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

• Men's Makeup Market Reaches $7.1 Billion in US

• Pet Deathcare is Getting Digital

• Competency P*rn Becomes 2026's Escapism

• Explainer: Bookstreaming

• Sony Launches First Turntables Since 2019

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

• Reddit Becomes UK's Fourth Largest Social Platform

• Camping Trailer Doubles as Home Backup Generator

• People Build Apps Just for Themselves

• Explainer: Disgustingly Educated Trend

• Tokyo Cassette Café Turns Friction Into Feature

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

• IKEA Launches Broccoli Leaf Soup

• Premium Beverages Thrive as Affordable Luxuries

• ASOS Charges Serial Returners Handling Fees

• Explainer: Soft Partying

• Beauty Brands Resurrect Exact 1990s Formulas

I’m oldschool. I need to write things down by hand when I need to think. But I increasingly found that I was one of the few people who had a notebook and a pen, instead of typing on a smartphone or taking screenshots.

Then I started see in @YouScan social listening data, that what was once tagged as a "grandma hobby" tag, is now resurging as digital detox.

When AI can be generated everything instantly, the things that take time increase in value. Handwriting is becoming a proof of presence. A way of saying: I was here, I chose these words, and that mattered.

I wrote about handwriting as post-AI behaviour, why people are reconsidering pen and paper again, what they're really opting out of, and why the resurgence is more complicated than it looks.

#sociallistening #culturalinsights #culturalstrategy

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

• Vinyl Sales Rise for 19th Consecutive Year

• Comfort Becomes Fashion's Design Standard

• Set-Jetting Becomes an $8 Billion Industry

• Explainer: Glomads

• Amtrak Ridership Jumps 10% as Flying Worsens

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

• Consumers Shift Focus From Free-From to Benefits

• Banana Water Enters Plant-Based Hydration Market

• Fibre Overtakes Protein in Snacking Priorities

• Explainer: Protein Fatigue

• Comment Sections Drive Brand Discovery

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

• Beauty Industry Adapts to GLP-1 Side Effects

• Libby Users Learn to Spot AI Audiobooks

• TikTok Teacher Lunch Sparks Butterkäse Shortage

• Explainer: Anti-AI Aesthetic

• Volkswagen Brings Physical Buttons Back to EVs

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

• Data Centres Expand into Hot Climates Despite Risks

• iFixit Launches AI That Diagnoses Repairs

• Butter-Dipped Ice Cream Goes Viral

• Explainer: solar grazing

• K-Beauty Brand Targets Melanin-Rich Skin Market

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

• People Consistently Underestimate Others' Kindness

• Streaming Diversity Declines as DEI Programs End

• WikiFlix Offers 4,000 Public Domain Films Free

• Explainer: Commute Penalty

• Nostalgia Dominates Streaming as Reboots Multiply

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

• TikTok Shop Pushes Secondhand Luxury Sales

• British Countryside Fashion Dominates Urban Wardrobes

• Hermès Birkins Outpace Gold as Investments

• Explainer: Whycations

• Women Migrate to Reddit as X Loses Users

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

• UK Food Inflation Falls but Prices Remain High

• Local Grocers Hold Trust Edge Over National Chains

• Publishers Launch Substack Newsletters to Reach New Audiences

• Explainer: facial harmony trend

• Bots Drive 28% of Taylor Swift Backlash

Do you watch "what I eat in a day" videos? Be honest. You've probably scrolled past at least a dozen this week, maybe lingered on a few.

On the surface, these videos look like pure lifestyle content: routine + precise macro mathematics, all performed for an algorithm that's learned exactly what keeps you watching.

Under the hood, they can be a lot more problematic – both in what they’re showing and what is missing.

I've done a deeper dive on them, including tracking conversation patterns using YouScan

In this week’s bumper edition of Trends & Artefacts, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:

• Tonga Proposes Whale Legal Personhood

• Solar Buoys Reduce Sea Turtle Bycatch

• Half of Top ADHD TikTok Content Misleading

• Hotels Become Luxury Restaurant Destinations

• Infrasound Technology Suppresses Building Fires

• Streaming Subscribers Cancel and Resubscribe Frequently

• Italian Brain Rot Memes Become Physical Toys

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

• Filipino Coffee Shops Serve Cultural Gateway Drinks

• Starbucks Tests Predictive AI Ordering

• Menstrual Blood Test Detects Endometriosis

• Explainer: Friluftsliv

• Women Pay for Digital Intimacy in Chinese Romance Games

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

• Retro Kitchen TVs Return as Antidote to Streaming Fatigue

• Cinemas Screen Live Sports to Fill Seats

• Clean Labels As Supply Chain Transparency

• Explainer: Poppamine

• Orient Express Launches Paris-Amalfi Route

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

• Academic Coffee Sparks Viral Banana Latte Trend

• AI Sorts Jumbled Lego Collections

• Gaming and Beauty Converge Through Narrative

• Explainer: Home Swapping

• Cognitive Issues Double Among Under-40s

How did advent calendars transform from chalk marks on German walls to £11,000 Dior disasters? This piece traces the evolution of a devotional countdown into a luxury status object, examining why Gen Z treats daily miniatures as emotional infrastructure. Through social listening data, cultural analysis, and market insights, we unpack the psychology of surprise-based consumption, the performance economy of unboxing culture, and what it means when anticipation becomes something you can only access through purchase. From blind-box mechanics to manufactured scarcity, from self-care rhetoric to sustainability backlash—a deep dive into the rituals we've outsourced and the structure we're desperately trying to buy.

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