As vaccination rates rise and the number of infections fall, like the Brood X cicadas, we are finally emerging from our homes and learning how to re-acclimate after 15 months of isolation, anxiety and loss. However, despite the weight of the crisis easing, many Gen Xers are still coping with the pandemic’s negative and far-reaching implications on their psychological, physical and financial health. Read more below.

• Despite the weight of the crisis easing, many Gen Xers are still coping with the pandemic’s negative and far-reaching implications on their psychological, physical and financial health.
• Agency holding companies continue to push DE&I initiatives, but are taking different pathways to achieve their goals. More in this week’s Digiday+ Media Buying Briefing.
• In its second iteration, GNI Startups Boot Camp lead Phillip Smith is hoping the program will help journalists become media founders and quench the news deserts in North America.
• As platform audiences continue to swell, their ad products mature and advertisers continue to pour money into them, publishers today consider most platforms neither a valuable source of revenue nor an important channel for brand-building, new Digiday Research reveals.
• A number of publishers observed Juneteenth this year, but not in the same way, with some making it an official holiday and others encouraging employees to use their PTO to take the day off.
• The Federal Trade Commission's recent acting chair wants rules curbing manipulative data collection and argues the agency has the power now to set them.
• Companies looking to scale up and take advantage of specific growth trends in particular countries also make sense to continue investing in physical offices.