It feels like summer forever
Facebook's "Good Morning" groups are celebrating the start of the season.
Surprise! Double issue today. Welcome to the first annual PHONE TIME first day of summer edition, featuring Addison Rae’s “Summer Forever” drink with Matchaful, “no phone summer” part two, and some summer recommendations.
I’m in probably 50 different Facebook groups, about everything from coffee to Minion memes (I wrote about the breakdown of the group “Hot Dogs” in one of the first PHONE TIME issues).
One common type of Facebook group is dedicated to “good morning” and “good evening” posts. These are colorful, cheery images wishing people a good day, often with the date or an extra message.
Many, but not all, are AI-generated. Most of them have that distinct boomer Facebook aesthetic. In a 2023 article by Tommaso Trillò in Social Media + Society, Trillò noted these posts are often disliked by younger users “because of their kitsch aesthetic and impersonal character.”
Today, the groups are posting for the summer solstice. The comments are what you’d expect, with plenty of prayer hands emojis and well wishes.
Addison Rae launched a drink with Matchaful called “Summer Forever,” also the name of a song on her debut album “Addison,” released June 6.
I tried the drink earlier this week. Just as I gave you the disclaimer that I’m not a coffee expert when I reviewed the Perplexity coffee, I’ll add that I’m not a matcha expert either—though I did once take a Kettl matcha-making class at Index Space, which was very fun!
The description of the drink, from Matchaful: “Made with mango purée, Oishii purée (Oishii strawberries, beet juice powder, and maple), blue spirulina coconut milk, and topped with matcha coconut cold foam crafted with our Kiwami Super Ceremonial Matcha.”
I wasn’t in love with it, though I generally prefer sweeter drinks and don’t love ones with too many layers—the abundance of different textures and flavors kind of threw me off, and it was more fruity than matcha. Most of the TikTok commentary I’ve seen has been positive, however.
“No phone summer” … part two?
I wrote in a previous issue about my reaction to last year’s “no phone summer.” The TL;DR: I was skeptical. Meticulously laying out flip phones and film cameras for an aesthetic TikTok seemed to miss the supposed point.
This year, Pinterest’s 2025 summer trend report declares that “It’s a Digital Detox Summer: Pinterest users are looking to ditch the screens and literally touch grass this season.” The company cites increased searches for “digital detox ideas” and “digital detox vision boards” as well as the “Martha Stewart aesthetic.” I’ll reserve too much judgment, but to me, vision boards are more theory than practice.
I will note that Stewart herself is pretty online—her heavy TikTok and Instagram presence is a deliberate move to continue the media empire she built through cookbooks, magazines, and television. She frequently posts multiple times a day on her personal Instagram.
Today, upon spotting The New York Times trend story Gen Z’s interest in BlackBerry phones, I made a small bet with myself that it would include people posting about them on TikTok. I clicked on the link, and sure enough, the slug read “blackberry-nostalgia-tiktok.”
I will still be spending a lot of TIME on my PHONE this summer. But I will also go outside.
The real “no phone summer” is summer sleepaway camp, where phones are usually banned for the duration, usually one to eight weeks. I went to sleepaway camp in the Midwest four summers in a row. We wrote and received old-fashioned letters to communicate with our friends and family and were encouraged to bring disposable cameras. Something that stands out to me is that, while I made heavy use of the cameras, I don’t actually remember developing the photos. It was really about the moments as they happened.
I also have extremely fond memories of my childhood summers in general. They consisted of freeze pops after soccer camp, tie-dyeing my shirts, biking to the neighborhood ice cream shop, running around at the outdoor mall, making crafts with friends in the backyard, and road trips to St. Louis.
I did also have a phone, which I spent plenty of time on.
Speaking of old—well, not too old—technology, I’ve been tracking its appearance in Addison Rae’s album promo.
Are you having a sardine girl summer or a lit girl summer or a guava girl summer or a jam girl summer or a lavender girl summer or a garden girl summer or an impulsive girl summer or a messy girl summer or an alt girl summer or a …
PHONE TIME Summer Recommendations
Nothing groundbreaking. But here they are.
Do some summer reading
I recently got sent a list of summer reading to do for my graduate school. I haven’t heard the term “summer reading” since at least 11th grade. If you don’t have school-assigned reading, make your own reading list! Libraries often have great lists to start from.
Make something silly
One year I cut up and retied all my T-shirts. Another I made lanyards at camp. One year I made these somewhat ridiculous water balloon flip flops that surprisingly lasted the entire summer up until a trip to Montana, where I lost them in a large vat of mud.
I got a Rainbow Loom for Christmas this past year, so that’s what I’ll be working on this summer.
Go to your hometown ice cream shop
My favorite ice cream flavors growing up: fireworks (strawberry with Pop Rocks), blue moon, and vanilla (I now prefer chocolate).
Complete a workbook or activity book
Yes, I used to be that kid who would do those summer activity books for fun. The Brain Quest ones were my favorite. I would even make my own activity books of essentially whatever I could come up with to entertain myself. There are adult activity books, but I have yet to find one that captures the magic I felt when I was a kid—so a PHONE TIME activity book will make it to you, eventually.
This summer, I’m hoping to do all the tasks in an old Girl Scouts book that I got at a church used book sale, in order to get my Computer Fun badge.
Make a time capsule
I have some extra shoeboxes laying around, so I’m going to make a summer 2025 time capsule. Write “Don’t open until” with your date of choice on the outside, and stick to it!
Go on a road trip
If you can’t do the real thing, you can always go on an Internet Roadtrip.
Surf the internet
You didn’t think I would leave this one off, did you? There’s nothing like coming in after a day outside, pouring yourself a glass of lemonade, and logging in.
