It’s Will Smith announcing a new album. It’s “Mamma Mia!” returning to Broadway. It’s the uptick in law school applications.

And it’s absolutely spring breaking in Houston.

In recent weeks, as the finance world has been nervously watching the S&P 500 fall, nonexperts and the chronically online are seeing signs of a possible recession in daily activities and choices. To them, a recession looks like visiting the Asian elephant exhibit at the Houston Zoo nearby instead of traveling to Asia. Or the rising interest in torts law and a decrease in creative movies.

Posts on X and TikTok with the hashtag #recessionindicator are mostly jokes or even cheeky insults about activities seen as cheap. But they also reflect public interest in how pop culture and trends might be affected by economic uncertainty, experts say.

Sequels are an easy target for the label of “recession indicator.” For some, the announcement of a fourth season of “Ted Lasso” or a sequel to “Freaky Friday” signaled that studios were tightening purse strings instead of greenlighting risky, innovative material.

“It is kind of funny to think that Jason Sudeikis is having trouble paying off his third pool, so he’s like, ‘Time to put the mustache back on!’” Rob McRae, 39, a podcast producer, said referring to the actor who plays the show’s title character.