Note to Self
WNYC Studios
Subscribe
Is your phone watching you? Can texting make you smarter? Are your kids real? Note to Self explores these and other essential quandaries facing anyone trying to preserve their humanity in the digital age.
WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts, including Radiolab, Death, Sex & Money, Snap Judgment, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, Nancy and many others.
© WNYC Studios
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Oct 14, 2019
How to Create Good Digital Citizens
Right from wrong. We teach our kids what this means in the classroom and at home. But what about online? The next generation of tech users could be a part of much more civilized digital universe, but only if they learn how now. Manoush talks to Richard Culatta (CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education) about the five steps to creating good digital citizens, and how to turn the current online “culture shift” into something positive, respectful, and more accessible to all.
Sign up for Manoush’s newsletter StableG.com/newsletter and find her other podcasts at
ZigZagPod.com and IRLPodcast.com
Oct 7, 2019
Why Everyone is Talking About Digital Minimalism
Computer scientist and cult-blogger, Cal Newport, wants you to take 30 dates off from all your personal tech. A month off, he claims, is the only way to truly adopt Digital Minimalism, his method for finding tech-life balance and the name of his latest book. Manoush loves a digital detox as much as the next overloaded person, but she explains to Cal why she has issues with his particular prescriptions.
Manoush writes a newsletter that comes out every other Thursday. Sign up at StableG.com/newsletter and find her other podcasts at ZigZagPod.com and IRLPodcast.com
Sep 30, 2019
How The Best Teacher Teaches Creativity
In 2018, Andria Zafirakou was named Global Teacher of the Year and given $1m in prize money. Why? Because this innovative art teacher (and mother of two) helped transform her struggling school in London’s poorest neighborhood into an educational powerhouse: the Alperton Community School now ranks in the top 4% of ALL UK schools. Andria says the techniques she uses in her classroom can be used to improve education on a global scale. On this episode, she shares her creative know-how and how we can all prepare the next generation of innovators… and get more creative ourselves.
Sign up for Manoush’s newsletter StableG.com/newsletter and find her other podcasts at ZigZagPod.com and IRLPodcast.com
Apr 23, 2019
Note to Self is Back and We Start with The Big One: Kids and Screens
The tech show about being human returns with an all new season. Host Manoush Zomorodi kicks things off with the latest on the battle between kids and parents over their screens: do we know how kids are impacted by tech? Does it make them less empathetic? Are they being constantly bullied online? Even if we can help kids figure out their digital habits, are we adults totally screwed? Researcher Elizabeth Englander joins Manoush to share new findings and give the most pragmatic advice about how kids and adults can build better relationships with their tech and each other.
Apr 22, 2019
Note to Self is Back!
Note to Self helps you navigate the digital age by making sense of its most undervalued component: humans! With all new episodes coming every Tuesday, host Manoush Zomorodi investigates the very personal role technology plays in our lives and how we can live better with it. Because you are so much more than an algorithm.
Feb 22, 2019
Rice Bunny: The Me Too Movement Comes to China
This week we’re discussing government censorship in China, #metoo and cryptocurrency.
Endless Thread is hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson, and is made by WBUR.
You can listen to the show at wbur.org/endlessthread
Jun 25, 2018
Dear (Data) Diary
Long-distance friends Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec spent a year tracking the little things in life. Thanks yous, coffees, complaints, street sounds. And each week, they turned their small-scale data collections into whimsical hand-drawn postcards.
On a minute level, they may not say much. But look at them together and they tell an intimate story. This week, Giorgia and Stefanie talk us through three weeks of data, and all the big lessons in our most mundane moments.
Look at more postcards by Giorgia and Stefanie here.
Jun 20, 2018
A Different Kind of Streaking
With former Google designer Tristan Harris, who explains how far Silicon Valley will go to capture and control your eyeballs. And Snapchat artist CyreneQ, who makes her living drawing on her phone all day. For real.
Jun 7, 2018
Your Metadata is Showing
We asked you guys to send us photos. Then we gave them to Andreas Weigend, veteran of Xerox Parc, former chief scientist at Amazon, to see what he could deduce. A lot, it turns out.
A little Google image search, a little metadata, and we can find where you are. Maybe who you are. What color phone you’re using to take the shot, and how many SIM cards you have.
Reading photos is more than a digital parlor trick. It’s the future of commerce, marketing, policing, lending, and basically everything else.
May 16, 2018
Whose Bot Army Is Following Manoush?
Bot armies are taking over Twitter. But they’re not necessarily trying to advance a point of view, according to Phil Howard, a bot researcher. They’re aiming to sow chaos and make dialogue impossible. At the extreme, the goal is to destabilize our very sense of reality.
“Their strategy is to plant multiple conflicting stories that just confuse everybody," Howard says. "If they can successfully get out four different explanations for some trend, then they've confused everybody, and they're able to own the agenda.”
This week, why someone would sic a bot army on Manoush. And what her bot brigade can teach us about how bots are shaping democracy, from the 2016 election to Brexit to the recent French election.
You can check if a Twitter account following you is real or fake, with Bot or Not, an aptly-named tool from Indiana University's Truthy project.
May 2, 2018
The Fourth Amendment Needs Your Attention
This week, Note to Self gets in our time machine, back to the Supreme Court cases that defined privacy for the digital age. Stories of bookies on the Sunset Strip, microphones taped to phone booths, and a 1975 Monte Carlo. And where the Fourth Amendment needs to go, now that we’re living in the future.
The amendment doesn’t mention privacy once. But those 54 little words, written more than 200 years ago, are a crucial battleground in today’s fight over our digital rights. That one sentence is why the government can’t listen to your phone calls without a warrant. And it’s why they don’t need one to find out who you’re calling.
But now, we share our deepest thoughts with Google, through what we search for and what we email. And we share our most intimate conversations with Alexa, when we talk in its vicinity. So how does the Fourth Amendment apply when we’re surrounded by technology the founding fathers could never dream of?
With Laura Donohue, director of Georgetown…
Apr 18, 2018
Is the Opioid Epidemic a Tech Problem?
The Dark Web conjures images of gothic fonts and black backgrounds, like a metal fan’s MySpace page circa 2001. But this section of the internet looks surprisingly normal. Accessible only through the TOR browser, there are Google-style search engines and Amazon-style marketplaces. Except what they’re selling are mostly illegal things—stolen passports, hacked account numbers, and drugs. A lot of drugs.
This week, we stress out WNYC’S IT department and venture onto the Dark Web. Where you can get heroin, fentanyl, or oxycontin shipped right to your door via USPS. And we talk to Nick Bilton, author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, about how Libertarian philosophy and tech-bro hubris combined to spark an online drug revolution—and an opioid crisis.
And the Dark Web community is starting to recognize the role they're playing. Since we recorded this episode, Hansa Market - the very site we visit in the show - has banned the sale…
Apr 4, 2018
How To Have No Filter
Today, listener stories and tips: we wrap up our No Filter series of conversations about how women live online.
From YouTube megastar Lele Pons to iconic artist Barbara Kruger, we heard a joyous mix of vulnerable confessions, utter defiance, and (for once) a mostly positive vision of what being a woman on the web can look like. To wrap it up, stories from you. About how you’re reconciling the IRL you with the online you. Plus, The Cut’s editor-in-chief Stella Bugbee is back with her greatest hope for the next generation of women in the workplace.
Apr 3, 2018
No Filter: Jasmyn Lawson
We couldn’t close out No Filter, our series on women owning it online, without profiling Jasmyn Lawson, former culture editor at Giphy. That's the search engine that houses all those looped videos we use to express emotion - and ourselves - online.
But when Jasmyn started working there, she couldn’t find many gifs that looked like her. "Just having Beyonce and Rihanna and Nicki Minaj is not enough to say you're representing black women." So she made her own. Jasmyn Lawson
(Ryan Pfluger)
Mar 30, 2018
No Filter: Barbara Kruger
The iconic artist talks to Manoush about our curated selfies, owning a font, and why we all need likes. Plus, The Cut’s editor in chief Stella Bugbee.
