Cultural Signals

Being online these days is a sensory overload of visual and sonic stimuli that flood our brains through incoherent phrases and soundbites. It’s no surprise that we’re seeing music reflect this chaotic landscape,” says internet expert and Dazed contributing editor Gunseli Yalcinkaya. “Combine this with remix culture, with young people accessing all... See more

Weight loss and disordered eating communities have long had a presence on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Tumblr, YouTube, WeHeartIt, and Instagram. But in the past few years, weight loss content on TikTok was intensified by the development and popularity of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy. Many experts and... See more

1. Lore is anti-marketing 2. Lore is inner psyche-management 3. Lore is born-baroque imaginative irony 4. Lore is Posture, Narrative, Behavior (PNB) triad molecules 5. Lore is narrative territory catalyzed by shaky epistemologies 6. Lore is about circumstances you manage, not problems you “solve” 7. Lore is epic-orthogonal everyday life habits

as TikTok users begin to flock back to an obsession with thinness, the message behind the so-called encouragement seems clear: it’s about making weight loss mean again.

Isra describes her former relationship with music as an addiction. To replace it, she now listens to audiobooks, something that supports her work as a writer. Shaz has made a similar shift, turning to podcasts, Islamic lectures, and the Quran as part of a deeper commitment to her faith. While these are still forms of audio input, they represent a... See more

It’s no longer just about reuse; it’s about status. A unique find isn’t unique if everyone’s hunting for it. And sustainability becomes meaningless when it’s just another excuse to keep buying.

LLMs are word-prediction machines, and good writing is not one of the ways that human beings are predictable.

“In the past, the club was a space for connection and emotionality, however synthetic those bonds were in reality,” Yalcinkaya explains. “It’s unsurprising that ketamine has taken over as the ‘drug of choice’ for young people, because of its disassociating effects, which allow you to be close to one another, while being isolated in your individual... See more

TikTok, Depop, and Instagram have created a new kind of fashion influencer: the vintage micro-curator. Their power lies not in designing clothes, but in storytelling — spinning historical context, designer lore, and aesthetic moodboards into content gold. This type of content is coming along leaps and bounds, and there’s real value in this... See more