PJH Studios

Tag: trends

  • 26 ideas for 2026

    Derek Thompson put a list of ideas together for things to look forward to or watch for in 2026. Here are some:

    • Everything is TV
    • Anti AI populism
    • Housing costs

  • Smoking on screen with Cigfluencers

    While, it never went away completely, smoking in movies and television shows is making a comeback. Combined with social media “Cigfluencers”, GenZ appears to be romanticizing cigarette smoking.

    Dua’s photos became the first post on “Cigfluencers,” which is dedicated to showcasing stars — in archival photos and current snapshots — with cigarettes in hand. Not every celeb who smokes makes the cut, though. Oviatt, who is 26, carefully curates the vibe of the Instagram grid to his taste. He says the account feels like an extension of a blog post he wrote, in which he asked: “Is smoking only cool if you’re hot?” just a few days before “Cigfluencers” launched.

    Both that question and the account’s growth — it now has more than 450 posts and 82,000 followers — illustrate how smoking has quietly slipped back into Western pop culture in recent years and is gaining traction with Gen Z.

  • Being social alone on the rise

    In the UK, there is a rise in people going to social events solo.

    “If I go to an event with someone else, I can very much spend the night doing their night, as they would want it,” says Anaïs Espinosa, a 26-year-old from London. “When I’m alone, I get to do whatever I want in the moment, whether that’s going to get a drink or being right at the front where the DJ is. You just act on pure instinct. I feel like a little video game character in a funny story.”

    I never had a problem going to an event solo. Yeah, it’d be cool to share the experience with a friend, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from checking out a movie, concert, or restaurant.

  • The craze of 6 7

    most previous Internet meme trends were based in some grounding of logic. 6 7, however, has become a prime example of how brain rot can ascend into pop culture.

    Now teachers avoid breaking kids into groups of six or seven, or asking them to turn to page 67, or instructing them to take six or seven minutes for a task. Six is a perfect number, and seven is a prime number, but only a glutton for punishment would put them together in front of a bunch of 13-year-olds.

  • Traveling Third Spaces

    A third space is a social gathering place that isn’t home or work. Bars, coffee shops, civic organizations typically served as these places. But what if a third space didn’t have to rely on a specific location?

    Athena is among several young people creating what I call “traveling third spaces”: new communities that are people-first, space-second. Traveling third spaces are not physically fixed; they move across cafes, malls, restaurants, and host various programming for a singular community in a particular city. And they exist around the world—in London, a community of the name One House Social Club brings people together in “London’s Best Spots”; in New York, a traveling dinner series called (get this) 3rd Space gathers creatives and entrepreneurs for three-course meals around the city.

  • Americans drinking less

    Alcohol consumption in the United States trending downward.

    A record high percentage of U.S. adults, 53%, now say moderate drinking is bad for their health, up from 28% in 2015. The uptick in doubt about alcohol’s benefits is largely driven by young adults — the age group that is most likely to believe drinking “one or two drinks a day” can cause health hazards — but older adults are also now increasingly likely to think moderate drinking carries risks.

    As concerns about health impacts rise, fewer Americans are reporting that they drink. The survey finds that 54% of U.S. adults say they drink alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine or beer. That’s lower than at any other point in the past three decades.