Christina Caron: Experts say the romanticizing trend may have endured in part because it is a new way of exploring mindfulness — the practice of paying attention to the present moment and becoming aware of your physical sensations, thoughts and emotions in a nonjudgmental way. It also offers a sense of agency, a feeling of control that has been sorely lacking as the pandemic grinds on.

Emma McKeown: While romanticising other peoples’ lives can lead you to try and improve (or better present) your own life, romanticising your own life can lead you to feel disillusioned with, and even afraid of, the mundane.