Saturday feeling: Gen Alpha's love language, Hobosexuality and other stories for the weekend

With words like ‘Rizzler’, ‘Skibidi’ and ‘Sister’ who pepper their vocabulary, the language of Gen Alpha, the generation born between 2010 and 2024, seems to need its own dictionary. And also their love language can be a study in itself. This week we report on the appointment life of Gen Alpha, the ‘Waentjie Bookkeepers’ who had gadgets in their hands even before they could walk. With the oldest in this generation now 15, they discover crushes, they understand the difference between friendship and attraction and go on dates. As with all matters that are romantic, no matter how old it is, it is not easy; Meet-Cutes are online, game platforms like Roblox and Fortnite are the hangouts, shared interests include which influencers to follow, and AI is often the counselor. The only thing similar to previous generations’ ways to woo is to share music and introduce each other to favorite musicians, as Avantika Bhuyan reports. There is another side of the story, with certainty, with the misogy that suffocates the manosphere. Laura Bates recently wrote more in her story that “teenage boys, who are not inherent misoginist, do not have to look for this content: it comes to them” and that teen boys are shown on their feeds within 30 minutes of setting up a social media account. There is a darker side of so many interactions and experiences to be online first, and we have reported on this aspect of our always-online life before and will return there. Artist Nithya Subramanian, who restarts the heart as a map and a care game that is careful, has captured some of these contradictions in her artworks for the edition. The printout issue of Mint Lounge dated September 13, 2025. Urban love: The hidden cost of obstacle high rent, unstable work and long commute – it is not only the discomfort of urban life, but it forms how people approach relationships. A number of young people enter relationships as a pragmatic arrangement: a roof, shared accounts, a way to reduce the expenses of urban life. Psychologists and therapists call it ‘urban hobosexuality’, a phenomenon where relationships are incurred, not mainly for love, but for housing or financial security, reports Divya Naik. Gen Z finds comfort in the office bathroom with their lives filled with the constant ping of notices, the chatter of colleagues and the weight of deadlines, Gen Z-because a better option-to return to bathrooms for 10-30 minutes to breathe, stretch, regulate their minds and regulate their emotional overwhelming. This phenomenon is referred to as “bathroom camp”, writes Divya Naik, who spoke to therapists and counselors to understand what this behavior drives. Although most therapists feel that short, intentional bathroom breaks to calm yourself is not inherently unhealthy, they list behavior such as spending long periods of time or using the Doom while in the loo as red flags. The people want climate action. The world is running the time to put the climate change genius back in the bottle. To slow down and eventually stop with the rising world temperatures that threaten lives and livelihood worldwide, governments must move from fossil fuels urgently. But they drag their feet and say effectively that they do not have a popular mandate to do so. However, Bibek Bhattacharya writes that the ordinary people around the world want climate action. In fact, a large majority of people (69%) would pay even one month of their own income for mitigation measures. Governments simply cannot ignore the will of the people to look pro companies. The best budget tablets of 2025 do not want to spend a fortune on a tablet that you will only use for a few tasks? Look at our list of the top tablets that cost less than £ 20,000 and still offer a full range of features comparable to the high-end tablets. Sahil Bhalla puts the OnePlus Path Lite, the Oppo Road’s and the Redmi Road 2 against each other and tells which one will work best for you. It is the Olympics – in your apartment that builds the current anger in apartment complexes across India are sports festivals and tournaments where residents compete for the top position in cricket, badminton, picelball and marathons. It is convenient – what the players have to do is step out of their homes – and provide opportunities to connect with neighbors, as well as intangible advantages for mental health. The events include cricket matches in IPL style, chess and swimming competitions, and even the Olympic style matches that against each other in a variety of sports teams, Shrenik Alani reports.