Latest news with #HilaryDuff
Refinery29
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Refinery29
I Charged My Old iPod — & Found Unexpected Comfort In The Nostalgia
Every time I board a plane and the person sitting next to me is a stranger, I notice them clock the noughties relic in my palm: my iPod Classic. Yes, I still have the same one from over 15 years ago, and I still have my even older Nano too. They both work and they both house a collection of my favourite music from way back when. Some songs are cringeworthy to scroll past using the click-wheel (does anyone remember watching 'Britannia High'? Well, I have the soundtrack), others are a nice trip down memory lane, and some are surprises — apparently I was already into Oasis and The xx while still listening to Hilary Duff and Jamelia. Who knew? It's not just me; there's a lot of people with an appetite to press rewind when it comes to our tech. Gen Z has brought back the digi camera from my youth; brick phones are cool; and there's increasingly been discourse around owning media again instead of renting or streaming it, so DVDs are no longer defunct. As for iPods, my colleague Esther Newman has purchased a secondhand one so she doesn't have to worry about seeing texts or emails come in while connecting with nature on walks and listening to The Last Dinner Party. Gadgets like iPods gave us freedom to carry lots of the music we loved around with us. The iPod is the perfect spot in history: not so far back that you have to carry bulky CDs and a Walkman, but just far enough that texts, calls and emails won't interrupt your listening. Years' worth of bangers (and memories) all on one small device — magic. Old tech is helping us disconnect from the always-on bombardment of the present, while reconnecting with our younger selves and less overwhelming pasts. I love my iPod for this reason too. It doesn't rely on the internet, I don't need to frantically download stuff for a long flight, and the cool feeling of the stainless steel in my hand is oddly comforting. Essentially it gives me a deep sense of who I was as a child. It's a reminder of a time when my biggest concern was which albums to spend my pocket money on; building a wishlist on iTunes I slowly worked through. Lady Gaga's Telephone music video? Bought it. Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun? A gateway to the dad rock I'd be hooked on for the next decade. None of the jazz-adjacent genres I listen to now feature, but my iPod is a sweet reminder of how much my tastes have evolved with my personality. When there's so much to digest and absorb constantly — be it through social media, search engines, news alerts and seemingly endless notifications — it's a luxury to be able to turn it all off for a moment. Maybe old devices are an antidote to some of the mental health problems connected with modern tech. The BBC reported that people had turned to dumbphones to lower their screentime and be more present, which contributes to improved mental health, relationships, sleep quality, and general wellbeing. Having written about how hard reducing your screen time can be with a smartphone, I can only imagine how much less stressed and time-rich I would be if I made the switch to an old-school phone. On Reddit, people have discussed how swapping has helped them enjoy activities more, like going on a hike without the internet featuring. Nostalgia helps with our wellbeing. Research from 2023, conducted by the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, found that 84% of people use nostalgia to help them remember what's important in their lives, and 60% said nostalgic memories offer guidance when they feel stuck in life. 'After studying this topic for more than 20 years, I've discovered that nostalgia actually helps people move forward,' said social psychologist Clay Routledge, PhD, vice president of research and director of the Human Flourishing Lab, to the American Psychological Association. 'It makes people more optimistic about the future, it boosts wellbeing, it reduces anxiety, it increases positive mood and self-esteem and meaning in life. But more than that, it makes people thankful, and it energises them.' Using old tech isn't a meaningless decision, or a trend for trend's sake. Whether we realise it or not, we can benefit from both the nostalgia it brings and the remedy it delivers when modern tech feels too much. When I use my iPod, I get to have the decisions about what to listen to made by my younger self for present day me. I can hit 'shuffle' and avoid incoming notifications on other devices. It's just me, the music, and the inevitable memories that appear as each song begins to play. It's the soundtrack of my early teens.
