No Gatekeeping... #30
Warm Water, 2026 = 2016 and Fibermaxxing? Restoration is the new Rebellion!
JANUARY 31, 2026
This week, I’m watching culture actively retreat from a decade of relentless self-improvement:
Americans are drinking hot water, wearing house slippers, and “turning Chinese” as wellness practices spread faster than language courses can keep up
Gen Z is photoshopping themselves back to 2016 because the pre-algorithm internet felt more human
Pinterest declared cabbage the vegetable of the year, while Pepsi races to put fibre in soda
The connection?
We’re witnessing the great stepping back.
Slower, simpler, and less optimised is becoming the new status symbol.
Warm Water Energy:
When Cultural Exchange Becomes Self-Care
A TikTok meme has evolved into something genuine. “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life”, started as an in-joke among Chinese-American creators, riffing on Fight Club’s final line. Then it spread. Sherry Zhu’s playful video, telling followers, “Starting tomorrow, you’re turning Chinese,” has reached 2.7 million views.
Americans are now sipping hot water, making apple and jujube broths, and wearing house slippers indoors. Duolingo reported a 216% increase in new Mandarin learners in the US. China now ranks second on the Global Soft Power Index, ahead of the UK for the first time.
Chinese users on Xiaohongshu have broadly welcomed it, with comments noting “We’re appreciating their culture, not shaming it, then claiming we invented it.” The trend builds on January 2025’s TikTok-to-RedNote migration, when 700,000 Americans joined the Chinese app as “TikTok refugees.”
When burnout culture creates demand for what might be called “warm water energy,” authenticity flows across borders. Adopt practices that explicitly reject cold brew productivity culture in favour of gentle restoration.
Sources: NBC News, Dazed Digital, Complex, Guangming Online
The 2016 Escape Hatch:
When Nostalgia Becomes Diagnosis
On New Year’s Day, the internet collectively decided to time-travel. The hashtag #2016 has exploded: over a million posts on TikTok, millions more on Instagram. Kylie Jenner, John Legend, and Reese Witherspoon are posting throwback photos featuring flower crown Snapchat filters and Juicy Couture aesthetics. TikTok searches for “2016” jumped 450% in the first week of January. Over 55 million videos now use 2016-style filters.
Fortune’s analysis frames it as Gen Z’s reaction to “coming of age in a world where cheap Ubers, underpriced delivery, and a looser-feeling internet simply no longer exist.” Users specifically cite wanting the internet before it was “fully professionalised and corporatised.”
The 2016 aesthetic represents pre-pandemic optimism, pre-AI authenticity, and pre-algorithm community. Wikipedia has created a dedicated page for the phenomenon.
When the present feels over-curated, nostalgia becomes an escape hatch to a time that felt more spontaneous. Are they mourning the internet, or mourning a version of themselves that existed before algorithms learned to predict them?
Sources: Fortune, ABC News, NBC News, Wikipedia
The Fibermaxxing Rebellion:
When Cabbage Beats Protein
Move over kale. Pinterest’s 2026 Predicts report has dubbed “Cabbage Crush” the vegetable trend of the year. TikTok is driving “fibermaxxing” into mainstream consciousness. Pepsi is launching a prebiotic soda in early 2026. McCormick named black currant the 2026 Flavour of the Year.
After years of protein obsession and glamorous superfoods, the pendulum swings toward the unglamorous but functional. Fibre content is becoming a status marker.
We’ve moved from optimisation (protein for performance) to restoration (fibre for gut health and longevity). When burnout culture demands more protein for productivity, the counter-trend offers fermentation and repair.
Cabbage. The most boring vegetable in the supermarket.
And suddenly, that’s precisely the point.
Sources: National Geographic Traveller, Good Housekeeping, NPR, Taste of Home
The Thread That Connects It All
Is this “restoration economics”?
The deliberate choice of slower, gentler, less optimised alternatives as a rebellion against performance culture.
But I’m not entirely sure this is sustainable. Restoration has a way of getting optimised too. Give it eighteen months, and we’ll probably see “warm water productivity hacks” and “strategic nostalgia frameworks.” The machine absorbs everything eventually.
For now, though? The most radical act in 2026 might be drinking warm water and eating cabbage while scrolling through photos filtered to look ten years old.
#RestorationEconomics #WarmWaterEnergy #TheGreatSteppingBack #FibermaxxingCulture #NoGatekeeping
Congrats on 30 issues Rob 📚