Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

Businesses and organisations use these insights to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact, and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Dylan: Bad habit creep

I’m starting to think about bad habits for an article I’ll be writing later this month. My initial thinking was around why is it so easy to develop them, yet often so difficult to break them?

Something that caught my attention is how little conscious thought can be involved. Research by psychologists Wendy Wood and Dennis Rünger (2016) explains how repeating behaviours in familiar situations can gradually make them automatic. What starts as a conscious choice can become something we do without really thinking. Think about checking your phone whenever there’s a spare moment or reaching for a snack while watching TV.

What was interesting to me is that so often bad habits are something we don’t consciously develop. They creep into our routines, often without us noticing. And by the time we do notice, they can be surprisingly difficult to change.

Mahalia: Breaking bad habits

I turn 39 next week, and as I face a new year (and a new age), naturally this time is coming with some reflection. And high on my list are those pesky habits I’ve formed that don’t serve me. Chief among them is my phone use. As the core tool for many of my other bad habits (overconsumption, doomscrolling, anxious attachment), I’m constantly looking at ways to reduce my screen time and enjoy the simple forms of IRL connection.

I know I’m not alone in this, with a 2024 report from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, detailing that 60% of Australians spend three hours or more on their mobile phone every day.

And technology is only going to advance further with new ways to keep us connected (and disconnected). Maybe it’s time we work out what we really value and start making our phones work for the lifestyle we want – not the other way around.

Jason: Australia under strain

The 2026 Mapping Social Cohesion Survey, released this week by the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, reveals Australia’s social fabric is under growing strain amid cost-of-living pressures and economic anxiety, even as local community bonds remain resilient.

We’re doing work for a school at the moment, and discussions have turned to increasingly aggressive student behaviour in recent years, even in the early years of primary school.

Across sectors we work with, from education to arts, sport, wine and agriculture, pressures seem to be building.

Many businesses we’re working with are experiencing more reactive and aggressive customers, with initiatives being introduced to protect staff from volatile and sometimes violent behaviour.

David Jones, an Australian retail institution with a history stretching back more than 180 years, has reportedly entered voluntary administration today.

Culture shifts when tensions become so great they can no longer be ignored.

Change often only occurs when we are at the breaking point.

Are we living through one of those moments in time when things get so difficult that meaningful change becomes inevitable? It will be interesting to look back in five or ten years and see how our culture has shifted, and what comes next.

Square Holes is a cultural insight studio.

We design mixed method explorations of people and culture beyond the category,  uncovering the patterns, tensions and shifts shaping behaviour to inform strategy, inspire innovation and enable confident decisions. Our studio model brings together the right mix of thinkers, researchers and specialists for each exploration. If you’re navigating change, entering a new market, or seeking deeper understanding of people and culture, let’s start a conversation >