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- [00:01]
A
The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. In what possible world do I need the seven pound bag of wasabi peas that social media is obsessed with showing me? To reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 130 million decision makers. You can target your buyers by job title, industry and more. Spend $250 on your first campaign and LinkedIn will even give you a $250 credit on your next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com MBD that's LinkedIn.com Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.
- [00:35]
B
Good morning Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.
- [00:38]
C
And I'm Toby Howell.
- [00:39]
B
Today, what were the kids up to this year?
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C
I'll tell you in a super sized version of Toby's Trends.
- [00:45]
D
It's Tuesday, December 30th. Let's ride.
- [00:55]
C
Now everyone's second favorite segment on the podcast behind Neil's numbers is Toby's Trends. And so I take a deep dive in the business world and emerge with the trend that will have your grandparents going.
- [01:05]
D
Now, how did you get so smart? For this special holiday week episode, the team and I went back and combed.
- [01:10]
C
Through every trend we talked about this year. Some of them are random. 6, 7. Some of them fit into a broader theme. But all of them will make you feel smart if you bring them up in front of your friends. So Neil, are you ready to have your mind blowing?
- [01:24]
B
Let's do it.
- [01:26]
C
But first a word from our sponsor, Public. Neil, I have to talk to you about something.
- [01:30]
B
Toby, for the last time, I do not want to hear about your golf trip last weekend.
- [01:33]
C
No, no, no, no. It's public. Before on public you could build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options and crypto. But now in addition to that they have generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI you can type in any prompt like AI powered supply chain companies with positive free cash flow or or defense tech Companies growing revenue 25% year over year.
- [01:57]
B
Okay, that's legitimately cool. So with generated assets you can create investable indexes, kind of like ETFs, but they are your own ideas.
- [02:05]
C
Yep, completely customizable, just like my golf swing. Get started at public.com/morning brew and earn a uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com Morning Brew paid for by Public Investing. Full disclosures in Podcast description Neil, I.
- [02:23]
D
Tell you what, I must have been hungry picking some of these trends because a lot of them are food related. And when it comes to your guts, maybe the definitive trend of the year was creatine coming back with a force. The powder has had a glow up since your meathead friends were ripping it in between classes in high school. It's now one of the most popular and widely studied supplements in the world with links to improved cognition and memory benefits. In addition to giving you the energy and strength to train harder and recover faster. Sales of the supplement at vitamin shop surged 320% from 2019 to today. I don't know who is running PR for creatine this year, but suddenly it felt like it was everywhere.
- [03:00]
B
And the customer base has expanded beyond the gym bros that it's typically been associated with. At GNC, women now account for 30% of all creatine purchases, up from 18% in 2020. There's a whole lot of research going into the mental health benefits of this supplement as well as specific uses for women with dealing with menopause and things like that. So the customer base has widened and there doesn't seem to be anything truly wrong with creatine that we've read up a lot. There's been an increase in studies, 7% year over year for the last five years. So this is one of the most widely studied supplements on the market. And you know, everyone I know is taking creatine.
- [03:38]
D
I started taking it, I had a little tub on my desk this whole year. I actually ran out and then my fiance started taking it. So you're right, it is completely. Can you imagine going back to high school and remembering which kids kind of gravitated towards carrots now and then? Now seeing like who is taking it in this day and age, it has been a glow up. It's just the word that I like to use because also the form factor has changed. It's not just a dubious white powder sitting in a tub. There's little gummies now you can put it in drinks. So I definitely think that it's had a good PR rebrand, which is why it's come back into the mainstream.
- [04:12]
B
Okay, so phase or forever for creatine, are we going to see this trend continue into the next few years?
- [04:17]
D
I mean, mean, as you said, most studied supplement, I think there's nothing that is going to slow its role now. I think we're only going to see more form factors going forward in more, you know, maybe yassified brands of creatine. So I think it's a forever thing. Phaser forever for you.
