Latest Stories from Flo
Girls are aware of beauty standards by age three, study finds
The value of personal attractiveness is established much younger than you might think. But what does this mean for girls growing up in an image-obsessed era? We check our appearance around 38 times per day. That pastime was once reserved for mirrors, and now extends to every reflective surface in our vicinity. Phone screens are the obvious preference – whether via their front-facing cameras or shiny black lock screens. Social media...
How inflammation became another wellness buzzword
It seems everyone and everything is inflamed, but is that really such a bad thing? From cortisol to caffeine, the wellness world loves a scapegoat for stress. It’s easy to blame life’s problems on some controllable symptom that can be stifled with the right pill or lavish morning routine. The latest buzzword to take charge of the health conversation is ‘inflammation’. To look at any wellness page is to feel as...
The pros and cons of a UK tourist tax
A charge on overnight stays could give Britain’s cities more money to spend on the people who visit them. But with holidays already feeling like a luxury, is this really the moment to make them more expensive? There are few things more reliably British than complaining about something we secretly love. Sure, the weather is one – but what about tourists? In a blinding bit of great news for crowd-haters,...
How YouTube is shifting the media hierarchy
People are flocking to the platform as online alternatives replace mainstream media. But Gen Z already knew that. Which chat show host has the monopoly on late-night entertainment? Ask anyone under the age of 35 and they’ll tell you it's not a TV presenter, but a YouTuber. Amelia Dimoldenberg, the mastermind behind breakout show Chicken Shop Date, has said her YouTube show is finally being taken seriously in the industry, as...
What is ‘soft socialising’ and why is everyone doing it?
Gen Z are choosing gentler forms of fun thanks to stressful work schedules and marketing fatigue. Have you recently vowed to delete the dating apps (again)? Join the club. Modern life has made socialising – romantic or otherwise – a largely digital task, and in so doing has made one of our most fundamental instincts just that: a task. Don’t get me wrong, introverts will tell you that meeting new people has always...
Vinted users complain AI is causing unfair suspensions
The resale app is the latest platform facing backlash for its use of automated tools. Thousands of Vinted sellers have said they were suspended unfairly or permanently banned after automated fraud detection deemed them to be using the app inappropriately. The BBC reported that several users feel the platform’s integrated AI tools are failing to monitor the resale platform appropriately, leaving some – including those who for whom Vinted is...
Can having tattoos still hold you back professionally?
If findings from recent research are anything to go by, the answer is yes. Around 60 million Europeans have at least one tattoo. Personal ink is hardly the taboo it was a few decades ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s warmly welcomed in the workplace. Dr Alyssa Grocutt spent several months researching tattoos, and found that employers are ‘still less likely’ to hire candidates with visible tattoos. Grocutt has hundreds...
Why are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ eggs journey causing such a furore?
The US congresswoman is sharing her journey to freeze her eggs, and in doing so opening up conversation around the trade-offs professional women face. It’s also driving backlash from the right. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (or AOC as she’s often dubbed by the media) has become a major play for Democratic Socialists in the US. After campaigning alongside Bernie Sanders and amassing a huge following amongst young voters on social media, AOC has...
Microdramas are fuelling exploitation in the entertainment industry
The booming world of rapid, vertical mini dramas has generated a multi-million dollar mobile entertainment industry. It’s also fuelled worker exploitation, low wages, and suffocating schedules. Is TV getting dumber? In today’s post-literate society – an era Rose Horowitch deftly explores in a recent piece for The Atlantic – how we entertain ourselves is a hot topic. From the second-screen problem to the rise of AI-generated content, the general consensus is...
Every body of water in England is polluted with toxic chemicals
New reports show each of the country’s rivers, lakes and estuaries are filled with harmful forever chemicals – a litmus test for a mounting ecological crisis. To suggest that most of England’s inner-city rivers are heavily polluted would be akin to calling the sky blue. But stating the obvious it is not. Far beyond the murky waters of London’s Thames or Manchester’s Irwell, each and every body of water across the...
