a follow-up video reaffirming her love for dilly-dallying and recommending others do the same. “You probably sitting at home, ‘oh I’m so bored, oh I’m so miserable, everything in my life, Trump is the president.’ Girl—go outside and dilly-dally. Did you dilly-dally today?”
@sweirdest ♬ original sound – Sweirdest
The video gained over 925,000 views, over 177,000 likes, and over 2,000 comments, continuing to support Smith’s dilly-dallying life and their own implicit need to dilly-dally. “Fr go get some food, explore the town, window shop, and come home,” read one comment. “Remember when our moms used to just roam around plazas and we wanted to leave so bad? I completely understand now,” read a second comment.
This post inspired others on TikTok to share their own dilly-dallying experiences, often over Smith’s original audio. These videos included meandering walks, running errands and other, unstructured, low-key activities.
Dilly-dallying actually promotes creativity
In a world that pushes productivity, dilly-dallying is almost counter-cultural in its emphasis on slow activities that don’t have an obvious, immediate benefit. But one study out of the University of York and the University of Florida shows that more than 40 percent of our creative ideas come during downtime like dilly-dallying, or “mind-wandering,” as the study calls it), not during structured or heavily curated points in our day.
While the aim of dilly-dallying isn’t to create a product or result…the happiness, creativity and joy that comes from dilly-dallying is evident in the hundreds of TikTok videos celebrating this spring trend. So get out there and dilly-dally! You might just get inspired.
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