- [04:31]
B
Yeah, I'm with you. I think it does come down to also these influencers, whether they continue to promote it. It has been heavily promoted by huge podcasters, Andrew Huberman, Joe Rogan, Tim Ferriss, people that seem to know like what they're talking about when it comes to health, at least in terms of Andrew Huberman on that particular list. So yes, I see this as something that' more of a permanent trend than just a one trick.
- [04:52]
D
Sally Our next trend that moves us up in the world of dining, we're talking about slimy, briny caviar. Caviar is having a bit of a moment, finding itself on dishes far beyond the scope of creme fraiche and crackers, mostly because it got a lot more affordable up to date. Data is a little bit hard to come by, but the price for a kilogram of imported caviar was around $240 in 2020, down from about 30440 in 2014. The big reason for this, it's China. Today most of the little fish balls that cross your lips come to the US from farms in China where government support, plentiful waterways and cheap labor have pushed down prices. But thanks to this flood of cheaper eggs, restaurants have started doing some crazy things with the ingredient. Cocoa Dak, a Korean fried chicken restaurant in New York City puts a dollop on top of a McDonald's style chicken nugget while you can get a $68 sour cream and onion dip in Nashville adorned with the fancy orbs. Neal this used to be an unattainable symbol of luxury, but now it's entered the mainstream dining experience.
- [05:53]
B
I think the foundation for the caviar boom was laid down back in 2020 and 2021 during lockdowns when these caviar companies as well as fine dining restaurants, they were closed and they needed to way to reach consumers. What they did was go direct to consumer and sell it to you directly online. So people were bringing caviar into their home doing quote unquote caviar bumps. And that was a huge thing on social media. It spread widely on the Internet and people were seeing caviar as a way to have a little fun and be a little indulgent at a time when you are at home. And then all of these restaurants, once they open back up, hopped on the trend and they can because, because caviar got a lot cheaper because of the flood in from China.
- [06:35]
D
I think that restaurants are treating it as a loss leader in a lot of ways where people will post them doing bumps on social social media. You know, having caviar on social media because it's a very luxury item that people like to document. So some restaurateurs literally said it's more like our Costco rotisserie chicken, which is, you know, the famous chicken to get people in the doors. It doesn't necessarily make money off it, but it gets you in the restaurant, it gets you sitting down in the seat because, you know, everyone wants to try a little caviar on a chicken nugget. Okay, Neil, phase or forever?
- [07:06]
B
Phase. I think caviar is a phase. It's going to be too expensive for most people to try it. So even at these places, they are 60, $70. These caviar dip dishes. I don't see this lasting.
- [07:20]
D
Neither do I. I'm totally with you. Our next food trend is more of a crunchy, creamy variety. It's Dubai Chocolate. I'm not sure how you could have missed it, but if you've been living under a rock, Dubai Chocolate is a sweet treat that consists of a milk chocolate bar stuffed with a creamy green pistachio filling and a shredded pastry known as kataffi. First made by an Emirati chocolatier, it initially debuted to modest success back in 2021, but that totally changed after the smashing success of One TikTok, a video posted in December of 2023 that features a girl just eating Dubai Chocolate in her car. The ASMR vibes combined with the clearly delicious looking treat racked up 120 million views and put it on the map. Also, it puts some strain on one key ingredient. One nut trader told the Financial Times that the pistachio world is basically tapped out at the moment, with the craze pushing prices to over $10 a pound, a 34% rise in just a year. Neal, after doing this story back in April, you literally could not escape Dubai Chocolate. It felt like the Labo boo of the confectionery world.
- [08:22]
B
You could not escape a Trader Joe's sells a Dubai chocolate bar. IHOP did a limited time Dubai pancake stack, which sounds absolutely incredible. Baskin Robbins had an ice cream flavor for Dubai Chocolate. Costco, Walmart, qvc, lint. You go down the. You go down the line. And every single brand that sells anything remotely to chocolate or confections or candy or even pancakes was hopping on this trend. And even Hershey's earlier this month came out with its own Dubai inspired chocolate bar. And when Hershey's buys into this, I think there's the idea that this is not just a flash in the pan, but something that's A little more lasting here. So I already gave you my answer. I think Dubai Chocolate is going to be lasting. It has the right texture and it has that creamy filling that I think will make it a popular confection for years to come.