If you missed the other episodes of No Filter earlier this week, go back! Instagram megastar Lele Pons, Transparent actor Trace Lysette, painter Amy Sherald, who made Michelle Obama’s official portrait, and anchor Christiane Amanpour.
Mar 29, 2018
No Filter: Christiane Amanpour
The CNN anchor talks to Manoush about sex, wearing a “uniform,” and staying profesh on air and online.
Plus, Call Your Girlfriend co-host and Cut contributor Ann Friedman, who almost fell out of her ergonomic chair when she found out she’d be in the same episode as Christiane.
Christiane’s new show is Sex & Love Around the World. And Ann’s podcast is, of course, Call Your Girlfriend, with Aminatou Sow. Christiane Amanpour, on No Filter: Women Owning It Online.
(Brigitte Lacombe)
Every day this week, a new episode of our series, No Filter: Women Owning It Online, with New York Magazine’s The Cut. Five conversations with badass women. And trust us, you don’t have to be a woman for this series to be a must-listen.
We’ve heard from Instagram megastar Lele Pons, Transparent actor Trace Lysette, and painter Amy Sherald, who made Michelle Obama’s official portrait. Tomorrow, we close the week with iconic artist Barbara Kruger.
Mar 28, 2018
No Filter: Amy Sherald
Her portrait of Michelle Obama went viral. Painter Amy Sherald dismisses the haters. “Some people want their poetry to rhyme.”
Plus, Allison P. Davis, Senior Culture Writer at The Cut, on how picking Amy was like Michelle Obama choosing her own Instagram filter.
Painter Amy Sherald, our guest for day three of No Filter: Women Owning It Online.
(Susana Raab )
This is day three of our weeklong series, No Filter: Women Owning It Online, with New York Magazine’s The Cut. Five conversations with badass women. Some old, some young. ALL have bent the internet to their will. And trust us, you don’t have to be a woman for this series to be a must-listen.
Mar 27, 2018
No Filter: Trace Lysette
Every day this week, a new episode of our series, No Filter: Women Owning It Online, with New York Magazine’s The Cut. Five conversations with badass women. Some old, some young. ALL have bent the internet to their will. And trust us, you don’t have to be a woman for this series to be a must-listen.
Transparent star Trace Lysette talks to Manoush about the political nude selfie, her #metoo moment, and constructing her self online and IRL. Plus, how her life as a young trans woman prepared her to confront Jeffrey Tambor and live her truth.
With Noreen Malone, features editor at The Cut. Trace Lysette, our guest for day two of the No Filter series.
(Ryan Pfluger )
This is day two of No Filter. Yesterday, Instagram megastar Lele Pons. Coming up, painter Amy Sherald, who created that stunning portrait of Michelle Obama. CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour. Iconic artist Barbara Kruger, who blew all of our minds. Plus writers from The Cut.
Mar 26, 2018
No Filter: Lele Pons
Every day this week, a new episode of our series, No Filter: Women Owning It Online, with New York Magazine’s The Cut. Five conversations with badass women. Some old, some young. ALL have bent the internet to their will. And trust us, you don’t have to be a woman for this series to be a must-listen.
Today, Lele Pons. And if you’re thinking “Lele who?”, you’re not a teen girl. The Instagram megastar talks to Manoush about crafting her image, controlling her edits, and why she gives her cell number to fans. And Allie Jones, senior writer at The Cut, who wrote a profile of Lele in 2017.
Coming up tomorrow, Transparent actor Trace Lysette. Wednesday, painter Amy Sherald, who created that stunning portrait of Michelle Obama. Then CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, and iconic artist Barbara Kruger, who blew all of our minds. Plus writers from The Cut.
Mar 21, 2018
Why We Need No Filter
It’s here! The first episode in our new series, No Filter: Women Owning It Online, with New York Magazine’s The Cut.
Today, our launch episode. Every day next week, a new conversation with a badass woman about the highs and lows of living online. And how they've bent the internet to their will. Trust us, you don’t have to be a woman for this series to be a must-listen. Erica Joy Baker, senior engineering manager. (Amy Harrity )
Since #metoo, we’re rethinking what it means to be a woman in the world. But what about being a woman online? In this first episode, why we need No Filter. Plus, we go deep with senior engineering manager Erica Joy Baker. She’s worked behind the scenes at Google, Slack, Patreon. Sites we use to present ourselves to the world, built mostly by white men. Erica explains why that really matters.
It wouldn’t be a Note to Self series without your voice. How do YOU portray yourself online? How does the internet mess with your head? How do you mess back…
Mar 20, 2018
My Digital Revolution
Stories of life online, told live. We teamed up with Generation Women, a monthly event where women from their 20s to their 80s share stories on a theme. For this episode, the theme is My Digital Revolution. Tales from the wellness editor at Teen Vogue, Kathy Tu from the Nancy podcast, Chirlane McCray, the first lady of New York. And Carol Prisant, the most baller septuagenarian you’ve ever heard. For real. Plus, Generation Women founder Georgia Clark.
Our new series No Filter: Women Owning It Online was inspired by Generation Women’s all ages approach. Since #metoo, we're all rethinking what it means to be a woman in the world. But what does it mean to be a woman on the web? To find out, we've partnered with New York Magazine's The Cut. Hear our launch episode now.
Mar 14, 2018
Am I Normal?
Everyone wants to know if we’re normal. Is my body normal, is my brain normal, are my feelings normal? Data artist Mona Chalabi will tell you. And she’ll explain why normal is BS.
In the right hands, data is more than statistics. It can expand our understanding of ourselves, and this strange planet that we call home.
Mona is the data editor at The Guardian, and host of the new podcast Strange Bird. She makes hand-drawn illustrations of data, from when people eat pizza to how many women remove facial hair to average testicle size (that one’s an interactive chart. For real). And what data can and can’t tell us about America.
Feb 28, 2018
What to Think About Before Posting Family Photos
A little while back, we asked you some questions about posting photos. Do you post pictures of your kids? Do your parents post photos of you? Why, why not?
We thought maybe a couple hundred people would answer.
But we struck a nerve. We got more than twelve hundred responses, with more than six hundred long-form answers (highlights here). You have strong feelings on this one. Feelings full of nuance and complexity, no surprise.
This week, psychologist and author Guy Winch helps untangle our mixed posting emotions. He sees kids and adults, individuals and families in his private practice, and he has a new book, How to Fix a Broken Heart.
Plus, Charlotte Philby, a mom whose family posts were part of her brand - until she stopped gramming cold turkey.
Feb 14, 2018
Have Dating Apps Killed Romance?
Here’s a real message from OKCupid: “Hi, good evening, nice photos. You are not fat.” And that’s one of the few messages polite enough to share. It’s rough on dating apps. But so many of us are using them. How can romance survive?
Well, maybe it can’t.
This week, sociologist Eric Klinenberg joins Manoush to make the case that dating apps have killed romance. And Eric co-wrote a book on modern love with Aziz Ansari, so he should know. Eric and Manoush feel so strongly, in fact, that they’re debating Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and Chief Scientific Adviser to Match.com, and Tom Jacques, vice president of engineering at OkCupid. Live, on stage.
We go behind the scenes as they prepare for battle. Featuring a mystery dater, full of horror stories and insights in the quest for 21st century love.
Feb 7, 2018
Help Us Collect Political Ads on Facebook
ProPublica reporter Julia Angwin is collecting political ads on Facebook, all across the country. Just in case someone needs to check on them later. Like if the Russians bought thousands of ads to sway an election. And she needs your help.
She and her team built a browser plugin that collects ads from Facebook, and asks users like you to decide if the ads are political or not. Ads marked as political are gathered into a giant database - the only repository of these ads available to the public.
