Main Character Syndrome

In a recent Dazed piece, Serena Smith calls on young Brits to stop behaving like “overgrown, perpetually drunk babies” abroad. The essay responds to growing anti-tourism backlash, Barcelona’s water pistol protests, Amsterdam’s crackdown on pub crawls, and takes aim at the TikTok-fueled obsession with “hidden gems.” Her advice: Show respect, learn a... See more

Parks officials said protocols differ depending on the consistency of the excrement. For solid poop, all swimmers are kicked out, and a net is used to scoop the material out of the water. Workers then add chlorine to the mix for at least 25 minutes before reopening the pool.

These NYC pools kept closing last summer after people pooped in them

COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE USING ‘NO CONTACT ORDERS’ TO BLOCK EACH OTHER IN REAL LIFE , wsj

No contact orders (NCOs), originally designed to protect victims of sexual harassment or assault on college campuses, are now being widely used by Gen Z students to avoid interpersonal conflict, often over disputes as minor as stolen bagels or awkward social run-i... See more

TIKTOK’S LATEST VILLAIN (OR HERO)? A SPELL-CASTING ETSY SELLER , fastcompany

It was a big week for Etsy witches. Influencer Jaz Smith hired one to keep the rain away from her heavily-TikToked wedding, a Knicks fan paid $8.48 to Priestess Aurora to curse the Pacers before Game 5, and a woman accused an unnamed sorceress-for-hire of breaking client c... See more

Gen Z is currently editing themselves into fan cams with the caption "Feel ugly? Make an edit of yourself to boost your confidence.” The concept is simple: Set to Rasheeda’s 2006 track “Got That Good,” make a glamorous, overly dramatic edit of yourself as if you're the main character.

To outsource the entirety of your self worth to other people makes it pretty difficult, after a while, to know who you are or how to live without it.

The shusher, meanwhile, knows that shushing won’t have a lasting impact. The decency revolution is not coming anytime soon. But in the meantime, a stranger in a theater might appreciate that you’ve tried to protect what little peace we have left in public.

Shushing was once commonplace, if a little snooty and silly. Now, however, a phone-addicted culture has made us all seemingly oblivious to just how annoying we are in public. Our ways of being annoying have worsened: People take pictures at the cinema, flash on; they watch entire movies on the train without headphones. As selfishness is normalized,... See more