In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• 59% of Gen Z live paycheck to paycheck

• Fifth-graders are using "old-timey" Tin Can landlines

• How will the ultra-wealthy travel in 2026?

• Explainer: 996 culture

• Asian handbag brands are building loyal followings

In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• 35% of consumers are simplifying skincare post-procedure

• Students bypass school phone bans by turning to Google Docs

• Gen Z is walking away from brands over AI mistrust

• Explainer: retro music platforms

• Should Apple bring back the iPod?

In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• Skincare drinks are trending

• Who wants retro dial-up connections?

• Hybrid-electric cars hit 35% of EU registrations

• Explainer: retro dinner party revival

• Pinball is resurging

William Bruce Cameron famously said “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

But we live in a world obsessed with quantification fixation. And even sleep has become a performance metric.

Using YouScan social listening, I looked at conversations about sleep scores and what happens to us when we outsource decisions over our own bodies to algorithms.

And happens when we escape the cult of optimisation?

In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• Gen Z's extreme tanning

• What is a “caffeine nap”?

• Consumers feel 42% confident spotting AI images

• Explainer: microshifting

• Is hōjicha the new matcha?

In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• Cinematic Sound Takes Centre Stage

• Second-Hand Luxury's Authentication Challenge

• The viral 6‑6‑6 walking routine

• Explainer: baristaphobia

• Google Maps becomes the world's largest unintentional photo album