The last time Julia gave us an assignment, tens of thousands of you helped her reveal racist ad categories and potentially illegal housing discrimination on Facebook. Then Facebook worked hard to fix that. We made change. Let’s do it again. To start submitting political ads you see, download the plugin for Firefox or Chrome.
Feb 6, 2018
Meet an Online Emotional Escort
When we get big news these days, we reach for our phones. We text our loved ones. Husband, wife, mom, best friend. Or, in some cases, our Invisible Girlfriend.
We all need someone to tell (or text) our stories to. Even if they’re paid to text back.
This week, we revisit a story from 2015 about a service called Invisible Girlfriend/Boyfriend, and how it’s helping lonely adults use their phones to feel understood. Even to feel loved.
Quentin, a man in his 30s with cerebral palsy, wonders if his Invisible Girlfriend is really right for him. Journalist Kashmir Hill became an Invisible Girlfriend, and was paid pennies per message as an emotional escort. And psychologist Sherry Turkle weighs the strengths and limitations of our text-based love affairs.
Jan 31, 2018
How to Find the Right Amount of Screen Time
Screen time is a daily battle. Between kids and parents, between ourselves and our better judgment. But maybe it doesn’t have to be. There is a better way.
This week, Manoush talks with NPR education correspondent Anya Kamenetz about her brand new book, The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life. Practical strategies, solid research, and some reassurance that mostly we’re all gonna be fine. Phew.
And we peek at the extremes of screen obsession, from the north of England to South Korea, thanks to reporter Dina Temple-Raston and her new podcast, What Were You Thinking: Inside the Adolescent Brain.
Links from the show:
Common Sense Media
Fast Company’s survey on parents and screen time
Jan 17, 2018
Dear Manoush: The Advice Episode
You send us a lot of questions about managing tech-life. This week, Manoush has the answers.
Is there a secret to managing the overload of information coming at us every day? What about all those random accounts you’ve signed up for over the years - can we EVER make them go away? And how do we stay plugged in with friends and family if we decide to break up with social media? It’s the first-ever Note to Self advice show.
WE HAVE LINKS
While researching this show we compiled a list of tools to help you manage information overload and your digital privacy, and ditch FOMO for JOMO.
Setting an information goal.
Manoush has some tips for resetting how you read, post, and browse online. No need to feel icky about Instagram. But when discipline and diligence don’t work out, it’s okay to seek help. Our favorites: airplane mode (sorry), Moment for iOS, Freedom, and Self Control. Also, try some DIY adjustments to your app permissions - turn off your cellular data for Instagram, Twit…
Jan 3, 2018
Dan Harris Knows All Your Excuses for Not Meditating
We can’t stop the world from turning. Or the vitriol getting posted online. But we can control how (or whether) we react.
Dan Harris anchors ABC News Nightline and Good Morning America on the weekends. His first book chronicled how meditation pretty much transformed him from a jerk to a total mensch. His latest is Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. His podcast - and app - are also called 10% Happier… and thanks to a listener’s suggestion, Manoush and Dan are on each other’s podcasts this week.
To talk the difference between “mindful” and “purposeful” tech use and how meditation can be a political act. It’s inspiring stuff. They jibed. Please check out both episodes.
Dec 27, 2017
Search Inside Yourself For Peace and Joy
Chade-Meng Tan was employee number 107 at Google. And before he retired at the ripe old age of 44, he created a class there, Search Inside Yourself. It was about mindfulness, with an engineering twist. He never said go deep into your emotions, because engineers would ask “How do you quantify deep or shallow?” Which itself is kind of a deep question, really…
Let’s create some calm as this year ends. It all starts with one deep breath.
Dec 20, 2017
Look Into the Future with Black Mirror
Preserving dead loved ones through AI. Social scoring and ranking. Hacking personal details for extortion. When Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones came on the show, we asked them how it feels to basically predict the future. And Charlie said he doesn’t. He just has a sarcastic vision of the present.
Even if you've never seen Black Mirror, this episode is a good listen. Because their fictional stories seem to keep manifesting in reality. Season Four of the Emmy-award-winning Netflix show comes out December 29th. A perfect time to revisit this delightfully witty and optimistic conversation.
Dec 13, 2017
Alexa, Is Amazon Taking Over The World?
This week, the tradeoffs we don’t see when we shop on Amazon. How the company’s dominance from retail to web hosting could create a dystopia of social profiling. Why the answer isn’t to cancel your Prime. And yes, I test drive the Amazon Look so you don’t have to.
Amazon is the new Standard Oil, the “titan of twenty-first century commerce,” as rock star lawyer Lina Khan wrote in her viral law journal note.
Which, incidentally, might be a nice thing to include with your packages this year. We made a handy printable card with a link to her 96-page blockbuster. Give the gift of light reading on modern antitrust policy, along with those colanders and scarves.
(Note to Self)
Download
Dec 6, 2017
"You Deserve to Die" and Other Fun Conversation Starters
Dylan Marron is internet famous. He makes clever and (actually) funny little Facebook-friendly videos about light topics like Islamophobia, masculinity, privilege. Which attract a *lot* of comments. Many loving and laudatory. Many… not.
Like the message from a grandmother in North Dakota saying he deserved to die. The teenager saying he was the most pathetic human being he’d ever seen. A gay artist in Atlanta saying he was everything wrong with liberalism. At first Dylan was shaken. Then he was curious. So he started calling these people. And Conversations With People Who Hate Me was born.
This week, the lovely Dylan Marron on the benefits of talking to our haters, and why it’s good for the country as well as your soul.
Nov 29, 2017
Let’s Check The Tape
An incomplete list of objects that are listening to us: Siri. Alexa. Google Home. The Nest. Our cars. Our smart TVs. Cayla dolls.
All these listening devices raise digital privacy concerns, of course. But recordings can be really useful, too. If only there was tape from a courthouse hallway in Alabama, circa 1979. A mall in Gadsden, Alabama, early 1980s. A Congressional office building, a USO tour. You never know when a transcript of your everyday life might come in handy.
The transcribed life is closer than ever. In this repeat episode, one intrepid woman records every single minute of her life, for three straight days. And then lets us listen in. To a lot of mundane minutia, and one extremely uncomfortable interaction.
Tape can change things. Knowing we’re being recorded can modify behavior. It can create accountability. But it doesn’t erase power dynamics. The Access Hollywood recording of then-candidate Donald Trump joking about grabbing women. The audio of Harvey Weinstein…
Nov 22, 2017
The Lawsuit that Could Shine a Light on Cambridge Analytica
Pictured above is Alexander Nix, CEO of Cambridge Analytica, speaking in November 2017.
David Carroll is hunting for information. About himself. He knows himself pretty well. And so does a controversial marketing firm.
Cambridge Analytica claims it holds up to 5,000 data points on over 230 million American voters. The company implied it was the secret sauce in the Trump campaign (then they took that back.)
But this company may share your online marketing profile with political campaigns, retailers, and potentially foreign governments. What if you, the profiled, wanted to have a look too?
David, father of two, professor of tech-design and online ad researcher, made that request and now is suing for further information. This week, what David found. And didn’t find in his file. And what it could mean for our democracy.
You can request your own file from Cambridge Analytica. Let us know if you do and what you find.
Feeling super creeped out about what marketing firms know about you…
Nov 21, 2017
Revisiting Cambridge Analytica’s Role in the Presidential Election
The first chapter in our look at Cambridge Analytica. Back in March, we asked the controversial digital marketing firm what services they provided for Trump. And experimented with our own psychometric profiles.
Listen to our latest episode to learn about the new lawsuit that could shine a light on Cambridge Analytica.
Nov 15, 2017
It’s Not Over Nyet
When governments start pulling the strings of power with algorithms and bots... we ALL become political puppets. Listeners, it’s time to consider how online interference moves into the physical world.