- [09:07]
D
Spoken like someone who has tried it, which we did try it. We did a little video about it and we were both pretty pleasantly surprised. It's got the crunch. The crunch is what makes it. It is probably a little too sweet, especially if you're not someone who's into sweet tooth. But I do think that the textural aspect of it is something that will keep it around for a long time. Finally, we'll give your gut a rest, but not before we destroy it with one last trend, which is restaurants going all in on spicy foods. Restaurant trains triple down on hot foods that younger consumers love. This year, Chipotle rolled out a spicy Adobo ranch. In May, Taco Bell debuted its Mike's Hot Honey Diablo sauce. And not to be left behind, Wendy's released a Takis Fuego meal. While the usually mild Mediterranean chain Cava launched hot harissa pita chips in April. In total, US restaurant chains launched 76 new spicy menu items from March to June, bringing the total number of restaurants that offer at least one spicy item on their menu to 95%, according to analysis by Data Essential. So, Neil, if you wanted to create buzz both online and in customers mouths this year, the best way to make a new hot food item was to make that food item hot.
- [10:15]
B
One of the TikTok challenges that sparked the spicy food craze was people eating Bulldog ramen is called the Fire Noodle Challenge. Now this has various grades of spiciness from not spicy at all to like 4x spice. I tried to x spice once. I am. I can tolerate spicy. I can.
- [10:35]
D
All right, all right.
- [10:35]
B
Spicy things. I'm just stating a fact. I tried this. It was so spicy I couldn't stomach it. But people were filming themselves eating this type of ramen, spicy ramen, as well as a bunch of other spicy foods. And people just love the reactions. And I think that is one of the inspirations for why people are so obsessed with spicy food right now. There are obviously different grades of spice. I think people are, you know, who knows what, what spice tolerance most people have. It's probably not 2x3x4x for this ramen, but it does seem to be like a huge wave.
- [11:07]
D
No, you're right. Mukbang, which are just livestream broadcasts of people eating spicy foods, is an enduring trend of the Internet. As long as the Internet is around, I think we'll still have mukbangs because it is just compelling content. But also the business case. Dave's Hot Chicken was started just a few years ago. A PE staker bought a part in that company, valuing it at $1 billion. So clearly this is just the thing that's resonating in the restaurant industry right now. If you want to go viral on social media, you have to have a little spice in it because young people just love this stuff. I could not be more opposed to this trend.
- [11:41]
B
I can do those vanilla, literally.
- [11:44]
D
I mean you said 1x spice. I'm like half an X spice. So I'm a little bit of more. I've been getting better though. You know, I can do sriracha at this point.
- [11:52]
B
I think people just want to feel things.
- [11:53]
D
Yeah, that is true. The youth want to feel. So I do think it's enduring though because you know, spice is a, it's a great, it's a great trend. Okay, we've talked about what food you are all eating, but now it's time for a little night out on the town. What were the trends that dominated going out with friends this year? Perhaps nothing was more divisive than this trend about bar tabs. There is a growing cohort of Gen Z bar goers who simply refuse to open a tab. The reversion was the subject of a New York Times article that chronicled how many 20 somethings were opting to close out after every single overpriced hourglass white rather than keep their bar tab running. One explanation for their tab trepidation is that younger drinkers consume less alcohol, so they're fine with one and done transactions. Mainly though, they just don't like carrying the mental weight. It increases anxiety in me when I leave a tab open, a 26 year old beer sales rep told the Times. Neal, what the heck is going on here? What do you think about this shift in bar etiquette?
