For the first time in the 21st century, the United States has approved a new sunscreen ingredient. Well, new to us. It’s called bemotrizinol, also known as BEMT, and it’s been available in Europe and Asia for years. But the peculiar way that sunscreen is regulated in the United States — as an over-the-counter drug […]
Nick Sadler and his wife had different ideas of what a chill Saturday looked like. He considered the weekend a blank slate — no set plans, the family’s moment to reset and chill. She was under the impression that time was up for grabs and put a short hangout on their calendar, which Sadler saw […]
Forty-one years ago, the late singer, songwriter, and education activist Whitney Houston urged us to teach children and let them lead the way. Decades later, some believe that this means instructing kids to use scissors as forks; teaching them that zookeepers can sweep under water; and leading them to believe that magical, mystical, rainbow-hunting unicorns […]
Caitlin Squier-Roper, 45, recently discovered an intriguing club on Instagram: Philly Cooks a Book, a monthly meetup where locals prepare and share an assigned recipe from a specified cookbook. She could’ve enrolled through the group’s social media and shown up to a meeting, dish in hand, not knowing a single soul. So she held off […]
Ricky and Royce Marnell, 28-year-old fraternal twins from Orlando, Florida, have seldom done anything apart. Together, they competed on the wrestling team throughout their childhood and adolescence. On weekends, they’d venture to the nearby park to play football. When boredom struck, they’d head to the garage for a friendly game of ping pong. When it […]
If you’ve ever taken a yoga class or gotten a massage, you may have heard that stress is stored in specific parts of the body: Emotion in the hips. Strain in the shoulders. Anxiety in the gut. And, it seems lately, particularly online, trauma in the jaw. On social media, videos abound of young women […]
A few months ago, while engaging in one of my more recent pastimes (or compulsions), I verbalized a fear I’d long kept buried, perhaps out of shame or denial or some combination of both. First, the compulsory ritual: Before bed, with the precision of a brain surgeon, I arrange a layer of stickers on my […]
In February, the TikTok creator Brittany Panzer posted a video over five minutes detailing the unraveling of her friendship. There was no disagreement, no blowup, not even ghosting. Panzer felt she’d lost her friend to ChatGPT. At first, Panzer’s friend used artificial intelligence for relationship advice and casually mentioned that she’d consulted the technology in […]
Friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson recently came to a realization about her social media engagement: Any time she posts content that centers the viewer as the wronged party of the story she is telling — like how to know if your friends are venting too much or why your friendship expectations feel mismatched — it […]
This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get access to member-exclusive stories every month, become a Vox Member today. On any given Saturday, you might find Morgan Quinn Ross, an assistant professor of emerging media and technology at Oregon State University, deep in the mountainous woods, sans phone, on a solo run. […]
When I was laid off from my role as an editor for a magazine in late 2024, logically, I knew what I was supposed to think: Don’t tie your self-worth to a job. After all, it’s just a job. While I did my best to believe that optimistic mantra, most days — and especially on […]
It recently dawned on me that I’m terrible at asking for help. But, to be fair, I never really needed to lean on others. Earlier this year, however, I developed pregnancy complications that required me to go on “modified bed rest” — a medical recommendation to restrict your activity levels. If I wanted a hearty […]
I’m constantly on a quest to reset the demoralizing relationship I have with my phone. I generally try to swap scrolling with another leisurely activity — like reading, playing with my dog, or baking — but sometimes I’m too drained and, without thinking, reach for my phone. When I’m that zapped, mindlessly looking at Instagram […]
When it comes to exercise, so many people — beginners; die-hard enthusiasts; reluctant participants; and everyone in between — are searching for holy grails: workouts that involve the least amount of time and effort and offer maximum results. We live in the most scientifically advanced age of fitness. Exercise is a multibillion-dollar industry, and a […]
Caroline Sacks wasn’t used to dating quiet guys, guys who liked meditation, yoga, and the Grateful Dead. Sacks, a 29-year-old content creator who lives in Brooklyn, is more of a Bridgerton and Justin Bieber girl herself. In the past, she tended to date people who had the same interests and had similarly high energy. But […]
