The Digi Diary: Side-eyeing subscription services and the rise of sillyposting

Welcome to the Digi Diary – your twice-monthly download into the best bits of tech and life online. We’re bringing back our byte-sized column to cover digital culture across fashion, beauty, lifestyle and more. We’ll let you know what’s stood out in our permascrolls and help you sprinkle some sparkle over your socials. So, set your mind to DND and settle down with this week’s instalment of our digital download: we’re looking at the Goofy Renaissance and philosophy-fashion-Tok, the 2023 version of the iconic Clueless closet, and the serious side-eyeing directed at Meta.

Faved 

We’ve been really into the silliness that’s slowly taking over our feeds, an era we’ve coined the Goofy Renaissance. Sounds silly, but it actually is a thing. Gen Z are no amateurs when it comes to using humour to make light of material reality online, but their lexicon has evolved – from dark and nihilistic to well, silly and goofy. From those seriously clownish red boots to the silly little captions of Gen Z fave Devon Lee Carlson, to the influx of memes in photo dumps and the ridiculousness of referring to the cost of living crisis as ‘cozzie livs’, being silly on social offers lighthearted relief from times that still feel pretty unprecedented. Watch this (silly) space and watch our TikTok on the Goofy Renaissance for more goofy proof! 🤪

Followed

Self-described baddie for the over-thinker, @alegria.irl is serving lewks and thoughtful takes on fashion, beauty and culture over on TikTok. Her video on Doja Cat’s bejewelled look at Paris Fashion Week went viral as she deconstructed how the look represents divesting from the male gaze in fashion and we loved her analysis connecting dadaism to Y2K fashion. She also posts her fab fit checks and offers tips for perfecting the bleached brow, succubus-chic trend for the dark-skinned girlies who want to give it a go. It's giving philosophy-fashion-realness!

Hacked

@thejesscheng is living up to her title as Digi’s Creative Lead/resident fashionista with her Outfit Diaries, logging her latest looks in the Notes app using Apple’s recently rolled out sticker feature. An outfit log is a useful hack if you want to showcase your fits sans a jam-packed carousel post, or streamline your personal style archive and easily sort an outfit for any occasion. We’re stealing this one, Jess!

Here’s how you can create your own digi outfit diary:

Blocked

Meta's recently announced paid subscription service for Facebook and Instagram has people side-eyeing the tech giant due to the “perks” that come with the paid service such as a blue badge, customer support (you get to talk to a real human!), and extra security.

Netizens have been jokingly proclaiming “I can’t believe this app is free” when it comes to the antics on Twitter and Instagram for years now (talk about words being powerful!). But the thing is, as many of us now know, these apps aren’t free as they seem – our personal data is mined for targeted ads as an exchange for using them. But it seems as if the landscape of social media advertising is changing and these new additions could reform how our data is used.

For more content like this, explore the rest of the Digiverse, or connect with us on TikTok or Instagram. If you’re a brand or business and want to inspire your audience in innovative ways, reach out to our strategic & creative lab eve@thedigitalfairy.co.uk