Articles advising readers to live without necessities such as heat, food and water, are started to pop up more regularly as the cost of living crisis bites.
But these pieces have been criticised for glamorising life away from such essentials – triggering a significant backlash on Twitter.
UnHerd recently promoted a piece about the “creative power of blackout Britain”, which argued that the idea of life without power conjures up images of both traumatised but also “romanticised” society.
This comes after fears that the UK might lose access to power altogether this winter, if energy bills continue to skyrocket to alarming new highs – potentially reaching £4,000 annually for the average household by January.
The University of York has predicted 45 million people will be in fuel poverty by the New Year.
Over on Express.co.uk, reporters covered consumer expert Alice Beer’s comments on which food items are still edible even if covered with mould.
The Telegraph this week shared an article with the headline, “Why we would all benefit from feeling the odd hunger pang”, just as it was revealed that inflation is now at 10.1%, mainly due to a rise in food prices.
With everyday essentials such as bread, milk, cheese and vegetables rising the most in price, it’s not surprising that widespread poverty levels, as spotted by former prime minister Gordon Brown, are hitting the UK once again.
The Telegraph articles comes just a month after the newspaper attacked the “great hydration myth”, alleging people did not need to drink as much water as we believe.
This article was actually released days before temperatures in the UK reached a record-breaking 40.3C, and fears of heatwave-induced deaths spiked.
Twitter users were quick to spot this trend in advice, and so wasted no time in mocking the pieces, while also quietly expressing despair.
The cost of living crisis is only adding to concerns at the moment, especially with the government being quite inactive about it.
Boris Johnson, current prime minister, was still on holiday this week, while his replacements, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, are caught up in the politics of the Conservative leadership contest.
Labour has called for parliament to end recess, so it can address the crisis, while budgeting expert Martin Lewis has pleaded for Johnson, Truss and Sunak to come up with a plan to fight the cost of living crisis together.
Truss has already rejected such an idea.