As someone who has predominantly lived in liberal cities, I am largely surrounded by people who share my political views. Guns, no way. LGBTQ+ rights, yes, of course. Abortion, absolutely. Immigration, come on in. But I also have relatives, most of whom I love and am deeply attached to, in red states, which means I’m […]
You may generally disregard unfamiliar faces as background characters in the movie that is your life, but almost everyone you care about was once a stranger. Aside from the people who have been in your life since you were born, every relationship has a getting-to-know you process where you transition from unknowns to knowns. Strangers […]
Most of us would like to believe we’re good listeners — but the truth is, we all struggle to really pay attention when someone else is talking. “Most of the time when you ask people, ‘How well do you think you’re doing at listening to people?,’ they’re going to say, ‘Really well,’” Graham Bodie, a […]
When I was accused of being “financially illiterate” by a random guy in a bar during a conversation about investing last year, it knocked the wind out of me. After I completely flubbed my words in an attempt to stay afloat, I realized that a new form of anxiety had crept into my subconscious: I, […]
Greetings from hell — that is, the third trimester of my high-risk pregnancy with fraternal twins. Unlike every pregnant person on Instagram who is either waltzing around a meadow, cradling their bump in total bliss, or sorting through chic baby decor somewhere in their 7,000 square foot mansion, I have found pregnancy to be abhorrent. […]
Where would humanity be without our mild delusion? Many of the technologies we take for granted, from the light bulb to iPhones, would cease to exist without relentless resolve. Stephen King, rejected dozens of times, persisted and became one of the world’s top-selling authors. Any entrepreneur maintains a bit of in the face of the staggering […]
Warm temps and patio happy hours are on the horizon, so you know what that means: It’s time to play the IRS’s favorite twisted (and forced) guessing game — we’re going to make you figure out how much you owe us in taxes, even though we already know! If you aren’t super financially savvy — […]
If you tend to sob every tax season while compiling your yearly expenses or checking random boxes on TurboTax, then you have come to the right place. I, too, used to be in your position — until I hired an accountant and made my money problem her money problem. Before that, however, taxes were my […]
Let me be frank: I do not have a life insurance policy. I am 37 years old, married, and pregnant with twins. My State Farm agent calls me on a near-monthly basis, encouraging me to secure a life insurance policy because “that is something I really need to do,” but I keep sending her to […]
Nobody tells you how expensive breaking up is. (Or maybe they did and I didn’t want to hear it.) Overnight, your expenses soar, your safety net vanishes, your financial goals shift from long-term dreams into short-term survival. You might need to pack up and move unexpectedly, purchase furniture you didn’t budget for. Your dollars went […]
Navigating the world right now can feel like running into that aunt who comments on your weight at Thanksgiving every single day: When you open up Instagram, take public transit, watch TV, or scroll through TikTok, weight loss and diet discussion is nearly impossible to escape. Marketing for weight loss-related products has become incessant, with […]
Tax season starts early this year. Or at least it should for you, because this one is a doozy. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which Congress passed in 2025, there are some significant and potentially confusing changes coming to your tax return. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, even if […]
Nothing has made me appreciate the sheer scale and power of targeted advertising like having children. Months before the births of both my kids, it felt like every ad I encountered wanted to sell me baby products. And on seemingly every product were the same two words in bold letters: plant-based. I’m not kidding. Diapers, […]
In her late 20s, Christie Tate struggled with crushing loneliness, bulimia, and suicidal thoughts. Then, she had a conversation that changed her life. Try group, a friend told her — as in group psychotherapy. Like most people, Tate had thought of therapy as a two-person endeavor: a therapist smoking a pipe and a patient on […]
Some smart people think we’re witnessing another ChatGPT moment. This time, folks aren’t flipping out over an iPhone app that can write pretty good poems, though. They’re watching thousands of AI agents build software, solve problems, and even talk to each other. Unlike ChatGPT’s ChatGPT moment, this one is a series of moments that spans […]