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Office dress code has been trending more casual for years, and the pandemic helped turn athleisure and sweatpants into business casual. And now, there’s a growing debate around one practice long thought to be standard for anyone wishing to look presentable and professional: ironing. In fact, many people on social media are saying they never iron anythingwhether its work clothes or otherwise. For science, how many of you still own an ironthe one for taking wrinkles out of clothingAND know how to use it? one Threads user recently asked. Its a sentiment others have shared online from TikTok to Facebook. Naturally, the replies were divided. I use mine weekly and I can’t imagine how anyone can look as though they haven’t just rolled out of bed without one, one user replied. Do I own an iron? Yes. Do I know how to use it? Also yes, replied another. Have I used it at any time in the past 7 years? Hard no. While it might be tempting to put the decline in ironing down the generational differences. Growing up during COVID with remote learning on Zoom from home for years, Gen Z has struggled with navigating dressier attire. But the reality is more complex. Just a few years ago, after all, headlines constantly churned about how millennials killed everything from napkins to mayonnaise, homeownership, and middle management. It is true, roughly 30% of 18- to 34-year-olds dont own an iron and have never even touched one before, according to reports. Yet, the debate to iron or not to iron transcends generational dividesin some cases, uniting generations over a common cause. A screenshot on Reddit reads: One main thing millennials can be proud of is that we collectively banished ironing clothes. Responding to the post, one reply read: Im GenX. I refuse to wear clothes that require high maintenance or ironing. Another wrote: Gen Z here (26) similar with me, I know how to iron but I very rarely do it cus I mostly dont have too. Modern easy-care fabrics, the invention of handheld steamers and wrinkle release spray, as well as shifting work culture that encourage less formal dressing, have turned a once essential appliance into a relic of a bygone era for some. As one response to a viral post by The Imperfect Mum read: “My mum once said she doesn’t remember the ’80s because she spent the entire decade ironing.” The rise of dual-career households means many simply dont have the time, or the desire, to stand at the ironing board for hours on a Sunday ironing socks for the week ahead. This iron avoidance has led to the development of a number of ingenious coping mechanisms: Dark colors and synthetic fabrics hide wrinkles better. Dryers, or hair straighteners, can stand in for irons in a crunch. Leaving the house in slightly rumpled outfits is no longer the fashion faux pas it used to be. (Besides, the creases will probably relax by the time you get to where you need to be.) Still, there remain those who point blank refuse to leave the house in a wrinkled shirt, diligently hauling out the ironing board on the daily. And truly? Nothing says you have your life together quite like a crisp, crease-free shirt.
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I dont know if urbanism is science or art, but I do know its outcomes are best with a dose of creativity. Theres plenty to learn from the giant leaps in art and science to improve your urbanism advocacy. Happy, healthy communities aren’t made from being stuck in a bygone era. The value of fog Impressionist painters didnt discover fog. It was always there, but it wasnt something people were discussing much in the early 19th century leading up to the impressionists and tonalists. Each of those artistic movements created illusions of reality with familiar scenes. James McNeill Whistler was an influential figure and one of the original tonalists. Heres what he had to say about finding inspiration from natural elements previously left off the canvas: {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} And when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairy-land is before usthen the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease to understand, as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artists alone. Claude Monet is probably the most famous of the impressionist bunch. Monets focus shifted from clear objects to the effects of atmosphere and light, after he stumbled into the London fog. Critics would argue about deeper meanings, whether impressionism was creating a dreamy or nightmarish mood for London, angelic or demonic. But the meaning (or lack thereof) isnt what got me thinking about these 19th-century art movements. Its the idea that something was always there and it took artists to draw the attention of normies to it. Claude Monet, The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog), circa 1903 [Photo: Szilas/Wiki Commons] The influence of gravity Some 300 years before Monet and Whistler, Nicolaus Copernicus was making the shocking case that Earth and other planets revolved around the sun, rather than Earth being the center of everything. He didnt get everything right. Copernicus had no concept of gravity, so he wasnt clear on how the celestial blobs swirled around each other or why they all orbited the sun. Not many decades later, Isaac Newton watched an apple fall out of a tree. He organized his math homework and philosophy into laws of gravity that were eventually used to describe planetary motion. In hindsight, it seems almost childish to talk about major leaps in art and science because the advancements seem so obvious. Of course this foggy picture with shadowy figures in motion makes me feel uneasy. Of course gravity makes things fall to the ground. Great leaps forward