Fashion Dies While Profits Rise

Fashion has been a key part of human culture since we first started wearing fur to stay warm. The way we dress says a lot about who we are and where we live. They’re core expressions of our identity. Humans are visual creatures – we like to look good! 

It’s only natural that clothing and accessories have become a core way to show who we are. However, fashion has experienced a massive change in the last decade. It’s become less about self-expression and more about profit. 

Fashion Then vs Now

a Dolly Magazine cover from the 1980s

Let’s look at an example more topical than the cave men I mentioned earlier – the 1980s. When you think of 80s fashion, I bet a clear picture comes to mind: vibrant neon, polyester and massive hairdos are iconic to the decade. 

Now, try to picture the cohesive look of the 2020s... chances are you thought of something more muddled. We have a lot of revivals, like the Y2K (2000s) or 80s fashions returning and the constant wave of new thing-cores (like cottagecore) that keep popping up. But these trends come, and they go, with only some loyal fans left to keep them alive.

Trends move so quickly that what is cool this week will probably be cringe next week. To stay trendy, you basically need a whole new wardrobe every month. 

Why The Change? 

The shift comes down to two things: our buying habits and manufacturing. Not only were people in the 1980s buying clothes with a completely different mindset, the companies making clothing were thinking about and making them differently too! 

The average pre-2000s person bought clothes that were high quality because clothes were an investment. A good jacket or pair of shoes lasted you decades if you took good care of them. That’s why you can still buy vintage clothes now. This meant that people paid close attention to every clothing item they bought. It had to really fit your taste because you were probably going to wear it for years.

Now you’re lucky if a product lasts two years in the 2020s. They’re just not built to last, and we aren’t buying them thinking they will either. Clearly something major has happened between then and now when it comes to how we view clothing. 

A Drop in Quality 

Buying high quality clothing is expensive. Thanks to decades of inflation, without increased wages to match, the average person can’t afford to buy good clothes anymore. This means that clothing manufacturers started to encounter a unique problem: they were competing with their own products. 

If people can’t afford to buy new sweaters and they have perfectly good sweaters at home that they bought from you a few years ago, they’re not going to buy your new range of sweaters. So, your only option is to sell cheaper sweaters. 

Cheaper sweaters mean cheaper materials, and cheaper materials means your sweaters start falling apart after a while. That means more sweater sales! So, make your sweaters worse and basically print free money forever. That’s what manufacturers started doing! 

The result is that we are buying more clothing than ever, 400% more than we did in 2000.  

Competing with Fast Fashion 

A trendy “cottagecore” style dress from Shein

Since online stores opened, our clothing choices broadened beyond high street brands and boutiques. This means the companies that used to provide us with high quality products are no longer competing when it comes to quality – they are competing over quantity. 

Companies like Shein and Zara mass produce low-quality, short-lived clothes that they can sell for literal cents. This makes following fashion trends not only affordable for everyone but also makes higher-quality brands look out of date. It takes months for new clothing styles to be designed, approved and launched. In that time, Shein and Zara could have cycled through several microtrends. 

Fast fashion companies have to steal design ideas from other creators to meet these demands. 

The Overconsumption Problem 

As clothing became cheap and fast to get, our use of them shifted to match. They're expendable and because clothing is tied to our identity, our self-expression ends up expendable too. The monetization of subcultures like goth, punk, cottagecore, etc., alienates them from their original meanings, which are usually anti-capitalist or sustainability movements 

Turning them into trends or “aesthetics” that are bottomless pits to toss your money into does a massive disservice to self-expression and art. This is a consistent theme across all styles of fashion. We’ve also all started to look kind of similar because of algorithms pushing popular content onto everyone’s social media feed. 

An upcycled shirt made WITH other shirts from conscious life and style

Is There an Escape? 

Yes! Avoiding fast fashion is the most obvious way, but this can be difficult because of money and availability. The best alternative with that in mind is buying secondhand clothing (especially vintage!) and/or making your own. Learning how to repair or upcycle your clothes is a great option too. 

Also, avoid trends and instead develop your own style. Finding your unique sense of self will help you appreciate what you buy and own, stopping you from buying new things. Plus, dressing in a way you genuinely love will make you happier! 

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Hannah Staniforth is a second-year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario. She combines her previous experiences in Social Sciences with her writing to explore social themes with her readers. Hannah’s recent works emphasize the importance of positive thinking, gentle self-development, and reclaiming your personal time in a demanding world.

Modern-Day Loneliness: How Are We Feeling Lonely Even Though We're Always Connected?

Connected… But Not?

Google Image source

Have you been finding yourself overwhelmed with unanswered texts and ignored voicemails, yet still feeling alone? Well… congratulations, you’re now feeling the social epidemic of digital loneliness.

