😭🥤 Break up with your Stanley Cup

It’s Thursday, Boston.

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 MBTA GM Phillip Eng probably doesn’t have a Hinge profile. (He’s married.) But if he did, this incredible glamour shot of him leaning against the Green Line in the dark, backlit by its headlights, would be a killer addition. I mean … we’d swipe right.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Don’t drive on the Pike

• Electric MBTA buses? IDK her.

• Eelgrass representation!

Up first…

CULTURE

Gen Z is over the influence

The latest shopping trend? Not shopping. As the New York Times puts it, social media these days can feel like “standing in front of a fire hose of fashion and internet fads.” 

But some content creators are pushing back against hyper-consumerism with another trend: underconsumption core. Here’s what to know:

😴 Gen Z is TIRED of the trend treadmill. “The media ecosystem has sped up a lot, and nowhere faster than on [Instagram and TikTok],” said Suffolk marketing professor Dr. Andrew Smith. The algorithm favors creators who are able to hop on the bandwagon of “mini zeitgeists,” like coastal grandmother, mob wife, or coquette. The result: An endless cycle of trends that leaves creators feeling “like they can't stop producing … because they risk being invisible,” and users feeling exhausted, said Boston-based social media consultant Adriana Lacy.

🛍️ Enter: “Underconsumption core.” Unlike other TikTok “-cores,” which require an arsenal of products to achieve (suggested items for coastal grandmothers include linen pants and beige sweaters), underconsumption core features users showing off what they aren’t buying as a way to “de-influence” others. It’s about “renormalizing life before the splurge of social media,” Smith said.

🫙 For example: One popular underconsumption core video shows off homemade dry shampoo, thrifted furniture, Mason jars repurposed as glasses, and unmanicured nails.

💸 Its popularity might be another recession indicator. Kidding! Kind of. Although the idea of de-influencing content isn’t new (TBT to the Marie Kondo era), during this time of *economic uncertainty,* Lacy said more audiences are looking for “advice, tips, and tricks on how to make their dollar go further.”

😠 Plus, being a hater makes for great content. As we know, people love to yell at others on the internet, and “being in opposition to [overconsumption] gives you a very distinctive moral position,” Smith said. So, as long as the norm online is hyper- or overconsumption, we can expect a “durable” market for content that critiques it, whether that’s thrift hauls, “deinfluencing,” or underconsumption core.

🧑‍💻 But at the end of the day, underconsumption core is still a “-core.” No matter how anti-trend these creators claim to be, “if you're watching this content … someone is still getting paid,” Lacy said. So before you swap your Stanley Cups for Mason jars, remember: “the true underconsumption is not being on your phone, not being part of this kind of digital ecosystem.”

TOGETHER WITH BOCH CENTER

Experience “City of Stars” in the city of beans 

🎹 🎶 Here’s to the fools who dream (and romanticize jazz in 2025). For one night only, Boch Center will be screening “La La Land” with a full orchestra and live jazz band behind it. Feel every trumpet swell. Regret every ex. It’s the movie musical that launched a thousand breakdowns — and now you get to experience it the way Mia and Sebastian would’ve wanted: dramatically, with live instrumentation and lots of feelings. Grab your tickets now and catch it on June 7. 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🚧 Hitting the Pike this weekend? Maybe don’t. From 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, the Mass. Pike will be reduced to one lane in both directions between exits 123 and 125 in Newton and Weston for construction on MassDOT’s huge Bridge Replacement Project. And the department is basically begging drivers to “just stay away.” Think: If traffic is 100% normal, drivers could see up to three hours of travel delays. And BTW, at the same time, the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line and Boston-Albany Amtrak service will be replaced by shuttles. Godspeed.

👫 There are 69,603 more Massholes than there were in 2023. Haters said we couldn’t do it, but Mass.’ population grew almost 1% between 2023-24, and Boston’s grew by 1.3%. Those figures might seem small, but they represent Mass.’ largest YOY population increase in over a decade. How’d we do it? Immigrants. In a state with relatively low birth rates and small families, immigration is the main driver of population increases — and we’ve had a lot of it lately. That said, with President Trump’s crackdowns, don’t be surprised if the trend slows or reverses.

🚌 Electric MBTA buses? We don’t know her. And we’re not sure we ever will …. While the agency promised to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2040, folks are already losing faith. It was meant to purchase hundreds of electric buses by 2028, with one of the agency’s maintenance facilities overhauled to accommodate them. But only eight buses are all-electric today, and that project is years behind. The culprits: Rising costs (the cash-strapped MBTA is funding the project without state assistance), and supply chain issues. At least they have 15 years to turn it around.

🎨 Bow Market is having an artsy girl summer. Introducing: the first-ever Somerville Art Fair! Starting in June, Bow Market will host a series of one-night studio showcases by local artists culminating in a group exhibition and market on Dec. 13. The artists in question work across painting, photography, textiles, animation, and pottery, and were chosen by a panel of distinguished local judges. First up: A judge’s showcase on June 6 with some fabulous paintings, digital work, and photography. RSVP here!

POP QUIZ!

🦖 Before you read on: What’s the official state dinosaur?

ONE LAST THING

Mass.’ official marine flora

Massachusetts has an official state cookie, cat, bean, horse, fossil, muffin, fish, and even a state dinosaur. But you know what it doesn’t have? An official state marine flora. Until now. 

Two North Shore teens and a handful of other supporters are quite literally lobbying for eelgrass to earn the title — they’ve proposed a bill that’s currently bouncing around the state legislature.

So … why eelgrass? Not only is it *the* marine flora in New England, it’s also a triple threat: Providing local species with shelter, food, and spawning surfaces. But thanks to climate change and the human footprint, Mass. has lost about 50% of its eelgrass in the past 20 years.

The group says having eelgrass recognized for its contributions would be huge in raising awareness about conservation efforts — and besides, we bet you can’t name another marine flora that’s better for the job.

— Written by Emily Schario and Gia Orsino

🪸 Thanks for reading! Horned pondweed? Widgeon grass? PLEASE. 

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Boch Center, for supporting local journalism and giving us an excuse to cry in public (with live jazz accompaniment).

🎓 The results are in: 64% of readers say grad school is worth it, though many wrote in to add the caveat that it depends on your field of interest. One “yes” voter wrote: “But is dating a grad student worth it? That's a much harder question.”

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