📼 Bikes, Blockbuster, and the great outdoors… and how Gen Alpha is leveling it all up

Millennials had freedom IRL. Gen Alpha built it online.

The phrase “back in my day” goes back to humanity’s earliest parents. I can almost hear some cave-dad grunting disapproval as his kids waste another day just staring at the fire. “In my day, you had to wait for lightning to get fire. Unga*.” So, of course, it’s no surprise that today’s parents watch their kids hole up indoors with a phone and think of how much better they had things. But… did they, though?

In this story, Mark Wales revisits the millennial “golden age” and its greatest hits: vanishing for hours on bikes, privacy by default, and Friday-night diplomacy at Blockbuster. As a wildly biased child of this age, I struggle to see my son exist in today’s world. However, research actually shows that the connection I think is missing isn’t missing at all; it just doesn’t look the same and could be stronger than anything I had “back in my day.”

* - My spell checker knows the word “unga” apparently.

Image of the day

And what did we learn?

Friday, we explored the wisdom of Twin Peaks and asked you where you get your pop psychology/best life advice. 52% of you agreed that Ted Lasso is the place to go.

• Twin Peaks - Cooper turned coffee into a coping strategy (4.0%)

• Ted Lasso - Kindness as a competitive advantage (52.0%)

• The Good Place - Ethics class with fart jokes, so forking good (14.0%)

• Star Trek - Wisdom via Earl Grey and empathy (26.0%)

I agree with this result. I do! But… only 14% for The Good Place? Institutional bias toward anything with the word GOOD in it notwithstanding, that’s too low a number. If you haven’t seen The Good Place, you have to get on that.

🧠 Chris Hemsworth made 'one lifestyle change' amid Alzheimer's diagnosis

Thor’s example is one we can all learn from.

Chris Hemsworth’s big-screen performance as Thor has, no doubt, inspired countless people to hit the gym, but the latest example he’s setting has nothing to do with pumping iron and everything to do with mental health.

While filming season one of his NatGeo show Limitless, Hemsworth learned he carries two copies of the APOE4 gene, the variant linked to an eight to twelvefold higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The discovery hit hard. You might expect someone with a hard-charging, high-energy personality like his to double down on his career, perhaps adopting a get-as-much-done-while-you-can attitude, but he went the exact opposite direction.

“I don’t want to be in a sprint anymore,” he told Men’s Health. Longevity expert Dr. Peter Attia, who shared the diagnosis with him during filming. The God of Thunder chose to get a little more quiet, and the steps he took to protect himself are something we can all learn from.

💬 Rizz, slay, and the gospel of "delulu"

Millennials love Gen Z slang. No cap.

It takes a lot of audacity for the “Don’t go there,” “talk to the hand,” “as if” crowd to throw shade at today’s youngn’s for their “rizz” and “delulu”s. But listen here, home skillet… some of us secretly love the new slang, and in this article by Mark Wales, we get a complete decoding of Gen Z’s greatest hits.

From “no cap” to “gyatt,” Wales breaks today’s favorite youth-speak, complete with playful translations. Spoiler: “deadass” means serious, “slay” is still high praise, and if someone hits you with a “womp womp,” don’t take it personally, just touch grass and move on.

This “siz / seven” thing, though… that’s just terrible.

If you asked somone 56 years ago if they could tell you how to get, how to get to Sesame Street, you’d only get back a blank stare. The show that would become a staple of global early learning had only premiered that morning. Today, it’s odd to think that a show with Jim Henson Muppets, charming animation, and a research-first approach to education was anything other than a sure bet, but when Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969, it was edgy and revolutionary.

Behind that sunny stoop was a serious blueprint. Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett built Sesame Street like a lab: clear learning goals, kid-tested segments, and edits driven by data. The diverse, urban block wasn’t set dressing, it was the lesson. Kindness, feelings, and belonging sat right beside letters and numbers. The impact spread quickly: classroom methods shifted, studies demonstrated real gains in school readiness, and local versions proliferated worldwide. Fifty-six years later, the formula still hums; curiosity, rigor, and a welcome that fits every kid on the block. That’s one, one impressive run, ah ah ah!

Do you have something GOOD to share?

We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!

💬 From the group text…

I grew up at Disneyland. Back when a season pass was reasonably priced, my parents basically used it as summer camp. Cheap daycare! I even worked there once upon a time, and yeah, I still love the place, soaring prices and all.

But there’s something about the vibe in this vintage clip from Disneyland’s early days. I wasn’t even alive then, and I’m still somehow nostalgic for it.

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