Looking ahead to 2013: Lifestyle

The biggest trend for 2013 will be the old school moves – crunches, squats, press-ups –  using bodyweight for resistance. No tubes, bands, balls or kettlebells, just gravity and sweat. The results will be measured, however, using the latest GPS-powered  sensors mounted in shoes or clothing, or worn on the skin like a bandage. The data generated will be processed on one of the exploding number of fitness apps and, if we are really lucky, posted straight to Twitter and Facebook.

To cheer everyone up towards the end of the year Cameron Diaz, a woman who can make a whippet look chunky, will release a diet and exercise book. According to her publisher, Harper Collins, Diaz wants to “engage and empower” women, and offer advice on “general well-being”.

After last year’s vile summer, the package holiday will make a modest return as families on a tight budget look for a fixed-price, sun-filled fortnight. Upmarket self-catering – or, as we must learn to call it, ‘personal catering’ – will be seen as a more authentic way of experiencing a different culture. And while the pristine sandy beach and pool butler still appeal, the most desirable holidays will be all about the experience. Posing for photos beside the political murals of North Korea or the shanty towns of Addis Ababa, then posting them on Facebook, is so much better than sending a postcard from Mauritius. For those who can’t face Vietnam again, there’s fishing and golf in South Korea, hiking in the Balkan state of Montenegro, traversing Ecuador on its newly upgraded rail network and flying to the Solomon Islands on a tiny plane for a fortnight of birdwatching, jungle-trekking and volcano climbing.

As social media  becomes increasingly commercial and mainstream, the move away from the mass networks will continue. Not  being on Facebook or Twitter, opting out of  Instagram and Flickr, will become a statement of cool  intent. Old-school mobiles –  granny phones with big  buttons, a weeny screen and no 3G – will have fashion  cachet, and mark out the user as someone who is not in thrall to The Man.

For those who like the idea but can’t quite manage to live without Viber and BBM, there are cases to make a Blackberry Curve look like a Nokia brick.

A lo-fi social life, arranged by speaking to people rather than setting up a Facebook group, fits this mood. While London clubs report the return of bottle service, those who do not  aspire to the Made in Chelsea lifestyle will gather in darkened rooms above pubs or in converted industrial buildings to play whole albums on vinyl or listen to poetry.

They will congregate in each  others’ homes to eat cakes made from root vegetables and listen to bands who have cut out the middle man by performing in their fans’  living rooms. Carry-out of home-brewed nettle beer optional.