Why is the ‘Rapture’ trending on TikTok?
Evangelists are adamant that Christ is about return for judgement day, and TikTok is apparently the perfect place to get the message out. We really got the ‘Rapture’ before GTA VI? The hashtag #Rapture has over 3,000 hits on TikTok, and there’s a palpable feeling of trepidation among certain circles of...
Current in Offbeat
Gen Z like their love with a small price tag
According to a new survey, young people are spending very little on dating – if anything at all. If you thought the pandemic was the only thing forcing us to stay at home, think again. These days there’s plenty to keep Gen Z off the dating scene – but the main culprit...
How racism sparked the myth that MSG is unhealthy
Many people still believe that the umami-rich seasoning monosodium glutamate (MSG) is bad for their health. This longstanding myth was born out of anti-Asian racism and has since been disproven by science. Let’s investigate its story. Salt, salt, salt… who doesn’t love it? It brings to life the natural flavours of...
Is ‘mankeeping’ a common dynamic straining straight relationships?
Researchers have finally named the phenomenon experienced by heterosexual women who’ve been told at least once in their lives, ‘You’re not his therapist.’ Angelica Ferrara and Dylan Vergara from Stanford University published an article on ‘mankeeping,’ which theorizes heterosexual men’s growing dependency on their partners for their emotional needs. According...
Are Gen Z ageing faster than their parents?
Gen Z are known for tempering harmful habits like drinking or smoking, but are they destined to age poorly anyway? If you’re chronically online, you’ll have seen self-deprecating videos from Gen Zers talking about how they’re ageing worse than millennials, but is there any genuine credibility behind the jokes about...
Opinion – the earthquake magnitude scale shouldn’t be logarithmic
Full disclaimer: I’m no scientist. I’m a journalist trying to understand the logic behind measuring earthquakes logarithmically – meaning each whole number increase represents a quake that is 10x stronger – when this isn’t intuitive to the public. Shouldn’t we measure them out of 100 instead? In the early hours...
Are small plates a scam?
I can’t help but wonder whether London’s most fashionable way to eat is leaving us full of regret and not much else. In London’s ever-expanding constellation of small plates restaurants, you’re not really here to eat. You’re here to experience. To share. To marvel at the micro greens. To spend £48 on what amounts, practically speaking, to a deconstructed sandwich served on artisan crockery. The rise of small plates in London...
Why are we conflating our jobs with our identities?
All work leaves no room for self. So how do we separate our careers from our lives? If you took away your Slack status, your email signature, or your LinkedIn profile, how would you define yourself? In other words, do you know who you are without your career? Whenever I meet someone new, the details of my job tend to crop up in the first few minutes. And likewise, if I’m...
The fatalism of the ‘lucky girl syndrome’ trend
The autonomous-less fatalism of the 'lucky girl syndrome' trope joins the long list of individualising and infantilising trends adopted by privileged women who present themselves as too incompetent and irrational to engage critically with intellectualism, politics, or financial responsibility. Whether you’re willing to admit it, or (like me) you’re not, many of us have little things we habitually do to try and avoid bad things happening to us. For instance, you’ll...
The average adult reportedly spends 88 days a year on their phone
A new global report from Heineken has concluded that the average adult spends an estimated 88 days a year on their phone. Fancy some terrifying tech news to jolt you out of your seat? Of course you do! New global research by Heineken has found that the average adult spends 88 days a year on their phone. 88 days. If that’s not enough to get you to throw your device...