- [12:49]
B
Maybe it's the 344 year old in me, but I hate this trend. I think you should leave a tab open because one of life's great satisfactions is you're at a table with all your friends and someone goes, hey, can I have another round? Or like I'm going to go up to the bar, does anyone want anything? And then you just say, yeah, I got a tab open. Just put it on my tablet. That is the best feeling in the world. And this could not be more annoying for bartenders or people who own bars because one of the hidden major costs of bars other than labor and rent is credit card swipe fees. Those are substantial. So every time you're swiping a card that you don't have to because someone didn't leave a tab open, that is more money coming out of your bank account, let alone all the time it takes to do that every single time while you're trying to serve others who are lined up at the bar. Two, three, four deep. So I'm, I'm totally against this trend. I completely understand why they're doing it. But I think you should just try, try it once, leave a bar tab open and see how good it feels when you can say, put it on my tab.
- [13:46]
D
The other business angle of this is that Gen Z is drinking less than previous generations. A Gallup poll in 2023 found a 10 point decline over the past two decades in the share of 18 to 34 year olds who report consuming alcohol. This has been something that we've talked about a lot over the past year, is that people are drinking less. And one way to monitor your drinking is to not have a tab open is to say, every time I go up to get a drink, I have to do the motion of tapping my card. It makes you just more perceptive of what's going on. So I think you're totally right though. This was one of the defining trends of the year though probably. We got hundreds of comments, hundreds of emails on both sides of the equation. Honestly, it truly seems to be a generational divide. Some bartenders are like, just buck up, people. Like, I don't want to see you every five minutes, just open the tab. Exactly what you're describing right now. Some people said that literally, respectfully, someone has to bully these people. These are bartenders saying this. And I think that probably you're right. I do think it's enduring though. Like people are in the tap to pay era right now. The other weird thing young people are doing when they go out is sitting next to each other. Communal tables have alternated between popularity and dining room pariah, but they are so back right now. New data from resi showed that 90% of Gen Z diners say they enjoy communal seating, compared to just 60% of boomers. A lot of people report meeting friends or dates at these long banquet setups. They see it as a low pressure way to share plates, save a little money, join conversations and feel plugged into something going around around them. Neal, I think this is still polarizing though. Would you want to break bread with strangers at the table?
- [15:24]
B
All I'll say is that whenever communal dining makes a comeback, and it's very cyclical, it's not good news for the rest of the world. So if you talk to restaurateurs or people in the hospitality industry, they point to certain years and times when communal dining was big. One of those was after 911 in 2001 in New York. People wanted to be together and so, you know, nothing great was going on then. Same thing happened in 2008 after the financial crisis. People were down on their luck. They wanted to be together. Communal dining rose. And then if you go all the way back to the Second World War, there were a huge amount of communal dining in the uk. This was promoted by Winston Churchill as a way of promoting togetherness during tough times. So the bottom line is, I think whenever it's maybe a recession indicator, when you see communal dining on the rise, and for that reason, I'm going to say this is a total phase and it's not something that' permanent.
- [16:17]
D
The only time I think communal dining is fun is on the ski mountain. Like, everyone comes in, there's no space for everyone. You just got to sit down and say, hey, how, how was it out there? That's the only time I can remember consciously saying, oh, yeah, it's totally fine. It's an exist strangers. But I don't know what other scenario I would do it in, like a beer hall or something like that. Yeah, I guess it goes back to the other trend. Gen Z is drinking less, so maybe they're not showing up in beer hall. So some conflicting data points there because, yeah, people want to hang out and yet they're trepidatious about, you know, drinking, going out. So I think you are right. It shifts. You know, sometimes it's it's bowling alone, sometimes it's dining out with friends. It just ebbs and flows as society changes. So we all know you guys were eating with each other and not starting tabs. What were you up to when you were on your own time? What hobbies were in vogue this year? And I hate to break it to you, but y' all some grandmas. A growing portion of young Americans are taking up grandma hobbies, skipping middle age entirely, as the Wall Street Journal put it, and embracing main character in a cozy British miniseries, vibes. Grandma hobbies, or granny core, includes doing things like joining a knitting circle, junk journaling, or really anything low tech that requires less scrolling and more slip stitches. In a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, the research firm Mintel found that 86% of Gen Z identifies as crafters. The market is catching on to. Shopify reported in May alone that sales of cross stitch patterns jumped 89% year over year, while embroidered canvas sales climbed 88%. Now, I think for a lot of people, it's just nice to make something that isn't made up of pixels.
