Health Tips Line

Everyone’s talking about 2016 these days, and it’s got us feeling nostalgic … and also a little angry. I mean, do you remember what eggs cost back then? Concert tickets? Fast food? Seriously, a family of four could have gone to a proper restaurant for what they’d pay for a McDonald’s meal today. And those Taylor Swift concert tickets didn’t cost more than a mortgage payment. But are we remembering this correctly? Has it really gotten that much worse? According to an unofficial Facebook poll we conducted, the answer is a resounding yes. Readers chimed in with what was hurting their wallet the most, and well, let’s just say there’s very little that isn’t noticeably more expensive. Even basic things feel like a true luxury right now. We dug into the data to find out whether it’s just vibes or whether costs really have climbed that much in the past 10 years. Plus, we asked financial expert Sarah Brady to share her thoughts on when costs may go back down and how to keep money in your po...

Remember when we thought AI was going to be Rosie from The Jetsons ? A cheerful, wisecracking robot who did our laundry, had a hot meal waiting and dispensed life wisdom with a feather duster in hand? Instead, we got an AI that helps our moms compose emails with 11 exclamation points, generates images of hands with eight fingers and confidently tells us all about a historical event that never actually happened. And yet … here we are anyway, completely hooked. We use AI to write our emails , name our dogs, plan our vacations and settle insane arguments with our husbands about whether a hot dog is a sandwich. (It is , Jonas—I don’t care what ChatGPT says!) It’s the defining love-hate relationship of our era: We are equal parts dazzled and unsettled, grateful and deeply suspicious. So we do what humans have always done when confronted with something too big and weird to fully process—we make jokes about it. But at least a human is writing those jokes … on this site, at least! These AI j...

As a longtime copy editor and self-proclaimed “ grammar enforcer ,” I’ve always believed mistakes mattered. I side-eye every error I spot in books, magazines, Facebook posts and texts—even on restaurant menus. I’ve always thought that clean, correct writing wasn’t negotiable. Now, that expectation seems to be sliding. Messages are faster, looser and a lot messier. Lowercase letters slip in . Autocorrect goes unchecked. Terminal punctuation is left off. And instead of standing out, these imperfections often blend right in. In some cases, they even send a message of their own. So when I started seeing typos framed as a good thing—somehow signaling status or authenticity—I was horrified, and I had questions. Are people really embracing messy writing? Or are we just getting used to it? To understand what’s driving the shift, I spoke to Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, and Amy Gallo, a workplace communications expert and Harvard Business Review contributor. Read on to find out wheth...

When I signed up for an online course, I wasn’t looking for new friends . I had just returned from my first trip to Jordan, and I was so inspired to share stories about a region often misrepresented in the media that I decided to make a career change from working in the travel industry to writing full-time. I needed to learn the business side of freelance writing quickly, so I joined a crash course. That’s when Jenna, another participant, popped into my inbox. I initially had the urge to duck under my desk. (Sorry, Jenna! It wasn’t you; it was me.) But Jenna’s enthusiasm and kindness quickly won me over. And before I knew it, we’d gone from virtual strangers to online besties. Despite the distance and time zones between us, we checked in regularly. Our conversations evolved from providing coursework feedback and sharing industry contacts to swapping stories about our families and divulging our deepest secrets. That was almost 10 years ago, and against all odds, Jenna and I are still...

I always bring a book when I fly. I like the opportunity to unplug (no in-flight Wi-Fi for me, thanks), and I welcome the uninterrupted time to escape to another place before I land in the place I’m going. Sometimes I bring my Kindle, but usually it’s a paperback. Easy, portable, and if I finish it while I’m away, I can leave it behind for someone else to enjoy … and make room in my bag for a souvenir—maybe a new book! But the last time I flew, I was tired, so rather than read, I slept. When we landed, I grabbed my bags and deplaned—only to realize later that I’d left my book in the seat pocket in front of me. Luckily, I wasn’t too far into it, and I’d packed my Kindle . But still! I’m not usually forgetful, but I was in a rush and forgot to check to make sure I had everything. I hope the person who found it read and enjoyed it! A paperback is one thing, but what about a computer, phone or other expensive item? And why do we forget these things in the first place, especially when we...