Ellen Manning is a freelance journalist specialising in food and drink. She is a former chief reporter at the Press Association and now writes for national newspapers and magazines, as well as writing the award-winning food blog Eat with Ellen. She loves the stories behind food and how it affects and reflects our culture, and when she’s not writing about food, you’ll most likely find her eating it somewhere in the UK or further afield.

Following years of pandemic-era leniency, institutional authorities are coming down hard on individual freedoms. Despite nine in ten office workers saying they don’t want to return to old ways of working, 70% of companies globally are mandating a return to the workplace. Meanwhile, reselling old clothes and concert tickets burgeoned into profitable side hustles for millions across the world, only for governments to start taxing sellers on their profits. Even online, where people had grown accustomed to a borderless existence, they’re having to grapple with new safety regulations that restrict what they can see online and where they can see it.

As the global cost of living crisis continues to determine people’s behaviours across everything from their careers to their shopping habits and personal relationships, people are growing hyper-aware of the capitalist systems upholding the status quo. With that awareness comes disappointment and cynicism – according to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, 59% of people trust businesses to integrate innovation into society, compared to just 50% who say the same for governments. No longer feeling supported by social structures, people increasingly believe it’s up to individuals to take care of themselves within a broken world order. As this belief takes hold in society, people’s relationships with power, authority, and morality are shifting.

People are getting strategic in all aspects of their lives to carve out new modes of freedom and individual gain. Having to exist within the larger-than-life systems, people can’t ignore the status quo – they need food on the table and have bills to pay – but they’re gradually realising they can subvert it. From using ‘algospeak’ to evade Big Tech’s censorship to secretly working two jobs or using AI to get ahead, people are finding innovative ways to make systems work for them – and not the other way around. They’re channelling their disillusion into subversion, finding power in defiance and agency in loopholes. This has given rise to anti-heroes, fraudsters, and tricksters becoming new role models for those seeking to inject a sense of irreverent joy and playfulness into a challenging reality.

The hacking mindset is rising across sectors. People are ready to hack their bodies, from quick-fix body modifications in beauty to influencers and digital platforms offering unlicensed, unregulated medication and treatments, including abortion pills, marijuana, and Wegovy imitators. They’re hacking their pleasures and entertainment by settling on luxury dupes and pirated content and escaping the renting trap by becoming permanent sofa surfers, setting up modern communes, or living with their parents.

Gaming the system is emerging as a way to have your cake and eat it too. As people learn to idolise professional scammers, don office punk attire, and default to digital piracy, breaking the rules is on trend. When self-determination feels precarious, people seek ways to get back into the driver's seat of their own lives. And you know what they say – if you can't beat 'em, hack 'em.

Life Hackers

 is the owner of multiple award-winning cafés and a wholesale bakery in the Midlands – Warwick Street Kitchen, Leamington Spa, Warwick Street Kitchen Bakery, and Saint Kitchen. She leads a team of over 45 people and champions a thoughtful approach to people management. With over 15 years of experience in hospitality, she also consults for small businesses, offering support from pre-start to opening and the operations and procedures required to run profitably.

Gen Y (born 1982-1996)

Gen Z (born 1997-2010)

United Kingdom

Eating and Drinking

Coffee and soft drinks

ITV News

CityAM

World Coffee Portal

Daily Star

Interview with Lydia Papaphilippopoulos-Snape conducted by the author

Marketing Beat

Grind has grown from a single location in Shoreditch into an international coffee brand that speaks to the lifestyles of young professionals. As Britons remain willing to splash out on their caffeine hits, the brand has become a hub for those seeking little luxuries amid high inflation.

Cultivate

Connection and Belonging

Experiences and Sensations

How Grind turned coffee into a lifestyle companion