You can be involved in it all. All of the group chats, snap streaks, and discord servers, but still feel like none of it is any real connection. 2025 is a year where everyone talks, but not everybody connects.

What Is This “Feeling”?

Digital loneliness is how it sounds. It is to feel emotionally isolated, but still being socially active online. To think of it as an analogy, it is like fast food. It fulfilled the momentary feeling of isolation, its fun, quick and in reach, but it isn’t truly fulfilling the actual issue. Some apps begin to be used as a dopamine fix or as a happy distraction, and some are for connection. And while yes, social media does help with social interaction and communication, some feel the isolation of not having an actual social connection. It starts to become confusing when you’re constantly in contact with people, but it leaves you feeling alone.

How Did We Get Here? Why Is Social Media The Default?

Our world data

Our World Data provided an analysis of the rise of social media. We can see that many of the most populated platforms are providing a some sort of “connection”. Something that carries across majority of social platforms, is the constant ability to have a conversation. It also comes with followers and “friends”. But with that comes the dilution and illusion of what friendship is and means.
As much as it may feel like a connection, texting someone all day is not the same as actually knowing each other. Unplugged did an article focusing on why social connection is critical for human, and cannot be replaced. It states that strong social connection has “therapeutic powers”. We as humans connect with vulnerability, tone of voice, eye contact and so much more. But when we’re behind a screen, we are removing so much from a true human connection and basing all off of a profile picture and assumptions. As we see the population of platforms grow, we are seeing a shrink of genuine connection.

What Is Our Reality?

Let’s be honest, when someone randomly comes up to talk to you, there’s probably a few times where you forgot how to speak. And when someone calls instead of texting? Instant panic, immediate anxiety and suspicion for what the call was about. And someone must have died.

Why is that? We have gotten so used to communicating digitally that real life connection has become has some-what lost. There has been a gap wedged between online friends and real-world socializing. Many people have started social-media breaks, and you’ll even find social media influencers posting about it. Why? Because their “followers” have created a par asocial friendship with the creator.

@pretavoyager

But remember, two things can be right at the same time. Everything has its advantages and its disadvantages, negative and positive affects. It's important that we learn how to balance our online presence, and to make it important to be present in our own lives. Social media is amazing with the things it can do, and people it can bring together. But remember, while those profiles are real people, however the curated content thats posted, is not. Someone once said, comparison is the thief of joy, and they are right. Comparing your life to a curated online profile, is not going to make you feel better.

Most Important: You’re Not Alone in Feeling Alone

The best take-away from this blog is: many people feel the same way.

Digital loneliness is a modern day issue, and while the technology may or may not be permanent, the problem doesn’t have to be. Take the days slow, find true and real conversation, make real life experiences and memories. Find people to make you feel heard and understood. Be social, even if you're anxious while doing it. Our world is filled with constant noise, but sometimes your feeling are the loudest. You are seen, and valued beyond a screen. Overtime, your connection to yourself and others will grow. Taking a break doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it is an opportunity to look up and around at the world around you. Your profile is not what or who you are.

Sources

Our World Data

Unplugged

Nayia Thompson is an 18yr aspiring journalist. She is currently getting a diploma in professional writing. She strives to learn and gain an understanding of different parts of the world, and wants to use writing to provide that for others. Nayia writing is fuelled with honesty, truth and vulnerability.

Did the COVID Lockdowns Truly Affect us? It Fixed Problems, but What Did It Cause?

The world as we knew it stopped, it shut down. The phrase “The world won’t stop for you”, stopped being true. This wasn’t just a shut down, this was a time where grief was felt world-wide, and we had to adapt to a whole new way of living. The pandemic brought lockdowns, school closures, and an extreme shift to how we live. While yes, this was needed for public health, it also created many problems that this generation may not have been prepared for. Have you felt a change in your social ability? How you learn, or even the healthcare system? In this post, we will explore the different problems that the lockdowns could have implicated in our generation, and how we it has changed us.

A World-Wide Setback

Across the world, schools shut down. It started off as 2 weeks and it slowly turned into months some turned to a year. According to UNICEF, over 168 million children were out of school for nearly a year. Within 11 countries, students missed about 3 quarters or more of their in-person education between March 2020 and September of 2021. This was needed for health concerns, but what were the other results? Some studies showed that there was a loss of months in reading comprehension and math studies for many students. Also showing that younger students and those for lower-income communities were highly affected, some losing almost 8 months of learning.  

These problems may seem small, but it meant that even as schools opened back up, many people felt that they were already behind in their learning. This not only could’ve affected grades, but the people’s confidence, motivation and mental health.

How Did It Affect Our Growing Minds?

