Trend Taster: dry texting edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
The Google Street View "Internet Roadtrip"
Savvy consumers are sceptical of loyalty cards
Butter made from thin air
Explainer: dry texting
60% of British women are reporting being "mansplained" about money
The Google Street View "Internet Roadtrip"
The "Internet Roadtrip" lets users collectively drive a virtual car across the USA via Google Street View, voting every 9 seconds on direction, radio stations, and even honking the horn. This collaborative chaos reflects our growing preference for participatory digital experiences, where communities form around shared control rather than simply consuming content.
Savvy consumers are sceptical of loyalty cards
While 95% of Brits hold at least one loyalty card, 54% believe retailers are the true beneficiaries, with 64% convinced supermarkets artificially inflate prices to make discounts seem more generous. Despite collecting points and receiving personalised offers, only 53% say these schemes influence where they shop, signalling a savvy consumer base increasingly sceptical of data collection and price manipulation. Are loyalty programmes actually building loyalty, or just sophisticated data harvesting tools disguised as customer benefits?
Butter made from thin air
Butter made from thin air isn’t sci-fi anymore. Savor is transforming captured carbon dioxide into lab-grown fats, aiming to halve the emissions of traditional production. Backed by $33m investment and FDA approval, it’s part of a wider shift reimagining how we make food. As synthetic fats start appearing in everything from spreads to skincare, the question isn’t just can we scale it, but will people bite?
Explainer: dry texting
The subtle art of 'dry texting' reveals a fascinating shift in teen conflict: moving from overt confrontation to ambiguous digital signals that leave recipients anxiously overthinking. When teens revert from all-caps to lowercase or send conversation-ending replies, they're creating what Harvard's Center for Digital Thriving calls "subtle fault lines in communication." This passive-aggressive approach, along with leaving someone on read, half-swiping on Snapchat, or removing from Instagram's close friends list, creates emotional distance without direct confrontation.
60% of British women are reporting being "mansplained" about money
Nearly 60% of British women are reporting being "mansplained" about money matters, often by partners or colleagues, occurring approximately 11 times monthly. This persistent undermining, where 25% have been told how to budget and 33% lectured on investing basics, has resulted in 60% of women now actively avoiding financial discussions to escape these interactions.
