I can tell when someone is about to stop liking me. It isn't intuition. It's pattern recognition. A smile that arrives half a second too late. Someone typing "haha" instead of "hahaha," which marks, I've decided, the difference between being amused and being polite. A voice that flattens by some fraction when it says my name, as if my name had begun to cost something to say. I know the shape of my own expiration date in someone else's attention

When I was in college, I stopped writing for a while. I have always been someone who sees writing as a form of escapism. It was the one time I could escape from all the noise out there and create something that made me happy. Even keeping a diary felt like a breath of fresh air, away from social media. But the less I wrote, the more time I spent on social media, and the more miserable

The Bean Soup Theory, also known as whataboutism, has existed in various forms since pre-Socratic Greece and was utilised by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Humanity is no stranger to replying to a challenge with a “what about…” statement. However, with the rise of individualism, supported by the popularity of social media, this has effectively been dialled up to 11 in recent years. Today, it’s hard to open a comment section without

I'm in this season of learning about myself, my codependency, who I am as a person, and one of the biggest things I keep coming back to, especially with the world we live in today, is decision fatigue. We all know that specific kind of irritation: scrolling through Netflix, then Hulu, then whatever the other gajillion streaming platforms are, just trying to find one show to enjoy. And on the rare occasion something has been selected, most of us are then gazing at our phones,

When TikTok creator Levi Coralynn argued that hating influencers has become a socially acceptable way to hate women, the internet responded exactly as you'd expect. Some agreed immediately. Others insisted the criticism had nothing to do with gender. The debate quickly became polarised, as online debates often do. The truth, I think, is less satisfying

I was about twenty minutes into The Skinny Confidential podcast episode with Paige Lorenze when it hit me: she is hurt, and she is amazing, in so many ways. But the biggest thing that stood out to me was her honesty about coming back to herself, and how that’s what allowed her to build a community that actually feels authentic. Paige lived in New York for a while. She was a normal girl who

very young creative aspires to move to New York. Maybe London or Paris. One region creatives often overlook is Scandinavia. Sure, it is quiet, cold and dark. But it continues to produce some of the most exciting artists, brands, and designers, including ABBA, Aurora, Zara Larsson, Ganni, H&M, Acne Studios, IKEA, and Spotify. The reason runs deeper than talent alone; these places might just be the ideal environment to build a creative career right now. For decades, young creat

Catch-ups are turning friendships into speed dates and interviews. That line we’re all guilty of pulling out at the end of those random bump-into-each-other conversations with friends who aren’t in our close circle: “We should really do something soon, I’ll text you!” We both covertly know, and appreciate, the fact that we’re not actually going to

What does it mean to be an independent woman? I am seriously asking. Actually, I am begging for a clear answer. I am inundated with messaging, both subliminal and direct, that seems determined to convince me I should isolate myself, and I’m sick of it. Every movie I see showcases a strong career woman either walking away from love or participating in a relationship with one foot in it and the other in a high heel, click-clacking down the

How one awkward first date made me realize romance has quietly become another networking event. There's something deeply unsettling about realizing your first date felt less like a romantic encounter than a 9am meeting. Somewhere along the way, dating quietly adopted the language of work. We optimize ourselves like startups, build personal brands before we build intimacy, and

Manifestation culture treats a pop song like a boyfriend spell, completely ignoring the hard work of clearing out low-effort energy first. If you’ve spent five minutes on social media recently, you probably know the exact viral gospel I’m talking about. Ever since pictures of Dua Lipa looking radiant, grounded and deeply matched with Callum Turner started flooding

A funk isn't a mood. It's the distance between you and yourself, and every piece of self-care advice you've ever ignored is a way of closing it. I love my birthday, I really do. I tell people I don't care about it, which is a lie I've told for years with total commitment. I love a second margarita at Ellie's bar in East London without a

Gen Z knows red flags, therapy and boundaries. But between healing ourselves and protecting our peace, did sex stop being a priority? We know our standards. We can spot a red flag from three Hinge swipes away. We’ve learned that “wyd?” at 11:47 pm isn't really communication, a situationship isn't a real relationship, and sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is block them and move

The wellness industry has never paid women more attention. That isn't the same as caring about them, and the difference is where all the money is. There's a particular kind of tired that has nothing to do with sleep. It's the tired of a woman who has done everything right: the rings, the wearables, the supplement stack, the protocol she screenshotted at midnight. She reads

We have become so accustomed to digital surveillance that sometimes we mistake control for care, jealousy for desire, and access for intimacy. But what happens when the person monitoring you is the person who says they love you? There is an important question we rarely ask at the beginning of a relationship: How much access should another person have to you?