Latest Stories from Annie
Exploring Gen Zโs love of horoscopes
From Aristotle to A-listers, astrology has been popular for centuries. Gen Z is particularly obsessed, with star signs playing a major role in how they interact on social media. Whether you believe in the power of the Zodiac or not, star signs have been in magazines since 1930, when the Sunday Expressย printed a birth horoscope for Princess Margaret Rose on August 24. Those of you who can...
Have tattoos become too expensive?
For various reasons, getting inked increasingly involves breaking the bank. What does this mean for the industry and for the future of an art form thatโs been around for generations? If you cast your mind back to the days of T-shirts and shorts earlier this year โ now replaced by jumpers and thermals as British winter rolls in โ an afternoon of people watching may have had you believing that...
Opinion โ why giving weight loss jabs to unemployed Brits is problematic
The governmentโs proposal endorses the stereotype that larger people without jobs are โjust lazyโ and implies that a body that โworksโ is measured by how much labour can be extracted from it. These days, itโs almost too easy to compare ourselves as we binge episode after episode of fatphobic media like The Biggest Loser, or My 600-lb life, or Supersize vs Superskinny, watching as people told theyโre unhealthily large...
The problem with AI playlists on Spotify
Spotify algorithms are alienating us from each other and casting shadows over smaller artists by playing the same music over and over again. Is there a way we can rediscover the joy of sharing through streaming and continue to expand our tastes and experiences through sound? Whether youโre passionate about podcasts or crazy about carefully curated playlists, chances are youโre no stranger to Spotify, the worldโs most...
What is the IKEA effect and how does it apply to relationships?
We value IKEA furniture more because weโve invested time and energy into reading the instructions and then assembling it. This has taken on a whole new meaning online. For gamblers, the โsunk cost fallacyโ might sound familiar. Defined as โa reluctance to abandon a strategy or course of action because oneโs invested heavily in it, even if itโs clear that abandonment would be more beneficial,โ itโs a phenomenon that sees...
Why are men sabotaging the โshe deserved the purseโ trend?
Men have been sabotaging womenโs pay-it-forward scheme by wrecking baby aisles and taking money intended for young mothers. Is this a clap-back against the unnecessary spectacularisation of generosity or against women experiencing privileges men have excluded themselves from by unequally distributing parental responsibility? Across the US, women have been hiding money and gift vouchers among baby products in popular supermarkets as part of a new pay-it-forward scheme developed recently by...
The dangers of gymcel culture
As the worlds of incels and gym nuts collide, the impacts of this are not only concerning for women, but for the susceptible men whose wellbeing is at stake as a result of these trends. By now, Iโm sure youโve heard of the infamous red pill community, whose members rule the online manosphere. Incels reign supreme in this space, the term a portmanteau for โinvoluntarily celibate,โ which describes a person...
When did British festivals get so messy?
Every time festival season rolls around in the UK, attendees make headlines for destroying the sites (and their livers alongside them). In other parts of Europe, this recklessness is less common โ or at least less renowned. Should we be looking beyond British borders for an example of how to regulate environmental impact and substance use at multi-day music and arts events? Whether youโve found yourself in the midst of...
Opinion โ bring back the fat chefs
The online convergence of food and fitness influencers on social media means that people are focusing on the protein and โfuelโ quotient of their quick-to-make meals, rather than delighting in the flavour of their culinary creations and the process of cooking them. I vividly remember the first time I saw culinary skills depicted on-screen. It was the infamous cheese toastie scene in Jon Favreauโs 2014 film Chef,...
Opinion โ we need to take self-care from the screen to the streets
Though scrolling on social media gives us the short-term dopamine hits we crave, ceaseless overexposure to tragedy means that many of us have developed a guilt complex. To combat this, weโre increasingly switching off in the name of self-care, but what if we redirected that to bringing about tangible change and helping others the way weโre helping ourselves? Without doubt, social media is having detrimental impact on our mental...
