S’pose that’s hard to rate on a 1-10 scale. But broadly speaking, we can agree life feels a lot less “human” than it used to, right? Everything is an appendage of some algorithm, nothing is ever optimised enough, and don’t even get me started on the dull, unimaginative disposition of generative AI. There’s little left that hasn’t been smoothed out and streamlined at the cost of soulfulness, which may explain why now more than ever, we’re desperate for the messy, rugged nature of humanness.

- Devin Pike, Guest Editor 💜

There’s a mountain of evidence online to suggest they don’t, from incel culture to Clavicular and his new army, to videos of husbands pushing their wives faces into cakes and smashing up their food at restaurants before they can take a cute pic for the 'gram. Oh, but wait, now they’re paying (real money, mind you) for hacking tools to use against their wives and friends.

Wired reports there’s currently a booming market inside of Telegram groups and channels, selling hacking and surveillance services that men are using to harass friends, wives and girlfriends, and former partners, new research has uncovered. The findings also say that these communities extensively trade, sell and promote a whole lot of abusive content, like nonconsensual intimate images of women, so-called nudifying services, and folders of images that sellers claim include child sexual abuse material and depictions of inc*st and r*pe.

Over six weeks, the researchers analysed nearly 2.8 million messages sent across 16 Italian and Spanish Telegram communities that are regularly posting abusive content targeting women and girls. More than 24,000 members. 82,723 images videos and audio files. I’m sick, y’all. But as always, not surprised.

Another disappointing but not at all surprising headline: Amazon has pulled support for older, perfectly fine working Kindles.

Companies ending software support for devices is not anything new (hi, Apple). It’s an age-old ploy to get consumers to buy new sh*t and be wasteful while they’re at it (just look at the ever-growing piles of e-waste across the world).

The latest offense will happen on May 20th when Amazon stops supporting any of the Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier. EVEN IF THEY’RE FUNCTIONAL. That means the devices won’t be able to connect to the Kindle Store to download new e-books. Just greedy and mean.

Oh wow, look, another non-surprise that makes me want to run deep into a forest and be overcome by moss: the US army is building a chatbot for combat. It’s trained on data from real missions, and its name is Victor. I’m all for technology to help transform the daily lives of troops. Let’s just hope and pray it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Or isn’t already. Idk man.

Earlier this year, Anthropic went head-to-head with the Pentagon, arguing that its technology should not be used to power autonomous weapons or surveil American citizens. As these systems become more capable, the conversation seems to build around “is this a good idea?” We won’t know until we know I guess. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The thesis of their report, a “Q1 Macrotrend Update”, is a return to soulfulness. This is different from the aspirational humanity we all talk about: the return to messy, human-made as a premium luxury thanks to AI. Instead, it's a culmination of all things human. The return to analog, the gritty, anti-aspirational, algorithmic evasion, and sensorial potency. These themes all highlight a shift toward raw, unoptimised human experiences. Redefining luxury as imperfect, messy, and authentically human.

Human-made is a rebellion against optimisation, AI and the algorithm. Not a marketing gimmick, but something that shows up in our brands and behaviours as real data.

For the last decade, we have worked endlessly to attempt to live without friction. Minimalism, SaaS, and now AI-curated aesthetics. But in a world that feels increasingly surreal and algorithmic, the “optimised” life becomes less appealing. Friction is what keeps us competent and resilient in the real world.

Our lives without resistance now lack traction. The constant search for convenience pushes us to chase immediate shallow pleasures. But really, we love the textures of life that provide actual richness and joy. These optimisation tools seem like they’re keeping us productive and making life easier. But we’re atrophying our skills, our feelings, and our capability to handle large, inevitable setbacks.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, for whatever one of these reasons, or multiple, or all, we’ve hit "optimisation fatigue". Soulfulness, in Anu’s thesis, is not a style, but the presence of friction. It’s the biproduct of being forced to be robots for the last however long.

Sometimes the algorithm feels like the f*cking Eye of Sauron, watching our every move so it can spit the essence of your humanness back out at you. Therefore, if the algorithm can predict what you like, what you’re doing, what you’re wearing and eating and what makes you laugh, the only way to feel "soulful" again is to find things it can’t see.