President Trump recently met with Russian president Vladimir Putin who told him that his country definitely didn’t meddle in the U.S. election last year, online or off. Good thing that’s cleared up.
But if for some reason you’re not inclined to take either (or both) of those two men at their word, this week, some tips. How to spot a botnet. How psychometrics sells sneakers - and worldviews. And how to make sure you’re not the useful idiot. The final installment of our Nyet series, with information warfare expert Molly McKew.
Become a member today and support our work. Just visit NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Listen to our first and second episodes. For more spy terms explained, reasonable/sensible coping strategies for when democracy is under threat, and Nyet more puns.
Nov 8, 2017
Spy Terms of the Internyet
Russian spy tactics have gotten an upgrade since the Cold War. This week how they work now: bad actors, active measures, advanced persistent threats. Cyberwar has its own vocabulary. So we got ourselves a tutor.
Join Manoush and information warfare expert Molly McKew, who puts the fun in fundamental assault on democracy.
Become a member today and support our work. Just visit NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
This is the second episode of our series on Russia. Listen to the first and last parts. For more spy terms explained, reasonable/sensible coping strategies for when democracy is under threat, and Nyet more puns.
Nov 1, 2017
Nyet Just a Conspiracy Theory?
During the presidential campaign, Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman opened up Twitter, saw all the vitriol and fake news and conspiracy theories, and thought 'Man, is this really my country?'
Then Noah and his team started to investigate Russian interference in the election. Videos made in Russia, purporting to be from the American South. Activist groups invented in Russia, prompting Americans in Idaho to attend real-life protests.
Is this his country? Yes. Also, maybe no.
As Facebook, Twitter and Google’s parent company Alphabet sit down before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Note to Self is separating conspiracy from reality. Connecting the dots without turning the office into a scene from Homeland.
With Noah Shachtman and reporter Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast.
Plus, a look back at what we knew all along. We started in November 2016 with tech under the Trump administration. In March, we questioned Facebook’s responsibility for fake news with former ad exe…
Oct 25, 2017
Where Do I Go Now?
Manoush is a nice human being. Polite, punctual, present. But man, is she a rude robot.
Recently, Manoush attended a conference as a telepresence robot. (Imagine an iPad, on top of two brooms, with a Roomba as the base.) And she careened around interrupting conversations, sideswiping people and disrupting panels. Literally an out-of-body experience.
We lose track of our bodies every day now. We spiral into some Instagram stalking mid-commute and bump into someone on the street. We surface from a text at dinner to a peeved friend, still waiting the end of our sentence. We follow the blue ribbon of our GPS right off a cliff.
This week, the big and small ways we’ve put ourselves on autopilot. What we gain, and what we’ve lost. Because there was a time when humans were guided by the stars, not the satellites.
With researchers Allen Lin, Johannes Schöning, and Brent Hecht, who have their own embarrassing robot stories. And Greg Milner, author of Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Techno…
Oct 18, 2017
Play Video Games for Your Mental Health
If you’ve ever played video games, or swapped tiles around on Candy Crush, you know the feeling of winning. Like a light in your brain, a mental fist pump. But you probably also know that guilty feeling after realizing you've spent 30 minutes plugged in. That worry, when your kid spends hours on the console.
Jane McGonigal, game researcher and futurist, is here to take away some of that guilt. She’s a champion of gaming as a form of self-help. Because, Jane says, that light you feel when you unlock a level - that's your mind being altered. Slightly.
Jane is optimistic about that power. Mind alteration can be a beautiful thing, and with games it is substance-free. But it also takes self-control to keep it healthy. This week, we set some ground rules. We first talked to Jane last year and we're revisiting the conversation with some added insights.
Oct 11, 2017
Talking to Myself
Eugenia Kuyda and her best friend Roman had a habit of texting back and forth all day. When he was killed in a car crash, the void was enormous. So she put her technical skills to use. She gathered all his texts, his emails, his entire digital footprint, loaded them into a system that finds patterns in data, and created a bot version of Roman.
Then she started hearing from other people who had lost loved ones. They wanted to make a bot too. And Replika was born.
Replika works mostly by texting with you. Through your chats, Replika learns your speech patterns and habits, thoughts and hopes and fears. It uses them to become you. To use the same emojis you do. Laugh (well, type “lol”) at the things that make you laugh.
What could go wrong with a filter bubble of one?
Mike Murphy, a reporter for Quartz, spent months talking to Replika - talking to himself. He wrote a strange and powerful article about the experience. It turns out, he didn’t know himself as well as he thought he d…
Oct 4, 2017
I Didn’t See Your Text
We used to RSVP to events. Now, invitations live in our Facebook notifications and group texts. And we just ignore them. It’s so easy to forget there’s a human on the other end. Asking you to show up.
Renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel says we’re suffering of aloneness. Our phones create distance and intimacy at the same time. Esther has a way out of this strange paradox - some ideas for how we can treat each other better.
We do, too. Well, Esther’s idea, our tool. Take five minutes and ask yourself - who do I owe a phone call to? Who do I need to check in with? Who did I leave hanging and never got back to?
We know that sounds daunting, so we’re here to help. You can text GHOST to 70101. We’ll reply (well, our textbot will), then we’ll check in a week later to see if you faced facts and made that list.
Correction: In the episode Manoush refers to Esther Perel as Dr. Esther Perel. Perel isn't a doctor, she is a psychotherapist.
Sep 27, 2017
Ghosting, Simmering and Icing with Esther Perel
So you’ve finally matched with someone you like on Tinder. Your chats are funny, smooth, comfortable. When you meet in person, you sit at a bar for five hours without noticing the time. “That was so fun! Let’s do this again!” “Yeah, sure!” “How about next Tuesday?”
Then… radio silence. Ghosted. Or maybe the fadeaway is more subtle. You try to make plans, and they’re into it, but they’re so busy. A project needs to be finished at work, then friends are in town. Yeah, you’re being simmered.
Online dating has given us a lot of new ways to get dumped. Or, you know, not. Esther Perel is our guide to this treacherous terrain. She is a renowned psychotherapist and author. Her new book is called The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, and her podcast is Where Should We Begin. She's giving us a two-part therapy session on how tech is changing romance, relationships, and our expectations of each other.
So listen in, even if you’re like Manoush and met your partn…
Sep 20, 2017
Forty Years of Coding In a Man's World
Silicon Valley has a gender issue. That's hardly breaking news. But things have escalated recently. Some examples from the last few weeks: The Ellen Pao saga. The James Damore memo at Google. The ouster of Uber’s CEO. The frat-house behavior at SoFi. The utter lack of consequences for VR startup Upload.
Sometimes it's straight-up harassment. And sometimes problems stem from the bro bubble - nice guys, but they’re all the same guys. Everyone else “isn’t a good fit.”
Ellen Ullman has seen both. She started programming in 1978, when she wandered past a Radio Shack and taught herself how to code on the first personal computer.
Ellen's new book, Life in Code, is full of great and awful stories. Her love of the work. The joys of hunting down a bug. But also, the client who would rub her back while she tried to fix his system. The party full of young men drinking beer, including Larry Page, who offered her a job on the spot. Forget about appealing to the tech elite, she says. We…
Sep 13, 2017
Eavesdropping On Epiphany
José Cruz is a college student, research scientist, and phone power-user. He spent 6 hours in one day on his screen. So he wanted to cut back, make more time for research, reading, and mental drift.
We gave José a copy of Manoush's new book, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self. The book has a week of challenges, and José did them all.
He recorded the journey. It wasn't easy, but boy, was there a payoff.
Plus, seventh grade teacher-turned-neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang explains why José's week of struggle and revelation makes total neurological sense. And what we can all learn about the link between single-tasking and innovation.
Sep 5, 2017
Attention Please
Today, the first book to be born out of a crowdsourced podcasting movement - our movement, dear listeners - is here.