- [17:53]
B
So many of your trends I think we need to talk about in the context of we just had a global pandemic, right? Like just four or five years ago, everyone was inside their homes, there was no socialization, there was a lot of isolation. I think a lot of the trends that we've been talking about are straight from the pandemic, specifically among Gen Z who had their college careers cut short and they had to do zoom classes. And they're just looking for a way to be with each other at a time of, you know, screens are everywhere and they weren't able to socialize with with each other during extremely formative years. So I think this is one way, this granny core, granny skills and crafting is one way for people to be together at a time when they were. They had all of these things cut short for them. I also noticed that people say this with a, with a bunch of pride, like low key pride. They're like, yeah, I have a lot of granny hobbies. And you're, you know, they say it as in a way that seems to be self demeaning but you can tell inner, you know, inside they are actually really proud of it because you're learning a skill, you're making something. I totally love this trend.
- [18:54]
D
It's cool to know how to knit. It's cool to know how to make something. I don't know how to do any of those things. I recently just started painting watercolor again though I don't know if that's constitutes as a granny hobby. We're just kind of applying the label to anything that isn't on your phones at this point. But it's fun. Yeah. Analog stuff is so in. You're right. If we had to put a overarching trend on a lot of these things, it is just ditching digital, getting back to in person doing more analog stuff. So I think you're right. It is a forever trend. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with more trends right after this. Neil, how can a brand inspire enough loyalty in their customers that they won't switch to something new?
- [19:31]
B
Well, my suggestion of including clips of my beautiful singing voice before every podcast podcast got rejected.
- [19:37]
C
Yeah. Imagine that telecom brands know all about this though they sit at the intersection of current subscribers and new prospects. Amazon ads can reach these audiences together across Prime Video, Fire tv, Twitch, Alexa and more, helping telecom brands show up where connection truly happens.
- [19:54]
B
With Amazon ads first party insights spanning streaming, browsing and shopping signals, telecom marketers can reach valuable audiences. This enables smarter acquisition, cross sell and loyalty strategies grounded in performance.
- [20:06]
C
To learn more, visit advertising.Amazon.com that's advertising.Amazon.com.
- [20:15]
D
So good, so good so good.
- [20:17]
E
New Year New Gear Thousands of fresh active styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Save on top brands like Nike, Puma and free people starting at just 35.
- [20:29]
D
How did I not know Rack has Adidas? There's always something new.
- [20:31]
E
Plus, join the Nordy Club to shop new arrivals first, unlock exclusive discounts and more. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.
- [20:43]
D
All right, so you guys weren't sitting scrolling on your phones. Good for you. But something else you may not have been doing is reading. Specifically if you're a dude. If you're a guy and read a fiction book in the last year, you're a rare unicorn in today's literary landscape. The New York Times published a big piece this year titled why did the novel Reading Man Disappear? In it, they noted that the book industry skews heavily female, with a 2023 study from Lee and Lowe finding that 71% of publishing's workforce are women. There is also the famous stat cited in many an op ed that men account for only 20% of the fiction market compared to 80% for women. But it turns out that that stat is basically made up, according to Vox, and the gap is not nearly as yawning as you might think. The closest thing they could find was a 2017 survey from the UK that found women bought 63% of fiction while men bought 37%. So women probably do read a little bit more than men and probably read a more fiction, but nothing crazy. Neil, this was one of my murkier trends, the great case of the mysterious novel reading men and I can't wait to talk to a novel reading about it.
