Author: Carlota Garcia De Mora

the self-improvement paradox Social media (particularly Instagram and X) has played a huge role in my journey to self-improvement; however, not in the glossy and cliché #ThatGirl way you might imagine. I don’t mean the stereotypical motivational (yet unrealistic) morning routines on TikTok, the perfectly colour-graded sunrise runs on Strava, or the endless “books I’ve…

Scrolling through Pinterest the other day (the one app that still feels like an escape from the mental drain that is social media), I clicked on a pin I liked, expecting to see the image in a larger size. Instead, it took me straight to a shopping website. I was bamboozled. What I thought was…

a conversation in madrid When my friend visited me in Madrid last September, we talked a lot about Spanish media and how its coverage of the genocide in Gaza felt completely different from what she saw back home in Italy.  She was shocked by how emotional the reporting was; the media seemed genuinely invested in…

Don’t get me wrong, I am also excited to watch the upcoming second part of Wicked. But every time Hollywood drops another adaptation, a small part of me dies inside. Haven’t we had enough? Can no one think for themselves anymore? In this media environment of constant remakes, adaptations, prequels, and sequels, I find myself…

I was casually scrolling through Reddit, one of the many apps in my daily rotation, when I stumbled across a subreddit confusingly titled r/nosurf. Initially thinking it was a community of people who hated surfing, California, and 60s surf culture (“what did the Beach Boys ever do to you?” I thought), I clicked on it.…