In 2015, tens of thousands of you joined me in an experiment. Could we separate from our devices just a bit, and turn them from taskmaster to tool? Could we make space for boredom, and let the brilliance in? Together, we found the answer. YES.
Enter Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self. Today, we connect with Liam and Vanessa, who took part of the original challenge, to hear the surprising places the last two years have taken them.
Plus a new conversation with tech-star and NTS friend Tristan Harris, a designer once tasked with sucking your eyeballs to the screen. Now, he’s fighting the good fight to reclaim your brain.
COME SEE ME!
I’ll be signing books and engaging in some lively discussion around boredom at the Strand in Manhattan this Friday, Sept. 8. Fittingly, with my longtime friend and radio mentor Brooke…
Sep 4, 2017
Refresh Your Mind
This week, Manoush’s book - the book that started with you, listeners - hits the shelves.
To encourage you to #GetBored and find brilliance, we made a weird earworm. It's an interview about the history of boredom... sound-designed to help you space out. With historian Peter Toohey, and some very soothing, meditative music.
Our senior producer Kat kept saying she woke up from the episode, every time she listened. Take an audio nap with us. It'll make you happy, we promise.
Aug 15, 2017
Bonus: Behind the Scenes at TED
TED! TED!! TED!!!
A few months ago, Manoush traveled to Vancouver to tell the story of Bored and Brilliant on the TED main stage. And yes, it was big, and nerve-wracking, and totally exhilarating. Listen for her behind-the-scenes memories, and then watch the talk here.
Oh, and pre-order the Bored and Brilliant book if you haven't already. Because full transparency: algorithms love pre-orders, and more means the book might make it to Amazon's homepage. Which means more wacko experiments for us to do together in the future.
We want to hear from you (as always).
If you did the Bored and Brilliant project in 2015, what's the one thing that sticks out in your mind two years later? Maybe you made a change to your phone habits? Maybe you watch a pot of water boil when you need to solve a problem in your life?
I want to know what continues to resonate most with you. For those wacko experiments to come. Share a memory, a story, a tip with us. Record a voice memo and email it to notetoself@…
Aug 2, 2017
Save the Planet! Part 1: I'm Gonna Take My Clothes Off
This is part of our five-episode pack on how science and technology can fight climate change. With better air conditioning, more whale poop, souped-up plants, and a giant vacuum. If all else fails, planet B. With David Biello, science curator at TED, author of The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age, and contributing editor at Scientific American.
It’s August. It’s hot, and no, you’re not imagining things, it is getting hotter. But whatever New York Magazine says, we can still save the planet. And technology can help.
We kick off our five-part series with a look at one technology the planet can’t live with, and humans can’t (or won’t) live without. Air conditioning. As the planet heats up, we’re blasting it in more places, and more often. Which heats the planet more, so we need more AC, and around and around. But there is a better way. Thanks, in part, to the internet of things. And a little tweak from you.
Aug 2, 2017
Save the Planet! Part 2: Whale Poop
This is part of our five-episode pack on how science and technology can fight climate change. With better air conditioning, more whale poop, souped-up plants, and a giant vacuum. If all else fails, planet B. With David Biello, science curator at TED, author of The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age, and contributing editor at Scientific American.
We love blue whales. They’re our ocean’s majestic, floating giants. They have hearts the size of cars. They travel alone or with a single friend. And also they poop. Super-fertilizing, massive turds.
The iron in whale poop fertilizes ocean algae. Which then blooms, makes oxygen for us, and helps sink CO2 into the Earth.
Our guide David explains how whale poop has inspired innovations, like iron fertilization and ocean gardening. And how other technologies, riskier but cheaper ones, are stealing the spotlight a little. Note to self, beware of the climate change quick fix.
Aug 2, 2017
Save the Planet! Part 3: Super Powered Sweet Corn
This is part of our five-episode pack on how science and technology can fight climate change. With better air conditioning, more whale poop, souped-up plants, and a giant vacuum. If all else fails, planet B. With David Biello, science curator at TED, author of The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age, and contributing editor at Scientific American.
Do you want a blue tomato? Because we can make one, thanks to the magic of gene editing. The question, of course, is should we.
Genetically-modified foods have been a battleground for years. And the debate about genetically-modified humans is ratcheting up. But what about tweaking the genes in algae? David Biello says we can alter our plants to suck up more CO2 - buying us a little time to get our carbon-spewing habits under control.
Closer to home, we can aim for control over our meat-heavy, food-wasting diets. Meatless Mondays, meet tofu Tuesday and fried-egg Friday.
Aug 2, 2017
Save the Planet! Part 4: Suck It
This is part of our five-episode pack on how science and technology can fight climate change. With better air conditioning, more whale poop, souped-up plants, and a giant vacuum. If all else fails, planet B. With David Biello, science curator at TED, author of The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age, and contributing editor at Scientific American.
Humans produce a lot of CO2. When we burn coal, drive a car, take a plane. When we breathe, except we can't help that. Unfortunately, carbon emissions are what's heating up the planet - shooting out of our tailpipes and smoke stacks into the atmosphere.
This week, tackling those emissions with a giant vacuum, taking the CO2 and sticking it underground. Which sounds suspiciously like that classic teenage slob move - shove your mess into the closet, deal with it later. Luckily, underground turns out to be a pretty big place. Bigger than our New York City closets, at least.
Aug 2, 2017
Save the Planet! Part 5: Do Over?
This is part of our five-episode pack on how science and technology can fight climate change. With better air conditioning, more whale poop, souped-up plants, and a giant vacuum. If all else fails, planet B. With David Biello, science curator at TED, author of The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age, and contributing editor at Scientific American.
Mars is the escape hatch, the backup plan. Planet B. Except for one thing. Mars is uniquely hostile to humans. Its surface is basically rocket fuel. Which means that for Mars to sustain human life, it needs a lot of support from Earth. Oops.
So why talk about it at all? Because it sparks innovation - solar panels were an offshoot of the space race. Because it’s freaking cool. And because it inspires. But let's not put all our eggs in that space shuttle just yet.
Jul 26, 2017
Escape From Yahoo!
Manoush has a secret tech shame: a Yahoo email address. Even with the (three) hacks, the company's sale to Verizon, and its plummeting cool factor, she's stayed. Call it loyalty, inertia, or a bad case of privacy paradox.
We heard from many of you, listeners, about your own digital traps. The services you just can't seem to log out of, even when you probably should. This week: the tech loyalties we keep past their expiration date. And how to extricate yourself - logistically and emotionally. Plus, what happens when big companies like Verizon buy big companies like Yahoo. Because it happens a lot, and there are casualties besides your pride.
With Brian Feldman, writer for New York Magazine, and Andy Yen, founder of ProtonMail. Maybe the best escape hatch is an encrypted folder in Switzerland.
Jul 19, 2017
Your Mailman Is a Drug Dealer. He Just Doesn’t Know It.
The Dark Web conjures images of gothic fonts and black backgrounds, like a metal fan’s MySpace page circa 2001. But this section of the internet looks surprisingly normal. Accessible only through the TOR browser, there are Google-style search engines and Amazon-style marketplaces. Except what they’re selling are mostly illegal things—stolen passports, hacked account numbers, and drugs. A lot of drugs.
This week, we stress out WNYC’S IT department and venture onto the Dark Web. Where you can get heroin, fentanyl, or oxycontin shipped right to your door via USPS. And we talk to Nick Bilton, author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, about how Libertarian philosophy and tech-bro hubris combined to spark an online drug revolution—and an opioid crisis.
And the Dark Web community is starting to recognize the role they're playing. Since we recorded this episode, Hansa Market - the very site we visit in the show - has banned the sale…
Jul 12, 2017
Should We Post Photos of Our Kids Online?
There’s David after the dentist. The BBC interview crashers. The Charlie bit my finger kid. That hero girl blanking Snow White. To say nothing of the baby pics in your Facebook feed, kid pics in your Instagram, and the teens in your Snapchat.
