LSN : News : Thought-starter: Are teenagers as woke as they seem?

Wave makes meditation multi-sensory

Wave

US – The start-up uses music for a new approach to meditation and mindfulness practices.

Sitting at the intersection of technology, music and wellness, Wave’s two-part system provides a multi-sensory, music-guided meditation experience at home. The kit includes a vibrating bolster pillow and custom, over-ear headphones, plus a subscription-based app for streaming original, genre-less music. Used together, these elements are designed to make meditation more immersive.

Breathing exercises and more than 80 original tracks available via the Wave app sync with the vibrating bolster to allow users to feel each beat and breath. ‘We want to make some noise in an industry of silence by creating an immersive at-home experience that's fun, positive, and empowering,’ reads the Wave website. ‘We're here to elevate your state of mind, one track at a time.’

By putting music at the core of its wellness offering, Wave reflects how music is emerging as the next frontier for health and wellbeing. Look out for our Music as Medicine microtrend, launching on LS:N Global soon.

Poolside FM gives radio a nostalgic makeover

Poolside FM rebrand

Global – The radio station has reworked its website to mimic a kitsch 1980s operating system.

Poolside FM, which is known for streaming feel-good summer music, has redesigned its website to provide a new – albeit retro – radio experience. The website, founded by Marty Bell and re-designed by Niek Dekker and developer Lewis King, draws inspiration from '90s-era Mac operating systems, allowing listeners to interact with its desktop-style menu and icons.

In addition to listening to the radio, users can watch Poolside TV, scroll through a nostalgic version of Instagram, buy merchandise or even join a live online forum dubbed a ‘guestbook’. Visitors to the site can even change the desktop theme or download Poolside FM wallpaper to their computer.

As well as rethinking the notion that radio cannot be both audio and visual, Poolside FM is tapping into consumers’ hunger for Netstalgia.

Tinder launches a safety alert for LGBT+ travellers

Global – Tinder has introduced a new feature that will alert LGBT+ users when they open the app in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.

To ensure LGBT+ users remain informed while travelling, the app's Traveler Alert will appear when Tinder is opened in one of more than 70 countries where same-sex sexual acts are considered a criminal offence, including Nigeria, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The feature has been added so that users can take extra caution and avoid unknowingly placing themselves in danger.

Once the alert is activated, users will also have the choice for hide their profile while in that location or opt to make it public. However, even if a user chooses to be shown on Tinder, their sexual orientation or gender identity will not be displayed until they leave the area. To accompany the update, Tinder has also added new information to its Safety Tips.

In our LGBT+ Travel Market, we outline the apps and services helping to make travel safer for LGBT+ consumers.

Tinder LGBTQ Travel Alert

Funkin shakes things up with nitro cocktail cans

Funkin Nitro Cocktails, UK

UK – The beverage brand is bringing self-mixing cans to the ready-to-drink cocktail market.

The Nitro Cans by Funkin Cocktails feature a nitrogen-infused widget, which, upon opening the can, is activated and releases micro-bubbles of nitrogen to mix the cocktail. Available in flavours such as amaretto sour, espresso martini and pink gin fizz, the Nitro Cans aim to elevate on-the-go drinking to rival the quality of bar-made cocktails.

According to Funkin Cocktails, which partnered with Ardagh Metal Packaging on the new cans, while traditional fizzy beverages are carbonated with carbon dioxide, nitrogen bubbles are 100 times smaller and longer-lasting. This not only enhances the aromatics of the cocktail but provides more sensory drinking experience.

In an age of Convenience Culture, quality remains paramount for consumers who wish to emulate the bar experience in the comfort of their home or on the move.

Stat: Supermarkets should promote healthier living

Consumers believe that grocery retailers have a responsibility to encourage healthier choices, according to a new report published by RSPH, in which just 15% of the UK public feel supermarkets are doing enough to tackle obesity.

Consequently, nearly half of UK consumers say that legislation should be introduced requiring supermarkets to encourage healthier choices. This includes allocating more shelf space to healthier products, introducing a healthy rewards scheme, and the provision of recipe cards and cooking demonstrations on how to create healthy meals.

To learn how retailers can be an ally in consumers’ health efforts, read our Prescription Supermarkets microtrend.

Thought-starter: Are teenagers as woke as they seem?

They might appear the most socially-aware generation yet, but foresight writer Holly Friend questions whether the Instagram accounts of Generation Z tell a very different story.

Have you heard of flop accounts? The internet is scattered with articles on the unlikely rise of these peer-to-peer networks for news-hungry teenagers, who are taking to Instagram armed with screenshots of controversial tweets and viral news-led memes. These accounts go beyond the irony of finstas or the Instagram egg – they are catalysts for larger discussions about gun control, LGBT+ rights, and immigration, transforming Instagram’s comments streams into something closer to a Generation Z TED Talk.

But Instagram can be inherently toxic – something demonstrated by the disturbing rise in QAnon accounts run by Gen Z individuals, through which they share bitesize, often right-wing conspiracy theories. But while flop accounts are typically justified under the guise of ‘just for laughs’ by teens and journalists alike, aren't they just as bad? After all, they are largely unguarded, meaning that over time they have become hives of fake news, bullying and even hate speech.

With peer-to-peer newsrooms failing young people, then, where should they turn for news and insights that are reliable and rooted in facts? Read the Opinion piece here.