Taking in the learning setbacks and social problems, all of this had an impact on the mental health of children, teenagers and pre-teens. The long-term isolation, the disruption of daily routine and the “unknown” of what the news would say next, led to a rise in anxiety and depression among kids and teens. The World Health Organization put out a study that shows the rates of anxiety and depression increasing by 25% during the 2020 pandemic. This shows how the mental state of children and teens were impacted. There was also a loss of access to help, leaving it to strictly online availability. There was a huge loss in connection, and it left many struggling with their mental state. This caused some people to experience long-term phycological effects even after restrictions where lifted.

 Social Problems

It wasn’t just the classrooms that were empty, but also playgrounds, clubs, parties, sports and all social gatherings. The development of children is partially dependent on social integration, making friends, especially in early ages. A survey showed that 7 in 10 parents felt hat the lockdowns had a negative impact on their kids social development and social abilities. We are social beings by nature, and the simply being alone for long periods of time, especially as a growing child, has shown to cause problems in different social skills. Communication skills, social anxiety, and even learning to regulate our own emotions. Furthermore, s comparison study showed that children in the ages of 1-10 were impacted in their attention spans and even sleeping problems. Many of these problems continued to affect children into the year and 2021.

 Did These New Problems Come with new Solutions?

During these times, it had become a random time of withdrawing kids from the regular schooling and day-to-day life. The upcoming generation faced problems then and continue to face problems now. It has created many changes to our livelihood and to how we look at the world as we grow up. While the world is continuing to recover, there will always be risks, in health and in personal circumstances.

This pause in the world is a remembrance of loss, and a time of grief. But also, a time where we put our faith into humanity, and where many of us came together to try and be safe, not just for each other but for our loved ones, for strangers, and for those who are no longer with us because of COVID. There was a sense that even though we were struggling, we were struggling together.

AI Overlords | How Companies Are Fighting A War On The Working Class

A Background

Mark zuckerberg testifying before us congress | The boston globe

In the early 2010s A.I or more accurately, generative AI based on large language models, was used as a fun gimmicky idea you would see on youtube videos. Stuff like “this is what AI thinks a death grips song sounds like” would be passed between friends in order to laugh at the novelty of a terribly low quality imitation of actual art. But as with all things, the invention of generative AI was viewed as a potential way not just to make money, but to exploit the working class and potentially save billions by generating a product rather than paying someone else to create it.

Companies like Meta (formerly Facebook), Google and Microsoft, amongst others, began swarming in droves to invest in a potential future instrument of class warfare. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta themself invested a reported $14.3 billion into Scale AI, a singular AI research and branding company. That’s a lot of money, and unfortunately when people invest so much into something, they will push it no matter what in order for their investment not to go to waste.

The Grok Problem

So far in the 2020s we've seen countless companies start pushing AI, and implementing needless AI features into their services. Instagram added AI chatbots, so you could talk to a hollow imitation of celebrities when your actual friends have started ignoring you for being an AI enthusiast. X (formerly twitter) added Grok AI to its platform. A generative model made to answer user questions to drastically varying levels of accuracy. Grok itself has gone through many hilariously public shutdowns due to a series of supposedly unintended outcomes.

X Screenshot | The New York post

Because generative AI can’t actually think as marketed, it works by chewing up any information it can and regurgitating it back out. This quirk of large language models led Grok to absorb a variety of statistics, historical data and political theory and congregate it into a sort of self-held philosophy for lack of a better term. When X’s user base began asking political questions, Grok spat out answers that roughly mirrored factual statistical data and real-world political analysis, something Elon Musk's conservative fanbase wasn’t entirely too fond of. Musk soon scrambled to get his employees, the actual brains behind Musk's operations, to alter the intake for the language model, and so a new “non woke” version of Grok was created. The issue with this? The new version began actively speaking Nazi propaganda and praising Hitler, because it was fed on the political ideologies of X users Elon Musk deemed to be aligned with his own politics. Grok was marketed as an assistant that could provide information and was used as a political instrument by its owners, something that tends to be the case for any corporate product.

Replacing Workers

Secret Invasion | marvel studios | disney

The major area where AI has become a threat however, is to workers in creative industries. Various companies have scrambled to use AI to replace graphic designers, writers and in some cases even actors and filmmakers, among other creative professions. Disney owned Marvel Studios used AI to create the horrendous intro to its underwhelming and unsuccessful television series Secret Invasion. While the reception to Secret Invasion wasn’t to be blamed entirely on the use of AI, the reaction to the intro itself was strong, and decidedly negative. Many decried the use of AI to create an intro sequence instead of hiring human artists to craft something. AI wasn’t used for artistic purposes, it was used to steal from other artists' work and generate a sloppy imitation. It was used to avoid paying real workers in order to push a TV show out as a product, rather than art someone wanted to make.

