Trendsspeaking topic
Expecting a 'return' on love: when we treat the attention we give as an investment and unreciprocated feelings as a loss, what's left of romance? Is loving without return naive now, or still a virtue?
— romantic consumerism and relationship ROI discourse
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Do parasocial relationships fill loneliness or deepen it? Is feeling like you 'know' a YouTuber or a streamer a temporary comfort, or does it drain the energy we would give to real bonds?
- Do we actually need daily news, or would we live better without it?
- Gen Z is now reclaiming cringe: embracing with nostalgia the things it used to be ashamed of. Is rejecting shame a sign of growing up, or just the same cycle changing direction?
- Airplane seats recline, and the space behind you belongs to someone's knees. Who is right in the reclining wars, and is the real villain the airlines?
- Today you have to buy something first just to sit somewhere. As public space slowly turns into cafes, has 'meeting up' been reduced to an act of consumption?