Wealth-Gap Summer and Low GPA Activity
after school monday edition
Welcome back to After School Monday Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. A monthly subscription costs less than a chocolate chip cookie from La Mercerie, so please consider upgrading. 🫶
In today’s issue:
TikTok’s viral rejection of modern “propaganda,” from beef tallow to run clubs
Touchland’s $10 hand sanitizer empire
The “current boyfriend” prank
Apple’s Do Not Disturb is this generation’s emo AIM away message
The Lululemon dress going viral
Gen Z is wearing soccer cleats on the street
Are you ready for an Air Jordan resurgence?
Girls are DIY-ing their own jumbo lip glosses
Temporary tattoos are the new Lip Smackers
The beauty pop-up with a 17-hour line
And so much more, plus everything I’m buying, reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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WEALTH-GAP SUMMER
Earlier this week, i-D published “How To Deal With Wealth-Gap Summer,” in which writer Jess Thomson explores the financial strain of friendships with uneven incomes. This is not a 2025-specific anxiety. Two years ago, a Credit Karma study showed that 80% of Gen Z and 88% of millennials have gone into debt trying to keep up with wealthier friends, with nearly half considering ending friendships over money stress, and exactly twenty years ago, the social dynamic was the topic of a very memorable Friends episode.