- [21:48]
B
Well, it seems like we do need more performative males out there, at least carrying a around to make it look like you are. I'm going to defend my fellow men here and just say that nobody is reading any more male or female reading for pleasure in the United States has fallen by more than 40% over the past two decades. That's according to an analysis of the US government's American Time Use Survey, which tracks how people Spend their time. The proportion of people in America who read for pleasure on an average day fell from 28% in 2003 to just 16% in 2023. So whether you're a guy or a girl, it seems like no one is reading much at all.
- [22:27]
D
I'm glad you mentioned performative males and performative reading, though. That is something that the New York Times article talked about about why people may not be reading as much anymore because they're afraid of looking like a performative person, you know, in public, as it's been dubbed on social media. So there are some accounts fully dedicated to this where it's pictures of performative males usually reading a book that is conspicuously something that might appeal to the opposite sex in a very public setting. So there are truly some performative people out there. But sometimes you just want to grow up and read actual good book. So you are right though. This is a trend that is not confined to a single gender. It is just something that is happening in our very social media obsessed world. It's hard to find time to read anymore. I've been in a little bit of a reading drought recently.
- [23:15]
B
What was the last book you read?
- [23:17]
D
I read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I don't even know if that counts necessarily because that's like a classic. So I'm kind of making my way through there, but nothing modern these days. You are a big reader. I can see something is in your eye right now. You can drop whatever.
- [23:31]
B
I try to have a book on my nightstand. The one I am reading right now, I'm almost done with is called the Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. And it's just considered one of the best books of the year. So whenever I see books like that and it's like this big family saga about immigrants from India and a love story, I'm like that. That's for me. So I am reading right now. It's quite excellent.
- [23:49]
D
I remember the first time we talked about this trend. We spoke about the idea of a morning brew daily book club. So I'm going to ask people to weigh in one more time. Should we start a book club going forward in 2026? It seems like a good idea to me.
- [24:01]
B
It's at least a performative idea.
- [24:02]
D
Exactly. All right. Trends by nature are cyclical, which means something is either dying or on the comeback trail. So this section is dedicated to revivals, those trends that were things were so over for, but are now so back. And let's start with braces. Suddenly jaw hardware became the Hottest new status symbol amongst the youths and adults alike. Orthodontists have reported a rise in interest in the once uncool OG Metal braces as wears embrace their imperfections to flash metallic smiles with pride. Part of the appeal is undeniably tied to price tag. Braces can range from $3,000 to $10,000 and are often not covered by insurance. So rocking 10 bands on your face is just the latest way to flex. Neil As a former brace face myself, I am happy to see this narrative shifting, but it's a little bit baffling at the same.
- [24:53]
B
It is baffling. I'm not so. I'm not so I guess I don't really care one way or the other. I don't think it's going to last, though. I'm an Invisalign user. Well, actually, okay, I had braces, and then I didn't wear my retainer. And then a couple of years ago, I did Invisalign during the pandemic. So I guess I can speak from both sides of the equation. Let's just hear from the people themselves who are getting these braces and why they say they are doing it. One of them said, I get that Invisalign is for individuals who are shy about showing others they're working on themselves, but I'm bold, loud, and proud about my journey of improvement in individuality. Another one said, no shade to Invisalign, but it's kind of boring to me. So I think of this as an accessory along the lines of Labuba. I think we're comparing a lot of trends to Labubu, but it's something that you dangle on your purse or you put in your mouth as a sign of status or self improvement or any other way to showcase individual individuality in these times.