Kids are all over the Internet. But… should they be?
This week, we revisit a friendly debate about whether or not to post pics of children. With one of our favorite podcast hosts, Hillary Frank of the Longest Shortest Time.
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Do your parents post pictures of you? Or did they when you were younger? Do you post pictures of your kid?
Let us know. Our team made two surveys—one for parents and guardians, one for teens and young adults. Take just a couple minutes to answer, then share the surveys with your networks. It’s all research for an upcoming episode.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Jul 5, 2017
When Was the Last Time You Peed Without Your Phone?
Yeah, it’s been a while for us too. So after a long weekend of photo sharing, music streaming, and group texts, let’s reset. It’s the Bored and Brilliant bootcamp: three quick challenges to help you make space for brilliance in our accelerating world.
Maybe you’ve heard this episode before, but even if you have, a boredom refresher can’t hurt. Take some time to daydream, and see what ideas bubble up as your mind wanders.
Try the radio instead of Spotify. Chase down the ice cream truck instead of ordering Postmates. Stare at the clouds instead of Facebook. Just for a day. Or an hour. It’ll feel weird. And then it’ll feel great.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Jun 28, 2017
We’ve Gained So Much With the iPhone. What Have We Lost?
Think back to June 2007. Taylor Swift had released her first single, Barack Obama was running a long-shot campaign for the presidency, and the iPhone was about to change everything.
That first iPhone had no GPS, no video, no app store. No Candy Crush, no Instagram, not even Google. So how did it take over our brains and the world? In the past decade, smartphones have displaced most of the things in our pockets. Calendars, datebooks, the Walkman. Watches, address books, business cards. Tickets, boarding passes, keys. Cash. Eye contact. Boredom.
This week, what we’ve gained, and what we’ve lost, thanks to the iPhone. With David Pogue, one of the first four (non-Steve Jobs) humans to get his hands on one, and Adam Greenfield, author of Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Jun 21, 2017
We See Ourselves in Black Mirror
Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones are the surprisingly funny minds behind Black Mirror, the binge-watch of choice for dystopian techies. (Besides CSPAN.)
These days, their show veers very close to reality. They’ve done episodes on the performative stress of social media, on the lethal consequences of cyber-bullying, and a show from 2013 on a cartoon character running for prime minister. They seem to have an eerily accurate pulse on our imminent tech future. Brooker and Jones came to the Note to Self studios to explain themselves.
And it turns out we have a lot in common. They’re also wary of their webcams. They also sleep with their phones close to their heads, and they also feel bad about it. They also worry about information overload and the impact of constant surveillance. They’re our type of nerd.
Charlie, Anna and Manoush talked about where their ideas come from, why they haven’t quit TV to launch a startup, and why Twitter is the world’s top video game.
Support Note…
Jun 18, 2017
Father's Day Bonus: Dad As the Lead Parent
This Father's Day, a surprise.
You may remember our award winning series Taking the Lead, which we dropped into your feeds last month in celebration of Mother's Day. It follows the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have a tech idea to help harried working mothers rise up in their professional ranks.
If you haven't heard the first few episodes, they're right here:
* Episode 1: The Paint Point
* Episode 2: The Paradox
* Episode 3: The Pressure
* Episode 4: The Partnership
Now, in celebration of Father's Day, we're re-releasing the final part of Taking the Lead: Manoush’s full conversation with Andrew Moravcsik, the accomplished author, academic, and husband to Anne-Marie Slaughter (yeah, the one who literally wrote the book on women in the workplace.) You’ll want to hear Andy’s insights into what being the lead parent has meant for his career, his psyche, and their marriage.
When this series originally aired, we created a list of s…
Jun 14, 2017
What Sen. Wyden Does When He’s Not Questioning Comey or Sessions
When Ron Wyden got to Congress, Oregon was known for its wood products and the Internet was a series of tubes. Now, things are a little more complicated.
Government hacking. Feds reading Americans’ emails. Border agents demanding your passwords. Corporations selling off your browsing habits. And our old friend, net neutrality. Sen. Wyden can get down into the weeds with the best of them. This week, he geeks out with Manoush about Rule 41, Section 702, and all the other acronyms and provisions that rule your life online.
“I had to push back against overreach in the Bush administration, in the Obama administration, and I think it would be fair to say I'm going to be no less busy during the Trump Administration,” Sen. Wyden says.
With his seat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which heard from former FBI Director James Comey last week, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday, odds are pretty good.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/do…
Jun 8, 2017
Preview: Sen. Ron Wyden of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which today is hearing testimony from former FBI Director James Comey. And just a guess, but chances are issues of hacking, data integrity, and digital meddling might come up.
But Sen. Wyden didn’t just start thinking about these issues during the 2016 campaign. He’s long been a champion of your rights in the digital realm. He sat down with Manoush earlier this week to talk about where that fight goes next. Here’s a sneak peek at their conversation.
Next week, come back for their whole interview, on border device searches, government hacking, cell phone security - oh, and how to keep us all safe without violating our rights.
Jun 7, 2017
Meet the Humans Who Protect Your Eyes
Rochelle LaPlante works on contract as a content moderator. She’s seen basically every kind of image you can imagine. All the boring, normal stuff - cat videos, vacation snapshots, headshots for dating sites. Weird stuff, like hundreds and hundreds of feet. And the occasional nightmare-inducing photo of horrific violence, child abuse, graphic porn.
It takes a toll. Some things, you can’t unsee.
Sometimes Rochelle knows who she’s working for, often not. For about four cents a click, she marks whether the images, text or videos meet the guidelines she’s given. Meet the invisible workforce of content moderation.
This week, all the pictures that never make it to your screen. With Professor Sarah T. Roberts, who studies digital pieceworkers, and Rochelle LaPlante, who you should really thank for protecting your eyeballs.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
May 31, 2017
What We Learned from Grandpa’s FBI File
Daniel Aaron was the grandfather of our senior producer, Kat Aaron. He was a historian, a writer… and apparently a suspected communist. At least according to the FBI file uncovered by FOIA the Dead, which uses the Freedom of Information Act to request the files of everyone in the New York Times obituary page. So far, that includes anti-nuke leaders, fair-housing activists, journalists, and a flying nun.
But what you see when you look back through FBI files of yesteryear is that surveillance is shaped by politics. Whomever catches the eye of the FBI depends a lot on what’s going on in the nation, and the world. Right now, it’s not housing activism or anti-nuclear agitation that are (most) suspect. It's terrorists, it’s Occupy and Black Lives Matter. Maybe it’s you.
This week, Parker Higgins of FOIA the Dead and Jason Leopold, senior investigative reporter at Buzzfeed (and so-called FOIA terrorist) join us to look at surveillance past and surveillance very present.
THE SCRAP…
May 17, 2017
Ed Snowden Says a 'Very Very Dark Future' Is Not Inevitable
With all the news of leaks, national security, and hacking destabilizing the world, who better to talk to than Ed Snowden? Manoush sat down with him—via video chat —on stage in D.C. at the K(NO)W Identity conference this week. And they talked about all the obvious things: the NSA, the Microsoft ransomware, and privacy.
But they also got really Note-to-Selfy. Manoush and Ed talked about identity, and the self, and the “quantified spiderweb of all our worst decisions” that follows us online.
"Privacy isn’t about something to hide," Snowden said. "Privacy is about something to protect. It’s about who you are, who you can be. It’s about the ability to make a mistake without having it follow you for the rest of your life."
A full transcript of their chat is here, if you want.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
May 16, 2017
Wait, What IS Reality? We Investigate.
You know that feeling, maybe in college - you’re suuuper chilled out, maybe chemically-assisted, and you’re like, how do we know we’re even in the same reality, man?
