You look at the time and realise you’ve spent the last 3 hours in the scroll hole (again). Like, where does the time go? Our phones, and social media in particular, often turn us into passive zombies. Scrolling and swiping, with no real thought or intention. But what if we took the power back? Started using our phones as the tools they are, rather than letting them steal our time and attention, almost against our will? It is possible…[Read more]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

At this workshop, join Stanley Henry and the the Attention Seeker team for a 2-hour session to plan out your content strategy for the whole year.

You’ll learn:

✅ What’s actually working on social right now
✅ How to build a viral content strategy for your brand
✅ The exact approach we use to get millions of views for our clients (and build our own audience of 3.3 million)

PLUS we will have plenty of time for Q&A with you.

Wednesday, 28 Jan | 8:30-10:30am NZT | $49

Stop wasting time making content that doesn’t perform. This is your chance to walk into 2026 with a content plan you know will work 👇

Adam Mosseri says Instagram’s feed isn’t curated, it’s actively generated. According to The Verge, the platform is leaning into AI-predicted content. This means what you see is increasingly shaped by machine learning predictions about what will keep you scrolling, not just what your network posted.

The shift blurs the line between human vs. algorithmic curation. And it’s part of a broader pivot where IG is becoming less of a social feed and more of a personalised entertainment engine. As AI gets better at guessing your tastes, what counts as “authentic” on the platform might change too. In other words, Insta is no longer social—it's speculative. And you’re not scrolling a feed, you’re test-driving a prediction model.

Eventbrite’s 2026 Reset to Real social study finds that after years of hybrid and virtual everything, people are actively choosing IRL experiences again. Attendees are favouring connection, community, and events with tangible social energy over screens. The data shows rising demand for local meetups and shared moments that feel “unfiltered and genuine.”

This is especially true among younger adults. There’s a clear pushback against isolated digital life in favour of real-world interaction. It's a trend brands and creators should pay attention to when planning activations and community-building moments this year. We want to touch grass. Like for real.

Bad news for my wardrobe. According to Vogue, Gen Z is rejecting all-black aesthetics in favour of more expressive, colourful wardrobes. It's a move that’s reshaping fashion norms and buying behaviour. What was once a default “cool” palette is now being read as predictable or even uninspired. Younger shoppers in particular are craving vibrancy and individuality. Clothes are becoming tools of self-narrative rather than minimalist uniform.

For brands (and people) rooted in monochrome classicism, relevance in 2026 may require embracing joy, nuance, and colour storytelling. In other words, time to bust out the neons and pop some colour babes!

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Yes, me, the writer that likes to comfortably hide behind a screen and thousands of words. So, I’ve been (begrudgingly) playing around, making videos here and there trying to figure out my style etc. (ball ache, by the way).

Why am I telling you this? For context ok just listen.

Today I was scrolling through TikTok like I always do- you know, in a fkn hole, each dissociative swipe bringing me closer to madness, the kind where you look up and forty minutes have evaporated and you can't remember a single video you just watched. You’ve been there, don’t lie.

But this time, something shifted. My perception shifted.

I noticed the hook in the first three seconds. The way they framed the shot. The cut that made me want to keep watching. The lighting. The pacing. And suddenly I wasn't consuming anymore. It’s like I was kind of… studying.

The content hadn't changed. My phone hadn't changed. But, I had stopped using it as a television and started using it as a tool.

Wait. Woah.

For years. Maybe since I got my first smartphone, honestly. Energy flowing out of me, absolutely nothing coming back.

Just endless input. Scrolling, consuming, absorbing, refreshing. The algorithm feeding me content, me feeding the algorithm my time and attention. A perfect closed loop where I was the resource being extracted.

I was choosing what to watch, swiping to the next thing, making micro-decisions constantly. But that's the trick, isn't it? You're not making anything. You're not building anything.

You're just... selecting from an infinite menu that someone else prepared for you. That’s how they get ya. It's television, literally personalised television that pretends to be participatory.

The muscle memory of reaching for my phone when I was bored, when I was waiting, when I was anxious, when I was, let's be honest, literally any time my brain wasn't occupied. That wasn't me using my phone. That was my phone using me.

But here's what kind of sent me into a spiral—it's the same device doing both of these things.

When I open my phone to make something like film a video, write something down, capture an idea, or edit a photo, the energy is completely different. I'm not being programmed. I'm programming. I'm not the audience. I'm the participant.

It's a camera I always have on me, a poetry book in my pocket, a direct line to people who actually want to hear what I have to say (I hope). And above all, a way to capture ideas the moment they happen, before they evaporate (because my brain doesn’t store things any longer than 3 minutes.)

I can look at the exact same TikTok and either let it wash over me or reverse-engineer it. Same video. Different relationship to it.

When I started picking apart short-form videos for ideas, noticing all the little production details, suddenly I could see the scaffolding. The technique that was invisible before became obvious. The algorithm was still trying to keep me there, but now I was there on purpose, taking notes, learning. It's like the moment you start watching TV as a filmmaker instead of as a couch person. Everything changes, but nothing changes. Ya feel me?

Remember the early iPhone ads? "There's an app for that." The whole pitch was about what YOU could do. What you could create. What you could accomplish. These were supposed to be tools for empowerment.

And they are! The tools are literally all there, babe.

Professional-grade camera. Editing software. Publishing platforms. Access to millions of people. Everything you need to make and share creative work is literally in your pocket right now.

The apps that make billions don't want you creating. They want you consuming, scrolling, staying, watching. Because that's where the ad revenue lives.

So, we've been conditioned, very deliberately, very effectively, to reach for the feed instead of the camera. To watch other people's creativity instead of making our own. To be the audience instead of the artist.

And the wildest part is that it worked so freaking well that most of us didn't even notice it was happening. The shift from tool to television was so gradual, so seamless, that it felt natural. It’s peak gaslighting; of course this is what phones are for, of course this is how we use them.

Except it's not.

Here's the good news: you don't need different tools. You don't need to buy anything. You don't need permission. You just need a different relationship to the device you're already holding.

Creating content, even small stuff, even imperfect stuff, especially imperfect stuff, completely changes the energy. You stop being passive and start noticing things, and realising stuff, like Kylie in 2016.

You become curious instead of hypnotised, participating instead of spectating.

Making something, sharing it, connecting with people who respond to it, that's a totally different dopamine hit than the empty sugar rush of the scroll.

The phone is the same. The apps are the same. But when you flip the script from consumption to creation, you reclaim agency. You're not being used anymore. You're doing the using.

It's not about never consuming content again. That's not realistic and tbh not the point. It's about remembering that you have a choice in how you relate to this thing. You can be the television or you can be the person holding the remote. You can be the audience or you can be the artist.

You can let it steal your attention or you can wield it as the incredibly powerful creative tool it actually is. You decide. The choice is all yours.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The visual comes from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, showing a cartoon skeleton aggressively yelling and slamming a shield. Creators are using this trend to dramatically recreate moments of over the top anger, either their own, or someone else’s. The humour comes from the contrast: small problem, unhinged reaction.

A few examples include:

Start by thinking about things that irrationally piss you off or things that make other people angry that you secretly find funny. Use on-screen text to explain the situation, then either film yourself yelling and banging on something. It's the type of trend where you don't actually have to be in the video yourself. The more dramatic the contrast between the issue and the reaction, the better.

A few ideas to get you started:

 -Bella Vlasich, Intern

😲WTF Robert Pattinson’s secret role in Marty Supreme
✨Daily inspo You deserve to be chosen
🎧Soooo tingly Hypnotic foam ASMR
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight 20 minutes crunchy chicken caesar sandwich

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.