- [25:43]
D
And it's easy to customize. I mean, the OG metal braces, you can change whatever color is on there. You can change the rubber band color. Some people are literally having accessories attached to their braces, and it's just very conspicuous in pop culture right now. Little Uzi Vert proudly flaunts his orthodontic orthodontics. He wears braces. And it's just one of those things where it starts trickling down through popular culture to everyday people. It goes back to, I mean, Marisha Brady in or, sorry, Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch. She had braces. Then America Ferreira in Ugly Betty. Like, these are very famous brace faces. So they've kind of just never really left culture. Now it's coming into you know what the youths are listening to with Lily Uzi Vert as well? Other than braces, cigarettes are also so back Half of all movies released last year featured tobacco imagery, a 10% year over year increase despite smoking rates for the overall population hovering around historic lows. Celebrities off screen seem to be lighting up left and right. Addison Ray sings about it in a new song. Lorde also reminisces about the best cigarette of her life on her recent album. And then Charli XCX is basically the person who founded this whole esthetic, which is the main reason for this whole revival. I should add aesthetics. Vaping is not cool, but smoking a cigarette is for a lot of young people. The moob and the risk, the mood and the ritual are more alluring than the nicotine itself. Neal Just because cigs are cool again doesn't mean the health consequences suddenly disappeared. Smoking is still responsible for one in three cancer deaths in the U.S. but the reality of their harm right now is being outweighed by a cultural win that is saying they are very much in right now.
- [27:21]
B
Very curious to see whether this will be measurable in the data whether images of people smoking or tobacco imagery in pop culture does filter down to actual people smoking more. But besides anecdotes, in recent years cigarette smoking in the US has plunged to decades low, especially among young people. It was just 6% of adults under 30 reported recently smoking, compared to 35% in surveys dating from 2001 to 2003. So we might need to wait a few years to see whether Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie xcx, Addison Rae Talking about smoking or we're seeing it more in the movies actually does filter down to measurable statistics. But if you go back to studies, it does show explicitly that depictions in movies and TV that normalize smoking does actually increase smoking rates, especially among those impressionable youth.
- [28:09]
D
It was fascinating, and this is just a small cross section of people, but we posted a video on Instagram about this trend and first of all it was DM'd over 5000 times, so clearly someone was sending it to someone. But the majority, I'd say 90% of the comments were like, you know, smoking is still not cool. So maybe that's just a cross section of who our Instagram followers are, but maybe it's not quite as widespread yet. There still is this connotation around smoking. Like, no, like of course we're not smoking, even though the celebrities are doing it. So you are right. Is it going to filter down? Are we going to see it percolate into Normal, everyday usage, more. Maybe. Maybe people are just too educated at this point. They know obviously it's bad for you. But that was just another data point that came out after we initially reported on this trend that. But Instagram was not down with it.
- [28:54]
B
Okay, Toby, so you had a bunch of trends this year. You didn't mention all of them in this show, but I wanted to pick some of my favorites to share with you all. The first one, I don't know how you didn't mention it, but. Well, I understand why you didn't mention it. It's two numbers. The number six and the number seven. The youth, Gen Z. No, it's not even Gen Z. It was Gen Alpha. Just fell in love with these two numbers, 6, 7, back to back. And we're just cracking jokes about it. It doesn't really mean anything. The point of it was just to baffle adults. And it just got everywhere this year. You even saw basketball games, college basketball games that got up to the score of 67. And then the crowd just goes absolutely wild. The announcers get in on the joke as well. So what did you think of six, seven? I'll tell you what I think. I think it's hilarious. Like I would if I was a kid right now. I would be all in on six, seven. It just seems like a hilarious, absurdist joke that would be totally up my alley. And whenever I see it happen in life or on TV or on social media, I crack up. I love six, seven.
- [29:55]
D
It's great because the fact that you like it means it's on a slow death spiral. Because if Neil thinks it's funny and cool, there's no way the middle schoolers are going to keep thinking it's cool. This was probably the trend. I've said that probably four times. But trend of the year in terms of the actual use. I was out at Halloween after we reported on this trend, and the streets of New York were filled with kids. One kid says, six, seven, and it really is like a mind virus. It spreads from one group to the other. The entire street all of a sudden is, you know, doing the hand motions, saying at 6, 7. I hope our episode on this educated some very confused adults about it, because it is a nonsense trend inherently. It's meant to make you feel like you have no idea what's going on. So if you understand that aspect of it, you understand the trend. There's a whole lore behind it as well. Look it up on Instagram. There's some deep, deep Internet archives of it as well. But yes, I don't know how I forgot to mention it. Six, seven. Not going to. Not going to survive. I hope it doesn't survive.