This is why we’re seeing the resurgence of gritty aesthetics, underground subcultures, and un-googleable experiences. Dark Forest and their private internets, Perfectly Imperfect's whole social platform dedicated to recreating the ethos of “the old internet” and even shoppers seeking asylum from the style trap are creating “whisper networks” – invite-only groups on Substack and WhatsApp as rebellion.

It’s incredible how creative people become when escaping the box they’ve been shoved into. Privacy and unpredictability are becoming the ultimate luxury goods in the era of algorithmic evasion.

AI can mimic art, and our visuals, sure. But it can’t mimic a scent, a texture, the weight of an object, the feel of it on your fingertips. This is where we start to see high-sensory environments emerge, moving from screens to scenes. Granting us the ability to fully immerse ourselves in something that reminds us we’re alive, and human, and that this is still reality.

Last year, London’s Barbican Centre created Feel the Sound, an immersive exhibition exploring how sound shapes memories and emotions, while IKEA’s Wherever Life Goes campaign centred the emotional narrative of its products rather than functionality, with imagery you could almost reach out and feel.

We’re experimenting with contrast therapy, with witchcraft, with anything that offers a potent sense of self-reflection and a realisation: that soulfulness is found in the things you must be physically present to experience.

Remember the era of flat lays and over-curated feeds that were so far from reality it was almost nauseating? I’m glad to say the pendulum has swung far, far away from there and toward something more visceral and honest.

Because nobody looks f*cking picture ready at any given second of the day, nobody’s home looks like a showroom 24/7 and we don’t all just sit around looking perfect all day and taking photos. We want to see gritty, and lived in, and intentionally imperfect - and a girl like me loves to see it.

Life is not a product, it is a process. Let’s embrace that.

As we edge further into 2026, the definition of luxury is fragmenting and being rewritten. It’s no longer about the smoothest interface or the most curated life. It’s about the things that can’t be automated, replicated, or predicted.

Anu’s "Return to Soulfulness" reminds us that while AI can give us the answers, it can’t give us the feeling. It can’t give us the shaky hand-drawn line, the static on a vinyl record, or the weird, niche "whisper network" that only ten people know about.

We’ve spent the last decade trying to become gods of our own perfectly optimised universes, only to realise that being human, in all its friction-filled, messy, gritty glory, feels so much better for the soul. The future isn't a sleek, silver sci-fi movie. It’s a dinner party where someone spills wine on the rug, the music is a bit too loud, and nobody’s phone is on the table.

It’s unoptimised. It’s unpredictable. And thank God for that.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Today’s viral trend comes from the song American Girls from Harry Styles’ latest album release. It centres around that full circle feeling, when life starts to look like the version you once imagined in your head. Yeah, that moment.

Creators are pairing the audio with scenic, cinematic clips. Think hikes, travel, solo moments or just peaceful everyday wins, layered with the caption “oh nothing, just busy doing everything I said I would”. It feels reflective and slightly braggy, but in the best way. Here's a few examples of creators like Travel Vlogs with Pops, Elisestelter, and Trina Thomas doing the trend.

Although this trend is leaning towards travel, life style vibes etc... you can take advantage of this trend and tailor it to suit your own brand. 

Use the audio and film something that feels like a "this is what I dreamed of moment", big or small. Add onscreen text saying “oh nothing, just busy doing everything I said I would”, all lowercase. Keep it natural and let the feeling carry it.

A few ideas to get you started:

-Fiona Badiana, Intern

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Doggy loafs!
❤How wholesome: Doggy to the rescue
🎧Soooo tingly: ASMR w/ dog (can you tell that I miss my dog)
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: One-pan creamy tomato pasta

Hey Theia!

I'll preface this by saying that vlogs can be hard to pull off! But if you want to use them as a content style, the thing to remember is they need to follow the structure of a story: set up, conflict, resolution. It's tempting to think of a vlog as just a documentation of your day. But if you create one that is literally just what you did in chronological order, it will probably be pretty boring.

Instead, you should think of your vlog in terms of the wider story you want to tell. This might mean editing your footage out of order so you can tell that story effectively. So instead of "this happened, then this happened, then this happened," your vlog should convey the idea of cause and effect. This happened, therefore this happened. Each scene has some sort of challenge or conflict, which then leads to what happens next. If you use this kind of storytelling, your vlogs will come off much better than if you're just documenting your day.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

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.