Early nights, nonchalant pop, womensphere and soft skills
Plus the rise in postgrads, online safety, young men v influencers and coming out in late 20s
Ofcom’s codes of practice: Yesterday Ofcom published their codes of practice aimed at keeping children safer online. Many, including bereaved parents and the Children’s Commissioner, say it’s not strong enough and favours tech firms over children.
Meanwhile on social: Pinterest have introduced a new prompt to encourage teens to not use the app during school hours (I’m sure every teen will respectfully take note), and this Pew research reinforces findings that many teens find connection and positives from social media. Insta is busy creating rival TikTok app Edits in case, you know, TikTok has issues again.
Womensphere and traditionalism: A piece in the Guardian, ‘Here comes the Womensphere’, telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican. A look at the anti-feminist, conservative womensphere in the U.S. Plus a paper from Virtue Worldwide on the rise of traditionalism within Gen Z values.
Why are many lesbians coming out in their late 20s and 30s?: Interesting piece in Cosmopolitan about why many women are coming out a bit later - it’s not because of TikTok.
All about postgrad: US students are flocking to postgrad courses in fear of recession, citing that bachelor degrees “mean nothing” in todays job market.
Soft Skills: students in Manchester are set to learn ‘soft skills’ such as empathy and time management as part of a UK-first trial from Skills 4 Development. Around 10k students across the three Uni’s will be targeted with online training by September, with a view to developing skills that are key for successfull careers that many employers say are lacking.
Is Gen Z bringing back vapid pop? A look at ‘nonchelant’ pop music and its popularity among Gen Z and are less likely to label it a guilty pleasure.
Early nights are it: new research (from Cambridge Uni) finds that teens going to bed earlier and getting more sleep have sharper minds. While no major shifts in educational attainment, those who went to bed earlier and slept a bit longer than their peers had sharper cognitive skills.
Young men’s health in a digital world: Movember have surveyed around 3000 young men on the content they’re consuming online and how it’s impacting their mental health, in particular how influencers are shaping how they think about health, gender roles and identity.
And my favourite trend this week on TikTok is the I’m so hungry I could eat…insert random connection on Facebook.