Tech fatigue shapes a 2026 summer trend list
The Verge staff’s annual summer picks favor analog habits, refurbished gear and AI restraint over wearables, platforms and tech merch.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
The Verge published its 2026 summer list of what its staff considers “in” and “out,” with many entries aimed at AI, platform fatigue and consumer tech habits. The annual feature, introduced by features writer Mia Sato on July 3, frames the exercise as a recurring staff snapshot of fast-moving culture and tech trends.
Sato said The Verge has run the summer exercise for the last few years, with staffers weighing in on favored and fading ideas. The results read less like a formal forecast than a newsroom mood board, but the choices point to several recurring themes: less trust in tech defaults, more interest in analog tools and a sharp dislike of AI products that intrude on personal life.
AI restraint and analog tools show up repeatedly
Sato’s own picks put motion sickness glasses, fiber, bootleg sports merchandise and floating in water on the “in” side. She listed AI “pervert” glasses, protein, official tech company merchandise and touching grass as “out.”
Senior AI reporter Hayden Field drew a line between practical and personal uses of AI, naming AI-drafted landlord letters as “in” while putting AI-written breakup texts and other personal messages on the “out” list. Field also favored Letterboxd over Threads and singled out unusual design ideas that AI would not generate over millennial minimalism.
Senior dystopia reviewer Victoria Song’s picks leaned away from optimization culture. Song listed Flintstones vitamins, drugstore moisturizer, a new sunscreen filter approved by the FDA, analog journaling and accepting mortality as “in,” while putting gray-market peptides, looksmaxxing, AI wearables that record daily life and Bryan Johnson-adjacent longevity culture on the “out” side.
Platform backlash runs through the list
Senior tech editor Marina Galperina favored leaks over press releases, practical effects over generative AI in movies and making computers over buying them. Galperina also listed webrings as “in” and X, described as the everything app, as “out,” while placing a dead phone battery ahead of doomscrolling.
Deputy editor Kevin Nguyen picked Proton Mail over Gmail and refurbished devices over new devices. Nguyen also put movie theaters that do not serve food to seats on the “in” side, with Alamo Drafthouse on the “out” side.
Editorial director for audio and video Kevin McShane chose a single plain text file over using “vibecoding” to build a to-do app. McShane also picked “Silo” season three over “Ted Lasso” season four, and vertical sitcoms over vertical dramas.
Culture picks mix sports, games and politics
Editor Meredith Haggerty’s list favored a New York renaissance, the Knicks garbage can, “The Invite” and rejecting the idea that Olivia Wilde is a bad director. Haggerty put the Great American State Fair, Taylor Swift’s MSG wedding and Kylie Jenner’s Meta glasses on the “out” side.
Policy reporter Gaby Del Valle listed bandwagon sports fandom, gelato, Dua Lipa’s joie de vivre and mineral sunscreen as “in.” Del Valle marked intense lifelong rivalries, frozen yogurt, Kylie Jenner’s overall persona and beef tallow “sunscreen” as “out.”
Reviewer Antonio DiBenedetto favored “friendslop” games, expensive PC gaming and the stylized spelling “xboX,” while listing live-service games, expensive console gaming and “XBOX” as out. Senior editor TC Sottek put EverQuest in its 2026 form, full bootleg movies on TikTok and Boston as the most Scottish city in the U.S. on the “in” list.
Senior internet typist Liz Lopatto’s entries repeatedly cycled “unconstitutional Iran war” and “ceasefire” between the “in” and “out” columns. Lopatto also favored the World Cup over Owala tumblers, Major League Cricket over Major League Baseball, “McCartney II” over Taylor Swift and excommunication over JD Vance.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.