Hans India
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hans India
Borrowed nostalgia: Why Gen Z is longing for eras they never lived
There's a girl on TikTok in low-rise jeans and butterfly clips, lip-syncing to a grainy Hilary Duff song from 2004. In the comments, teens sigh: 'Wish I grew up in this era.' She was born in 2007. This isn't just typical nostalgia—it's something more layered and surreal. Today's teens are not reminiscing about their own childhoods; they're yearning for times they never lived. It's a new kind of nostalgia—constructed, curated, and deeply felt. Scroll through TikTok or Instagram and you'll find VHS filters, camcorder vlogs, and '90s mall aesthetics. There's a fascination with grunge fashion, Tumblr-era heartbreak, and even Jane Austen-style cosplays. Entire subcultures now revolve around inhabiting someone else's memories. Why? Because the past feels emotionally safer. Part of this trend is about control. Nostalgia offers predictability—you already know how the story ends. Even if the past was hard, it's over. That finality brings comfort in contrast to the open-ended chaos of today: climate anxiety, economic stress, digital surveillance, and algorithmic pressure. The present is too fast, too fractured, too fleeting. In the past things feel slower, more tangible, and more real. Analog imperfections make it easier to trust. There's a texture to old things: cassette tapes, disposable cameras, hand written letters. They ground us. But here's the twist: this isn't nostalgia in the traditional sense. It's what researchers call vicarious nostalgia—a longing for a time you never personally experienced, built through cultural fragments and secondhand stories. Teens aren't remembering, they're constructing emotional memory through YouTube clips, retro playlists, Pinterest boards, and stylized aesthetics. The emotions are real, even if the memories are imagined. This phenomenon reflects a deeper hunger. Online life today is optimized for consumption, not connection. We scroll through emotions without space to feel them. We post images before processing the experiences behind them. In that void, retro aesthetics become a form of emotional reconstruction—a way to rebuild meaning from the ruins of overstimulation. Critics might dismiss it as escapism. But maybe it's something gentler: a survival instinct. A creative response to living in a world without pause. A way for a generation raised in hyper-speed to reclaim something slower, more deliberate, more human. When teens cosplay the past, they're not just playing dress-up. They're reaching for emotional stability in a world where everything feels temporary. They're building inner architecture—memories that may be borrowed, but still provide shelter. This borrowed nostalgia, then, isn't about going backward. It's about seeking emotional permanence in a time of constant change. It's about choosing slowness, softness, and analog simplicity in a digital world that rarely gives you time to breathe. Even if the past wasn't perfect, it feels like a place where feelings had room to grow. And sometimes, that imagined space is exactly what we need to survive the present.
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
The ancient practice of babywearing has gone high-end
'I am selling my Artipoppe baby carrier for $300. Best carrier I have had to date and kept in very good shape. If interested, message me!' Someone posted this in my San Francisco Bay Area moms group. That price for a baby carrier? A used baby carrier? By contrast, the best-selling Momcozy retails for less than $70. But Artipoppe, a luxury babywearing brand celebrated by celebrities like Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore and Lea Michele, does not deal in bargains. Its median price for a buckle carrier is $470.
News18
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Dua Lipa, Sharvari, Hilary Duff Are Obsessed with This Cute Labubu Doll
1/5 Pop star Dua Lipa turned heads when she accessorized her handbag with a Labubu doll—striking a perfect blend of rebellious charm and playful elegance that cemented its place in fashion culture. Hilary Duff, once TV's girl-next-door and now a bona fide fashion muse, was recently seen flaunting a Labubu keychain. Her effortlessly cool outfit, combined with the whimsical add-on, has sparked a style movement among fans looking to recreate her relaxed yet trendy vibe. 3/5 Adding to the list of stylish admirers, Bollywood's rising fashionista Sharvari was photographed with a Labubu charm adorning her sleek Balenciaga bag.
Daily Tribune
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Tribune
Hilary Duff is ‘proud' of how she and her husband cope with days that ‘seem impossible' to deal with
Bang Showbiz | Los Angeles Hilary Duff is 'proud' of how she and her husband cope with days that 'seem impossible' to deal with. The 37-year-old actress is married to musician Matthew Koma - with whom she has Banks, six, Mae, four, and 12-month-old Townes - and took to social media to celebrate his 38th birthday on Monday, where she insisted that she has a 'more balanced' life now because of him. She wrote on Instagram: 'My sweet insta poet - I can't compete with your compilation of words but I can share that every one of my days are comfier, funnier, sturdier, and more balanced with you in them. We have celebrated a lot of June 2nds together and since slide nine we've tripled in size. 'I'm so proud of us - making it through some of these days seems impossible but you are always there to cook or pack a meal, keep us caffeinated, carry all the bags, let me add one more stop/plan to our day, have a last minute party, or add a new animal into our already pulling at the seams life. ' The former 'Lizzie McGuire' star - who was initially married to Mike Comrie and has 13-yearold Luca with him - feels 'lucky' to have had her children with Matthew, but joked that she just 'hopes' that they have inherited some sort of 'filter' from her. She added: 'This wild house loves you. You have the most curvy/interesting mind. Truly enthralled and entertained to hear takes from it everyday. I'm lucky our kids are half you and dear god hope they get some filter from me. I hope all your dreams come true this year and and I hope we get a few more Ojai sleeps than the last.'
