While booking a recent trip from the continental US to Hawaii – which required multiple flights that cost over $600 – I thought back to my first trip to Hawaii nearly 20 years ago when I paid barely half that price. Travel price hikes happened slowly and then quickly over the past 20 years. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, domestic airfare prices rose 34% between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2025. And, of course, there are also the costs of food, lodging, activities and...

Fellas, please stop sliding into their DMs. Barbara “Babs” Costello is the “internet’s favorite grandma” — and she has the 4 million-plus followers to prove it. Over on her Brunch With Babs account, Costello posts about, well, grandma stuff: cooking, cleaning, crafting. In response, her commenters chime in about how much they miss their own moms and grandmas, or to proclaim, “Babs is everyone’s Mom!” They also reach out to her for advice, and, as she often tells them, “That’s why I’m here.”...

Why text when you can talk? Generate Key Takeaways We all have that one friend: You text her a question, and her response comes in the form of a two-minute voice note. Then, maybe you respond to her voice note with another text, and she leaves you another voice note in reply, and so on. My dearest Voice Note Friend’s name is Melissa, and when I started seeing more reporting on the nuances and potential benefits of voice note culture, I just had to ask her: Why does she like them so much? “For...