A Human Future

As it stands now, companies continue to use AI to replace workers, which provides an incredible threat to the economy of the working class. When the bubble pops, many will be left without jobs, many already have, having been replaced by technology that was overvalued. As people we need to pushback against companies replacing human workers with AI implementations. Many people have begun boycotting companies that use generative AI, refusing to purchase from businesses that use the technology to create its products or in its marketing. Together we can teach companies that real human beings can never truly be replaced.

Sources

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Companies to Know | Built In

The first big winners in the race to create AI superintelligence: the humans getting multi-million dollar pay packages | Fortune

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok praises Hitler, spews antisemitic hate on X

How AI Will Harm Working-Class Families | Institute for Family Studies

Additional Sources

Zuckerberg was in the spotlight, and senators were skeptical - The Boston Globe

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Hayley Knight is an author, content creator, community organizer and professional fighting game player from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Hayley is a huge bookworm, music nerd and cinephile, and will gladly chat with anyone for hours about, the history and craftsmanship of their favorite works. They seek to use their writing to inform others and speak on their views of the world. Hayley believes in the power of humanity to fight the injustices of society.

The Adpocalypse: Drowning In Ads!

It’s another beautiful day of scrolling on your phone. You’re watching videos, playing some games, reading your socials and fiddling with your apps, everything is going smoothly! Including the hundreds of ad breaks. Those are the most important thing in your doomscrolling, after all!

You wouldn’t be scrolling without ads. The reason your phone is so addictive is because developers have designed apps to abuse our brain reward system. All those fun sounds, flashing lights, likes, followers and algorithms that show us content perfectly aligned to our interests, are made to hook us in. The more positive feelings we get from our phones, the more we scroll and the more ads we’ll fall for.

Why So Many Ads?

a grammarly advert on youtube

The reason why most free apps will stop you every minute or after a few scrolls so that you can watch a 10 to 30 second ad is because that’s how they make money. Advertisers pay the developers to show you their ad, then advertisers get their money back when you buy their products. This how free apps/services can exist at all.

This free-with-ads style has existed since the internet began and isn’t new. But as prices have gone up, so has the number of ads we need to be shown before app makers make any money. Now add that to the increase of time spent on the internet plus how many apps we’re spread across, and we can see how that equals ad overload.

Too Many Products

Another problem is that the market is flooded with products. What was once a Pepsi vs Coke vs Store Brand Cola competition is now a fight between hundreds of brands selling the same thing. Starting a company has never been easier and we’re not buying local anymore either, we’re buying globally.

With everyone struggling to be “The Brand to Buy That Product From”, the need to advertise as much as possible is real. Otherwise, companies will quickly get buried under the competition. It’s why you’ll keep seeing ads for the same thing over and over. It’s boring, yes, but it’s drilling into your head that if you want a VPN, then you know where to look.

There’s Even More Ads Than You Think

Pop-up, side bar or scroll past ads are everywhere. They’re the most noticeable type of ad because they’re shoved in our faces and are clearly adverts. Some are even kind enough to come with skip buttons! But there’s just as many sneaky ones too.

Charlie damelio with dunkin donuts product placement on tiktok

Sneaky ads have a name. They’re called an “undisclosed advertisement”. These are ads that don’t make it clear they’re ads. They come in a few forms. The oldest is “product placement”, which is where an influencer or a celebrity will have a branded item in their hand or the background. They won’t say its an ad, but they’re being paid to show you that they have or are enjoying the item.

Another type is the “fake review”. Ever seen a TikToker/Instagramer suddenly pause to gush about how great this thing they’re using is for an awkward 30 seconds or more? Sometimes it’s the whole video. They’ll probably tell you to click a link in the description or their bio to get it too.

Why Ads Are Sneaky

The reason these are popular tactics is because they sell you a product without you realising. It’s well-known that ads are annoying, but if we pretend it’s not an ad, then you might be more open to buying. Especially if it’s from someone you really like or trust. It’s plain and simple manipulation, and it works.

We have these hidden ads all over YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. These apps/sites follow the free-with-ads style and so do their users. Creators want to get paid for making content and their host companies only pay so much. Brand deals pay a lot more.

There’s nothing wrong with a brand deal. Creators deserve to get paid. However, things get muddy when sponsorships aren’t made clear. Not disclosing your ad is illegal, but due to thousands of ads going up daily, it’s impossible to regulate. Users are left to fend for themselves.

What Can We Do?

Not much, really. I mean aside from using an Ad Blocker or avoiding social media, our only other option is to buy smarter. Avoid getting unnecessary things, don’t trust overly positive reviews and don’t fall for aspirational content. Reporting undisclosed ads can create class action lawsuits too. Make ads cost more to be shown than they make, and hopefully we’ll see less of them.

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Hannah Staniforth is a second-year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario. She combines her previous experiences in Social Sciences with her writing to explore social themes with her readers. Hannah’s recent works emphasize the importance of positive thinking, gentle self-development, and reclaiming your personal time in a demanding world.