Decadence in our era comes in technologically mediated forms, emptied of desire and obsessed with self-optimisation

Do you want to have a good time? You know, really enjoy yourself? Click here, and tell us your desires. Maybe it’s a new outfit, or some exotic cuisine delivered anonymously and steaming hot to your door. Maybe it’s porn or gambling. Perhaps you prefer the infinite scroll, the endlessly unfurling ribbon of glossy images and videos starring people you’ll never meet doing things you’ll never do. Or maybe you favor talking to a chatbot who will assure you that you are the most special of all its users.

For anyone with an Internet connection and a little discretionary income, the contemporary moment offers a superabundance of seductive distractions. Why then the pervasive mood of emptiness? Why are so many at once overstimulated and bored?

My mum loves to remind me how sullen, furious and monosyllabic I was. Now she can’t wait to see how I’ll handle parenting an adolescent

The “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” is a more satisfying name for frequency illusion – noticing a concept, word or product more often just after becoming aware of it. And after reading a fascinating article by a professor who insists that when a teenager makes “the stupid choice”, their brain is actually “working exactly as designed”, I’m suddenly seeing teens everywhere. Not just literally, because it’s the school holidays – hanging about in groups, being scarily tall and all dressed identically – but also in news stories, adverts for adolescent skincare, old clips of Harry Enfield’s Kevin and Perry sketches. Not unrelated: my son’s 12th birthday is fast approaching. This is the very last year my little boy will be nice and preteen, and I’m being reminded from all angles, by all algorithms. Soak up every second while there’s still time! Tick tock, tick tock! Thanks, Baader-Meinhof.

Teenage minds function “in a way that has been shaped by evolution for a unique and uniquely challenging time of life,” according to Dr Evelyn Svingen, assistant professor of criminology at the University of Birmingham. This is reassuring and concerning in equal measures – in the future my son’s going to make dumb decisions, but it’s OK, because that’s what he’s meant to do. Sheesh.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions looks at secessionary movements on both sides of the pond

• Answer the latest question: What is the true Breakfast of Champions?

If it’s wrong, as some would say, for European countries to come together as a fully federal European Union, rather than individual states, why is it right for the US to be a federation rather than separate states? It always strikes me that the EU gets unfairly criticised for a system that was established over the Atlantic many years back. The US hasn’t looked back, but has become powerful as a result of being an umbrella for smaller entities. Just imagine if each state needed its own army, air force and currency, with its own customs and border controls not to mention trade tariffs! There’d be no White House and no Congress. Why is it so wrong for European countries to want similar strength, coming together as a union? Howard Phillips, Lisbon

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

The Game of Thrones actor on her feral youth, not playing the fame game, and being protective of her daughter

Born in Hamilton, Bermuda, in 1973 and raised in West Yorkshire and Somerset, Lena Headey is an actor, writer and director. She made her film debut in Waterland in 1992. Her career spans 300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones, in which she played Cersei Lannister from 2011 to 2019, earning five Emmy nominations. Intimacy, which she writes, directs and stars in, is an eight-part comedy audio drama for BBC Sounds and Radio 4.

I was an OG onesie wearer. This was taken on Christmas Day in our house in Bermuda. My parents were in the police force, and for some reason one day the Yorkshire branch decided: “We’re all going to go to Bermuda for some training.” I don’t remember much from that time, but I know that it was hot, everyone had scooters, and that it was fun.

World Cup and events like Clacton byelection is driving interest in sites such as Polymarket, with UK gamblers easily able to sidestep regulation

With more plot twists than a spy thriller, Argentina’s 3-2 victory over Egypt was one of the World Cup’s most unpredictable matches.

But in one living room in Reading, to the astonishment of his 16-year-old son, a football clairvoyant appeared to know exactly what would happen next.

OPROEP - Vanavond gaat voor de laatste keer VPRO’s Zomergasten van start. Van 26 juli tot en met 30 augustus  gaan op de zondagavonden zes gasten hun favoriete tv-, online-, en filmfragmenten toelichten.

We doen dit jaar geen uitgebreide voorbeschouwingen, maar kijken vooral uit naar uw reacties op de uitzending. We gaan er weer voor zitten en gaan zien wat de uitzending met Peter Pannekoek ons zal brengen. Het kan een levendige uitzending worden want Pannekoek is meestal een enthousiast verteller en hij belooft “een energieke avond met veel humor”.

Kijk met ons mee, vanavond 20.20 uur, op NPO 2 en via de livestream op npostart.nl. Morgen volgt de Sargasso-recensie van Karin van der Stoop.

Wat nou zo leuk is aan de Formule 1: penalty's. Penalty's hier, penalty's daar. Heerlijk, en om ontzettend van de smullen, zeker als ze worden uitgedeeld ná de sessie. Daarom hebben we gisteren ook zo genoten van de kwalificatie, met al die geweldige penalty's als niemand meer kijkt. Kun je zomaar P4 mee starten. Vandaag kunnen we misschien wel weer ons geluk niet op want de FIA kan er zomaar een waar penaltyspektakel van maken. Ná de race natuurlijk. We zullen zien! In ieder geval zal Lachebekje Norris Stijllloos naar P1 rijden en Verstappen naar P3. Wellicht nog wat regen erbij en we hebben weer een toprace in Hongarije, de laatste voor de zomerbreak. Maar daarna, daarna gaat LIVE het grote puntenspel van de FIA beginnen en kan alles ook gewoon weer helemaal anders zijn!
UPDATE: Slechte start Russel, Max naar P3

Korstmossen zijn levensvormen die tot de verbeelding spreken. „En natuurlijk zijn ze ook gewoon mooi, door al die verschillende vormen en kleuren.”

Kyu John has added a photo to the pool:

@metgitarenenzo
But the fans love it. En ja je krijgt veel inhaalacties op deze manier.
Ik kom in 28 wel eens terug als het 75 25 verhouding is. 😉