lifestyle

Millennials (those born from 1980 onward) are a key target for many brands and marketers. Whilst older groups are still the largest media audiences these under 35s have unique digital consumption habits. As they get older, these habits will only become more mainstream. So understanding more about this audience, and how they use digital tools and technologies, is critical for any brand.

The selfie has emerged as one of the defining modes of self-expression of the smartphone era. Sometimes, it seems like half of all photos uploaded to Facebook or Instagram each day are selfies. While it’s easy to view these “selfies” as just another example of how technology is turning young members of the Millennial generation into narcissistic, self-absorbed individuals unable to maintain any intimacy in their relationships, maybe there’s another explanation for the popularity of the selfie.

Guest Post by: Jason Miller

Do you check to see how many likes your Instagram photo has every 5 minutes? Do you remove vowels from words in your Tweets? Have you checked in at your local Starbucks more than anyone else? Your answers to these questions will determine whether or not you have an unhealthy relationship with social media.

Thanks to prominent politicians like Rick Santorum and Orrin Hatch, America has been having a contentious debate this week about what it means to be a snob in today’s society. According to Republican presidential candidate Santorum, the desire to attend college automatically qualifies you as a “snob,” while according to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the desire to wear a “hipster fedora” and drink a “double skim latte” qualifies you for indoctrination into snob society.

On route to explaining why cyberflânerie isn't flourshing online, Evgeny Morozov rekindles the joys of real-world flânerie:

The mobile health revolution, which started and took off in overseas emerging markets, is rapidly making its way to the U.S. The past few months have brought a surge of new innovations - the FitBit Ultra, the Jawbone UP and now the Nike+ FuelBand, all of which attempt to combine fitness tracking and health awareness into an attractively-designed mobile product.

Yesterday I was reading an article in the WSJ titled: "Aging and Broke, More Lean on Family." Much was made of research from Pew about the increase in multigenerational households because of the inability of older people to afford to life alone. The article is behind a paywall - don't worry - it was long on anecdotal stuff and short on detail.