Generations ahead of us will probably read stories about our era that begin like this: Once upon a terrible time, Americas most educated city planners were convinced that cities optimized for motor vehicle traffic would be the safest and most prosperous. Things that dont even cross our minds today as possible outcomes will be boring in their obviousness later. Consider space: In 1960, science fiction was the only reasonable place for stories about a group of humans traveling beyond our atmosphere, circling the globe, and returning safely in their ship. In 1961, Project Mercury launched multiple such voyages, making all sorts of discoveries about how people and machines function in weightless environments. Consider music: In 1965, anyone interested in hearing a new band had to either listen live to one of a few radio stations or suffer through a friends attempt to sing. In 1966, the portable cassette recorder was introduced, making it possible for anyone to make and play recordings without cables and microphones. Consider city planning: In 2022, land use planners and politicians still worked under the assumption that the social and physical harms of zoning were necessary and would always exist. In 2023, a brave local planning department liberated its community from the crushing burdens of zoning, becoming a model for others to follow. (Maybe.) Theres no reason to always be operating from a yesteryear mindset with issues like affordable housing, traffic engineering, parks planning, and intersection design. Challenge what others take for granted. Open your eyes to the hidden potential of your block, your street, your neighborhood, and your city. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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When announcing her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on the New Heights podcast, Taylor Swift said, You should think of your energy as if its expensive. . . . Not everyone can afford it. She was encouraging people to have a healthy relationship with social media and not get sucked into online drama and endless scrolling. As a working mom with three kids, this hit me deeplyabout much more than social media. I have spent a good portion of my adult life talking about productivity, apps, and tools to save time. But Swift used a different word: energy. I can do dozens of things to save time in my day, but if I dont have any energy left, what have I really gained? If you want to treat your energy as if its expensive, you should think about how youre spending your time and what things drain too much of your finite energy resources. Heres how to get started. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} Audit how you spend your time Think of a block of time in your daymaybe for a meeting or picking your kids up from school. What drains your energy far beyond the amount of time on the clock? Years ago, I was part of a book club that I really enjoyed. But then the group started fighting about everything from the books we chose to the members we accepted. As much as I loved the people I met through the group, it was draining too much of my energy. So I left. A good way to audit your time is to ask yourself: What is taking up too much space in my brain? If you get sucked into work drama, youll probably find yourself upset or stewing hours later. A 30-minute meeting ends up absorbing much more of your time and energy. Things that take up too much of your energy leave you feeling drained, defeated, or exhausted later. Identifying these is the first step to setting boundaries. Reframe your priorities Next, youll look at the demands on your time and energy. Figure out what is required and how you can cut back on things that are too expensive. A meeting with your boss might require a lot of your energy, but you have to do it because its part of your job. Volunteering for a local organization might require a lot of your time, but is low energy or something you enjoy. Break down your time into four quadrants: high-priority + high-energy, high-priority + low-energy, low-priority + high-energy, and low-priority + low-energy. High-priority + high-energyHigh-priority + low-energyLow-priority + high-energyLow-priority + low-energy Low priority + high energy is not a good combination. If you treat your energy as expensive, those are things you should cut back on. Low priority + low energy might be something you can cut altogether, unless its something that can give your brain a reprieve and doesnt interfere with your high priorities. Reclaim your energy for what matters the most While you cant necessarily get rid of high-priority + high-energy demands, you can try to protect yourself. Keep the interactions or work to the bare minimum. I used to work with a group of people who were very high-drama. Meetings turned into battles, and the disagreements would continue in long strings of emails. I couldnt escape the interactions, because it was part of my job. But later in the day, I would complain about the group at dinner with my family. I would stew over the interactions while I was driving around. I let the drama absorb way more of my energy than it deserved. With effort on my part, I learned to say, Nope. Im going to leave work at work. You can also find ways to recharge your energy, whether its a walk, a nap, or locking your phone so you dont get sucked into an endless doomscroll. Recharging isnt a luxuryits essential, especially when youre locked into a lot of high-priority + high-energy work. If youre not careful with how you spend your time, its a quick path to burnout, feeling frazzled, or lacking the energy for things that matter in your life. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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