How Paige Bueckers did NYFW; I can’t wait to see Megan Park’s new coming-of-age movie My Old Ass; Taylor Swift became the first artist to win Video Of The Year three years in a row at VMAs; Chappell Roan dedicated her Best New Artist win to the “queer and trans people who fuel pop”; and save the date for Sept 26 — After School event details will be shared via the Substack subscriber chat today!
WHAT TEENS THINK ABOUT THE NEW SCHOOL PHONE BANS MEANT TO "PREVENT DISTRACTION", teenvogue
With schools across the country implementing new rules to limit cell phone usage, Fortesa Latifi asked a bunch of high schoolers how they feel about the bans. “Fights are still happening, there's still drama and stuff like that,” says Megan, a 16-year-old high school junior in Ohio. “Kids are still going to be distracted either way because they're going to find a way to get on their phones.”
IS SNAPCHAT GOOD FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH?, tubefilter
Among adolescent users of large social media platforms, Snapchat is the only platform that positively impacts well-being, according to a new study from The University of Amsterdam that does not appear to be commissioned by Snapchat. “We found a consistent negative impact on time spent on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube across all three mental health dimensions,” the researchers say. “Conversely, spending time on Snapchat positively affected friendship closeness and well-being but had no significant impact on self-esteem.”
APPLE'S NEW IPHONE CAMERA BUTTON IS A BIG GEN Z BET, businessinsider
The iPhone 16 lineup features a new camera control button that makes it easier for Gen Zers to take 0.5x selfies — never mind that the trend peaked in 2022. (Also of note: The Gen Z girls I follow on TikTok are not into the new hot pink iPhone.)
THE DESPERATION OF THE INSTAGRAM PHOTO DUMP, newyorker
The bratification of Instagram! Today’s Instagrammers, particularly Gen Zers — and also, notably, Jennifer Lopez — “are putting up faux-messy but actually carefully selected compendia showcasing the detritus of their lives,” writes Kyle Chayka, valuing vibes over curation.
MEET VERSE, AN AI-POWERED CREATIVE APP THAT HELPS GEN Z DESIGN AND PUBLISH EXPRESSIVE CONTENT, techcrunch
The iOS “AI-powered creative app,” founded by a former management consultant at PwC and a former engineer at Meta, allows users to create expressive multimedia content, from moodboards to storefronts to blogs. The aesthetic is unsurprisingly extremely Y2K. Moodboard-adjacent: Yesterday, the team behind Landing, a virtual moodboard app popular with Gen Zers, announced plans to wind down their original product and launch something new called Zeen, a platform for visual, shoppable blogs.
THE YOUNG WOMAN MAKING KAMALA HARRIS’ STRONGEST CASE ON ABORTION RIGHTS, politico
Hadley Duvall, a 22-year-old survivor of incest, has become a powerful advocate for abortion rights in swing states. She’s credited with helping lift one Democrat, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, to reelection in a red state with the viral television ad; now the vice president is counting on her to deliver votes in multiple battlegrounds.
CONSERVATIVE SWIFTIES SAY HER ENDORSEMENT OF HARRIS WON'T AFFECT THEIR VOTES OR THEIR LOVE OF HER MUSIC, nbcnews
“I think you can like an artist without, like, agreeing with their politics,” said Angel Sobolewski, 21, following Swift’s endorsement. “You know, if we had to agree with their politics, we’d probably be left with, like, two people.” She added that “there are thousands of girls who do support Trump and listen to Taylor Swift.”
One last thought:
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The Snapchat article surprised me, but the Instagram photo dump (i.e. curated chaos) is nothing new. We've been curating authenticity since the xanga days.