Bricked Up and Algoreform

"the evil Troye Sivan"

The hottest celebs at the Golden Globes weren’t the nominees (they were the Heated Rivalry guys); Dior names Josh O’Connor brand ambassador; Emma Mackey is in talks to co-star opposite Molly Gordon in A24 comedy Peaked; Millie Bobby Brown launched a teen fashion line at Walmart; and Mattel introduced its first Barbie with autism, headphones on and fidget spinner in hand.

BRICKING YOUR PHONE IS THE NEW DRY JANUARY, businessinsider
“Bricking your phone,” i.e. using devices like the viral $59 Brick gadget to physically block smartphone apps, has become “the new Dry January” as Americans, especially younger ones who “are already drinking less than previous generations,” shift their abstinence focus to screen time reduction. Brick cofounders TJ Driver, 26, and Zach Nasgowitz, 27, launched the device after experiencing their own struggles with social media, designing it to “strike a balance between flexibility and discipline — stricter than app blockers, but less extreme than switching to a dumb phone.” The Wall Street Journal reported a spike in digital-detox resolutions in 2026, and The New York Times predicted “dumb phones” would become a status symbol, with Brick’s biggest consumer base being people aged 20-35 who are “clearly interested in improving themselves.”

ARE YOU DEAD?: THE VIRAL CHINESE APP FOR YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING ALONE, bbc
A Chinese app called “Are You Dead?” created by three Gen Z developers has become the country’s most downloaded paid app (and is currently sixth in the U.S.) after exploding in popularity among young people living alone. The app, which requires users to check in every two days or it alerts an emergency contact, is aimed at China’s expected 200 million one-person households by 2030, when the solo-living rate will surpass 30%. More than a quarter (27.6%) of all occupied U.S. households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940, according to Census data.

A MAJORITY OF YOUNG VOTERS NOW REJECT BOTH PARTIES, nymag
A record 45% of Americans now identify as political independents, with 54% of millennials and 56% of Gen Zers rejecting party affiliation, up from 47% of millennials in 2012 and 40% of Gen X in 1992. A Harvard Youth Poll concluded that “for many 18- to 29-year-olds, instability (financial, political, interpersonal, etc.) has become a defining feature of daily life,” with younger independents focused on issues like “affordability” that they believe both parties are failing to address. The 56% Gen Z independent rate compares to just 40% for Gen X at the same age in 1992 — in other words, this is more than just typical youth disengagement.

SOME QUESTIONS, THEN A SELFIE: MAYOR MAMDANI MEETS THE (CREATOR) PRESS, nytimes
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani held his first formal press conference exclusively for 78 digital content creators and social media influencers with a combined online reach of roughly 82 million people, barring traditional “legacy media” outlets like The New York Post and NY1. Avelyn Castillo, a fitness influencer with 50,000 TikTok followers, first thought the Instagram invitation was a scam then immediately booked a flight from Atlanta. “It just feels so special to be included as a content creator,” she said. Mamdani, whose digital strategy has been praised as a model for national Democrats, told attendees “we need to speak to New Yorkers through every single medium that they see themselves and see the world around them, and all of you are such critical parts of that” before taking a selfie with the crowd.

INSIDE THE ALGOREFORM: HOW JACK ANDERTON BECAME NIGEL FARAGE’S GEN Z WHISPERER, theface
Jack Anderton, 25, has positioned himself as the architect of Reform UK’s youth outreach, helping build Nigel Farage’s online presence to 1.3 million TikTok followers and Reform UK to over 450,000 followers, more than Labour and the Conservatives combined. Strategically, he’s playing the long game: “Thirteen-year-olds today will be eligible to vote in 2029. They’re watching a lot of right-wing content; they’re watching me …They have a completely different way of observing information and viewing the world,” he said. One Westminster source dubbed him “the evil Troye Sivan.”

WASHINGTON’S NEW LOBBYISTS: PAID ONLINE INFLUENCERS WITH FEW RULES, wsj
Corporate and foreign interests are bypassing traditional lobbyists to pay Gen Z conservative influencers — many “too young to vote when Trump announced his first run for office” — thousands to tens of thousands of dollars per post to sway Trump administration policy. A marijuana PAC paid Alex Bruesewitz $300,000 before he urged Trump to reclassify the drug, Israel planned a $900,000 “Esther Project” influencer campaign, and Qatar sponsored Doha trips with VIP Formula One tickets worth over $10,000 for pro-Trump personalities. Debra Lea, 25, who made over $20,000 from a single contract and has advised House Speaker Mike Johnson, said, “I girl bossed my way to the top, literally from TikTok to the White House.”

One last thought:

@internetgentlemani <3 nyc

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