That’s what the world has been feeling like, except, not so chill. Were reports that the President leaked classified intelligence fake news? Or was it real, but totally NBD? Was Comey pressured to drop the investigation into Flynn, or not? Was Spicer in the bushes, or among them? Is everything terrible and going to hell, or is America finally great again? Basically, how do we even know what reality IS any more?
This week, we investigate reality itself, with our friend Brooke Gladstone, host of WNYC’s On the Media and author of a new book, The Trouble With Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time.
The trouble with reality, Brooke says, is that it’s different for everyone. Facts and experience—those don’t bring us all to the same conclusion. So here we are, in an America with two sets of people wit…
May 14, 2017
Taking the Lead Episode 1: The Pain Point
This Mother's Day, a surprise. For all you working mothers balancing deadlines and diapers, ambition and your (lovely) children, we're re-releasing all four episodes of our award-winning series Taking the Lead. This is the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have a tech idea to help harried working mothers rise up in their professional ranks.
Why? Because of numbers like these:
* 4.6 percent of S&P 500 companies have female CEOs
* 43 percent of highly-skilled women with children leave their jobs voluntarily at some point in their careers
* The U.S. is the only developing country that doesn't mandate paid maternity leave. The Family Medical Leave Act gives workers a maximum of 12 weeks off unpaid per year
* Almost 70 percent of mothers and over 90 percent of fathers are in the workforce
* Caregiving is projected to be the largest occupation in the U.S. by 2020
* Only 7 percent of U.S. startups that received at least $20 million in fundin…
May 14, 2017
Taking the Lead Episode 2: The Paradox
This Mother's Day, a surprise. For all you working mothers balancing deadlines and diapers, ambition and your (lovely) children, we're re-releasing all five episodes of our award-winning series Taking the Lead. This is the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have a tech idea to help harried working mothers rise up the professional ranks.
If you're here and haven't heard Episode 1: The Pain Point, take a few minutes to listen to that first.
This is Episode 2: The Paradox. Rachael and Leslie test out a prototype of the service, and they have one especially eager participant: Manoush. Meanwhile, one of the founders discovers that she may be ready to swap in her corporate blazer for a Silicon Valley hoodie, but the other is beginning to question if she can maintain momentum with her current day job, lead-parenting, and starting a new company.
When this series originally aired, we created a list of stellar content (books, podcasts, etc.) to help anyone…
May 14, 2017
Taking the Lead Episode 3: The Pressure
This Mother's Day, a surprise. For all you working mothers balancing deadlines and diapers, ambition and your (lovely) children, we're re-releasing all four episodes of our award-winning series Taking the Lead. This is the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have a tech idea to help harried working mothers rise up in their professional ranks.
If you haven't heard the first two episodes of our series, they're right here:
* Episode 1: The Pain Point
* Episode 2: The Paradox
This is Episode 3: The Pressure. And it's exactly what it sounds like. Faced with financial barriers, Rachael and Leslie join a startup accelerator and pitch their idea to investors. But while honing their pitch, the business partners' different goals surface. Rachael is focused on the service's potential for social change. Leslie sees the potential to create a giant female-led company.
When this series originally aired, we created a list of stellar content (books, podcasts,…
May 14, 2017
Taking the Lead Episode 4: The Partnership
This Mother's Day, a surprise. For all you working mothers balancing deadlines and bake sales, ambition and your (lovely) children, we're re-releasing all four episodes of our award-winning series Taking the Lead. This is the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have a tech idea to help harried working mothers rise up in their professional ranks.
If you haven't heard the first few episodes of our series, they're right here:
* Episode 1: The Pain Point
* Episode 2: The Paradox
* Episode 3: The Pressure
So here we are, in the final chapter of Rachael and Leslie's story.
A quick recap: our two Brooklyn moms turned tech entrepreneurs, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker are co-founders of Need/Done, a service for backup childcare and household support. (You can request an invite to it now. Think Nextdoor meets Sittercity.)
In the final chapter, the women face difficult choices: Should they drop the feminist mission behind the company when the…
May 10, 2017
Why Are So Many Bots Following Manoush?
Every day, Manoush is getting dozens of new followers on Twitter. Sometimes hundreds a day. And every new follower is the same. Generic user name, no photo, blank avatar. And even more suspect, these accounts have no followers, no tweets. In other words: Bots.
Bot armies are taking over Twitter. But they’re not necessarily trying to advance a point of view, according to Phil Howard, a bot researcher. They’re aiming to sow chaos and make dialogue impossible. At the extreme, the goal is to destabilize our very sense of reality.
“Their strategy is to plant multiple conflicting stories that just confuse everybody," Howard says. "If they can successfully get out four different explanations for some trend, then they've confused everybody, and they're able to own the agenda.”
This week, why someone would sic a bot army on Manoush. And what her bot brigade can teach us about how bots are shaping democracy, from last November to Brexit to the recent French election.
You can check if…
May 3, 2017
Parents Just Don’t Understand, Tech Edition
Mom sends a group text… to all four of her boyfriends. Another listener's mom sends the crying-laughing emoji - after their neighbor died. Stories of insensitive parents, tech-addicted kids, and the deep meanings of punctuation.
And there's one communication fail we all share, young and old. We cop out of tough conversations with a text. Yes, it's transparent, and yes, we all do it. Guys, we're better than this.
This week, we fix intergenerational communication forever. Kidding! But we do have answers. Thanks to an expert - psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz. She's here to help.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Apr 26, 2017
AI Learns from Us. So It Learns Bias.
Got a mole on your arm? Soon, an app will soon be able to screen it for cancer. That salad you ate yesterday may have been screened by a LettuceBot, an AI mounted on tractors that checks whether individual plants need water. And if you live in In Singapore or Pittsburgh, you might already be cruising around in a self-driving cab.
Amazing things are happening to the way we live, eat, and get around. Thanks to robots. But robots are programmed by humans. And those people carry implicit biases, as we all do. And those biases get encoded into the AI. Which can get really ugly, really fast.
Like when Google Photo tagged Jacky Alciné’s photos of him and his friend as gorillas a few years ago. This week, we look back at what he found, how the company responded, and the bigger problem behind this one landmark incident. Plus, an update on what Jacky's doing now. Manoush and Jacky Alciné take a Note to Self(ie).
(Manoush Zomorodi/Note to Self)
Support Note to Self by becoming a member…
Apr 19, 2017
Revealing Selfies. Not Like That.
We asked you guys to send us photos. We got a photo of a woman on the beach. A giant fish statue. Teeth. Yes, really.
We gave them to Andreas Weigend, veteran of Xerox Parc, former chief scientist at Amazon, to see what he could deduce. A lot, it turns out.
A little Google image search, a little metadata, and we can find where you are. Maybe who you are. What color phone you’re using to take the shot, and how many SIM cards you have.
Reading photos is more than a digital parlor trick. It’s the future of commerce, marketing, policing, lending, and basically everything else.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Apr 12, 2017
Spring Cleaning for the Mind
There is a lot to take in in our world right now. And there are a lot of ways to do it. You can read articles posted by your Facebook friends, or by the journalists you follow on Twitter. You can watch cable news with your morning oatmeal.
Which makes it all too easy to succumb to information overload. That buzzy, anxious feeling of there’s just too much out there to consume - but I need to know all of it, right?
That feeling isn’t new. It’s just especially turned up in 2017. So this week, an episode worth repeating. We’re proposing one tweak - a challenge of sorts - to change your day. To help you think deeper and consume information meaningfully. Think spring cleaning for your neurons. With neuron experts Dr Daniel Levitin and Gloria Mark, Professor of Informatics.
And if you like this episode, you’ll love listening to the entire Infomagical series. You’ll find some calm and some focus. Maybe even magic. If you did the project, it might be time for a refresher!
Suppor…
Apr 5, 2017
Cucked: Defining Manhood the Alt-Right Way
This week, the very ancient roots of a very modern word. Racist, sexist roots. And how this revolting word bubbled up from the dark corners of 4chan and Reddit to, well, this podcast.