- [30:53]
B
Here's another trend that I really loved, and that's the business of history is booming. Maybe people aren't reading that much anymore. The overall book market was flat in the United States, but history books were up 6% in the past year. And then over in the UK and Ireland in 2023, they spent more on history books than at any point since records began in 1998. One of the most popular podcasts now is the Rest in history was downloaded 12.5 million times per month. That's more popular than this American Life. It's just two guys talking about history. And then of course, hardcore history is one of the most popular history podcasts in the world. For some reason, it seems like people are seeking out history. Maybe the people were right that men are thinking about the Roman Empire every single day of their lives.
- [31:39]
D
One of the things that usually corresponds with people getting interested in the past is periods of profound technical, technological or sociological change. A mania for the past arises when everything is moving so quickly around you. We're in an age of rapid technological change with AI adoption. So people tend to look backwards a little bit to figure out why we are the way that we are. Like, history is always going to be popular, but especially in these flash pan moments. So. And as you just get older, the, the past becomes more meaningful for you just in general. So as podcasting matures as an industry, as you know, people listen online, obviously these things are going to become more popular. So I remember when we reported on this trend, we were saying, should we start a little history podcast? Like, clearly this is, you know, the booming side of the industry, and it.
- [32:30]
B
Also comes at a time. Or maybe it's a result of enrollment in history classes going way down. In the United States, spring enrollment for history by undergrads on four year courses was down 15% since 2019. So maybe people are still looking for that history fix, that they're not getting in their classes because they're just not taking history classes anymore, which I guess I completely understand.
- [32:51]
D
They're not reading, they're not taking history. What are you doing these days?
- [32:55]
B
Well, I'll tell you what they're doing. They're walking fast. And that is the final trend of this episode that I want to talk about. There was this study that looked at certain areas of major US cities. Philadelphia's Chestnut Street, Boston's downtown Crossing in New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Of Art and Bryant Park. So these, these researchers, I don't think it was the same ones, but they looked at how fast people were walking or they were just looking at what interactions on the streets were like from 1980 to 30 years later, 2010. And what they found was that pedestrians walked faster by 15% in 2010 than they had in 1980. There were less interactions, there was less grouping. So people are just on the move these days. What do you think about this?
- [33:39]
D
I mean, it's all traces back to cell phones. It always feels like people blame everything on social media and cell phones. But the fact that your head is down looking at a phone means you are stopping less to talk to those people around you. So that definitely contributes to it. Also, people in the observed areas had their incomes rise over that time, and so the cost of strolling around started to rise. So the opportunity cost of not, you know, being in front of a computer and making money starts to rise as you make more money. So maybe as these areas became wealthier, people started realizing that their time had a value to it as well, which is why they're not strolling as much anecdotally. Obviously it makes sense too. I mean, I hate slow walkers. I'm not a stroller by any sense of the word. Are you a stroller?
- [34:24]
B
No, I walk fast. But I do agree that we could all use a little more stoop chilling these days and just a little more pondering on the streets instead of going from point A to B. Even though I don't actually do that in practice.
- [34:36]
D
I know it's. It speaks to the lack of third places too. You could put an overarching trend on all of these trends where it's we're just not hanging out quite as much anymore. So maybe you need to stop walking as fast. Do your gram activities. Eat some spicy food, drink some creatine. Just combine it all into one mega Toby's trend.
- [34:52]
B
All right. I think that's a great place to end. That is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us. Have a great rest of your day. If you want to get in touch, send a note to Morning Brew daily at morning broadcom or DM us on Instagram @me. Daily Show. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our executive producer. Raymond Lu is our producer. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Hair makeup is looking forward to another great year of Toby's trends. Devin Emery is our president and our show is a production of Morning Brew.
- [35:19]
D
Great show today, Neil let's run it back back tomorrow.
- [35:24]
F
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B
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F
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A
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D
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F
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