The coddling of the Gen Z mind
Internet slang has infantilised an entire generation, and undermined the gravity of the moment.
ByTikTok
Instagram’s small-c conservative aesthetic
The “old-money” influencers sell users a fantastical vision of their future.
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Trump doesn’t need TikTok to win with Gen Z
Even before the election, the young US cohort was already shifting right.
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Trump’s mission to save TikTok
Neither security concerns nor the law matter to the new president. Do they matter to us?
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My addiction to vertical video
It started with TikTok. So I deleted TikTok. But then I found myself on YouTube Shorts – then Instagram Reels…
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Jay Slater and our true-crime-poisoned culture
The cruel online response to the 19-year-old’s disappearance shows how real people’s lives have become fodder for content.
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TikTok will destroy our sense of political history
The app flattens all sense of perspective on the past.
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On social media, books are trendy. Is reading?
On TikTok and Instagram, influencers turn to books not as great literature, but as set dressing.
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The lessons of Osama bin Laden’s viral “Letter to America”
TikTok and other social media platforms allow distorted narratives to proliferate.
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Don’t let TikTok tell you how to dress
Influencers are charging hundreds of dollars for consultations to tell you how to dress for your “seasonal colours” or “Kibbe…
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A TikTok publishing house is bad news for books
Do we really want our literary landscape to be overrun with romance novels, trashy thrillers and scientifically dubious self-help?
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The Shein influencer trip shouldn’t have shocked us
Influencers have always been brand megaphones and PR tools.
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The rise of Citizen Celebrity
A new breed of British influencer is rewriting the rules of celebrity.
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The paradox of cottagecore
Influencers want you to think they’re making a living off pastoral pursuits rather than glued to their phones in search…
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There is no chance the government will regulate AI
This government is planning light-touch regulation of a technology our politicians do not understand.
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This England: High foot traffic
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain –…
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Twitter is dead
In the Elon Musk era, we have lost everything that once made this platform special.
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Social media is taking a dangerous toll on teenage girls
The evidence is now clear: smartphones are the major cause of the mental illness epidemic among young women.
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TikTok’s CEO testified before the US Congress. It did not go well
Shou Zi Chew struggled to defuse security concerns about TikTok’s Chinese parent company.
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Is the clock ticking for TikTok?
US policymakers are turning their attention to TikTok following the Chinese spy balloon debacle.
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