This year we have seen the end result of rapid development in healthcare, technology and various aspects of being able to improve our overall lifestyle with everything from exercise, to the way we consume media for discussion. New lifestyle trends are popping up all over the world and the following are just five of the most popular.
Be More International
It’s difficult to go out and explore right now but people are trying to absorb some international culture by using the internet to visit popular tourist destinations and check out heritage sites. One other way you can explore is in the kitchen with delivery options for meals and even a snack box subscription service that source their products from all over the globe to deliver them straight to you. This means you can try weird and wonderful snacks from all corners of the globe. What’s not to love about that?
Friluftsliv
A Scandinavian concept that was popularized by Norwegian poet and playwright Henrik Ibsen, friluftsliv (pronounced free-loofts-liv) explores the importance of living outdoors and setting that as the cornerstone of a way of life. This can be anything from taking more outdoor strolls and outdoor picnics to the more extreme version of going for treks for up to sixty days at a time with your toddler on tow. Literally translating as open-air living, the idea is to be outside as much as possible to disconnect from technology and the stresses of everyday life.
Plant-Based Diets
Many people are trying to move towards vegan and vegetarian lifestyles as a way of reducing their carbon footprint, eat healthier and be more conscious of their environmental and physical impact upon the world. The fact that fast food giants are adding to their current vegan menus is big news as more and more companies will continue to follow suit.
Sustainable Shopping
There are now plenty of examples of zero waste or sustainable shopping alternatives. Instead of accepting plastic bags at the supermarket, why not invest in a set of reusable bags that you can bring with you every time you go shopping? When shopping online, take a look at the company’s environmental policy and decide whether you want to vote for their policies with your wallet. Avoid the world of fast fashion when possible and always recycle your clothes by taking them to resellers, charity shops or collection agents. These are all great ways to practice sustainable shopping.
The Rise of AI
While Amazon came clean about Alexa devices listening to their owners, your device actually listens to little of your conversations so unless you are talking about the things you want to buy all the time, the chances of your conversation being picked up, recycled and fed to you in ad format is unlikely. What has become worrying, however, is the amount of data points for AI behind targeted ads on social media has gathered on each person. The system takes the data that’s available and creates a personality profile for each person to accurately predict their behavior online. If you want to include yourself in there, great, but if you want to remove yourself, make sure to opt out of everything where possible.