Cultures and subcultures have always had their own slang. Their own secret languages, the in-crowd lingo. But the wonderful and terrible thing about the Internet is that secrets are hard to keep. Words and ideas can spread. Can become normal. (Think “on fleek” and “stay woke.”)
But what happens when the ideas are white supremacy and misogyny?
With Jonathon Green, author of Green’s Dictionary of Slang; writer Dana Schwartz of the Observer, who has written about cucked for GQ, and Derek Thompson of the Atlantic, whose book Hit Makers explores how ideas spread online.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Mar 29, 2017
Deep-Dark-Data-Driven Politics
Data mining is nothing new in presidential campaigns. But in 2016, the Trump team took voter research to a new level. They hired consultants called Cambridge Analytica, which says it has thousands of data points on every American. They also claim they can use that data to create personality profiles. Assessments of each of our hopes, fears, and desires - and target us accordingly.
This is the science of psychometrics. And, as the story went, Cambridge Analytica’s dark digital arts helped Trump win, with ads designed to ring every reader’s individual bell.
Or, did they? Over the past few weeks, reporters and data experts started asking questions. Where did this data come from? Could the Trump campaign really execute a micro-targeted social media strategy? Did they have a secret sauce? Or was it just more ketchup?
This week, psychometrics and the future of campaign data-mining. With Matt Oczkowski of Cambridge Analytica, psychometrics pioneer Michal Kosinski, and Nicholas Confesso…
Mar 22, 2017
The Man Who Invented Facebook Ad Tracking Is Not Sorry
It’s one thing to get fired. It’s another thing to be escorted out by security. And another thing altogether to have your boss call while you’re sitting in the parking lot in shock, and ask what you might be doing next, and if you need investors.
But that’s Silicon Valley for you.
Before he got canned, Antonio García Martínez was an ads guy at Facebook. Pre-IPO. He designed the ad tracking system that allows products you searched for one single time to follow you around the internet. But he was also undercover as an author, taking notes for a tell-all. The book he wrote is called Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley. Stories of Face-versaries instead of birthdays, what it means to get an email from Zuck, and the cult of changing the world.
Despite all he knows, despite ethnic-affinity targeting, he still thinks online ads are A-OK. So Manoush tries to save his ad-loving soul.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio…
Mar 15, 2017
Government Secrets Worth Leaking... or Keeping?
So, the C.I.A. has a back door to your phone. At least, according to the Vault 7 data dump from WikiLeaks.
The documents—as yet unproven—say that if your device is connected to the internet, the American government wants in. And has a few tricky tools to do it.
But they’ve had some sneaky tools for a while now. Just ask Daniel Rigmaiden.
In 2008, Rigmaiden was arrested for filing fraudulent tax returns. And he couldn’t figure out how he was caught. He was careful. He stayed anonymous online, he used pre-paid debit cards and fake IDs. So he developed what his attorneys thought was a pretty crazy theory about government surveillance. And it turned out he was right.
This week we revisit Daniel’s story. What he uncovered was more than a theory—it was a balancing act. The technology the government used to catch him was hidden to allegedly keep us safe. If criminals didn't know about it, they wouldn't be able to hack it.
But does that secrecy actually open us up to other dan…
Mar 8, 2017
Will You Do a Snapchat Streak With Me?
If you are between the ages of 18 and 34, there’s a good chance you’ve already checked Snapchat today. This week, Manoush joins you—despite her reservations.
Those reservations are not just because the Note to Self team isn’t the app’s target demo. It’s because we feel uneasy about the ways Snapchat pressures you to check it, and use it, and check and use again. And again. And again. Former Google designer Tristan Harris explains how far Silicon Valley will go to capture and control your eyeballs. And Snapchat artist CyreneQ explains how she makes her living drawing on her phone all day. For real.
Also, our suggestions for apps that don’t just want to control your eyeballs. Moment helps keep track of how much time you’re spending on your phone. Pocket, which helps your read when you choose. Duolingo has a streaks feature, like Snapchat, but on your terms. F.lux adjusts your computer’s colors at night. Tristan has his own list of suggestions, too.
Got suggestions? L…
Mar 1, 2017
Zapping Your Brain To Bliss
At Manoush’s house, there’s an object the size of a big potato chip. Which she stuck to her forehead, and used to zap her brain.
This brain stimulation is supposed to calm you down. Maybe replace a glass of wine, just wind you down a little. But it turns out you can wind down a little too far. Too far to ask coherent questions of scientists you’re interviewing.
In this repeat episode, hear what it sounds like when the high-octane Note to Self crew chills waaaay out.
P.S. Looking for the study we mentioned? Thync’s research is all here.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 22, 2017
Can Your Phone Make You Better In Bed?
When Graceann Bennett got married, she and her husband were terrible at communicating about sex. They were both virgins. They didn’t know how to explain what turned them on, or what turned them off. Over almost two decades, they never quite managed to talk about it. And then the marriage fizzled out.
Bennett decided to code her way out of the problem. If an app was too late to save her marriage, maybe it could help someone else.
In this repeat episode, Kaitlin Prest and Mitra Kaboli of The Heart take that app on a test drive. Pls Pls Me lets users share their secret desires with their partners. Who can respond with yes please, or… not so much.
Things we talk about in this episode include love, sex, spanking, and peeing on people. But also kissing, intimacy, and how to communicate. But you might not want to listen with your kids. Or parents. Or at work.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 21, 2017
Privacy, Data Survivalism and a New Tech Ethics
There are different approaches to digital privacy. Technologist and entrepreneur Anil Dash tries to flood the Internet with information about himself, not all correct. Reporter Julia Angwin tries to get as invisible as possible. But like Julia says, we’re all kind of losing. Just losing in different ways.
Manoush talked with Anil and Julia before a live audience at WNYC's The Greene Space. We chatted about becoming an information prepper, heterogeneity as privacy, and the perennial question: should we all get off Gmail?
Also, a surprising amount of laughter. And hope.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 15, 2017
Privacy Paradox: Results Show
This week, the results are in. Tens of thousands of people joined the Privacy Paradox challenge. And it changed you.
Before the project, we asked if you knew how to get more privacy into your life—43 percent said you did. After the project, that number went up to 80 percent. Almost 90 percent of you also said this project showed you privacy invasions you didn’t know existed.
When we asked you what this project made you want to do, only 7 percent of you said “give up.” Sorry guys! Don’t.
Fully 70 percent of you said you want to push for protection of our digital rights. We have ideas for that in our tip sheet. A third of you said you’ll delete a social media profile. Another third said this project made you want to meditate.
And just one more stat. We tallied your answers to our privacy personality quiz and gave you a personality profile. One-fifth of us were true believers in privacy before the project. Now half us are. Manoush says that includes her.
In this episode,…
Feb 10, 2017
Day 5: Your Personal Terms of Service
You've made it. It's final chapter of the 5-day Privacy Paradox challenges. We hear from the one and only Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. And we set some terms for ourselves about how we want to live online, and what we—all of us, together—can do to create the web we really want.
And while you're thinking about the future, take our Exit Strategy Quiz to find out how far you’ve come, and get a tip sheet with actions—big and small, individual and collective—to re-invent the internet to work for us.
Sir Tim thinks we can do it. And hey, he already did it once, right?
And if you haven't already—sign up for the 5-day newsletter here to get details on each day's action step. Don't worry if you're signing up after February 10th, we'll get you the challenges on your schedule. The project lives on!
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 9, 2017
Day 4: Fifteen Minutes of Anonymity
In this episode, we hear from Elan Gale, executive producer of the Bachelor. Yes, that Bachelor, THE reality show, with a single guy, in a mansion, surrounded by a bevy of young women trying to get him to pick her as “the one.” It sounds so weird when you spell out the premise like that. He has a few things to say about our performance culture and what it means for our privacy.
And we hear from Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a professor of Clinical Psychology at Stanford University, where he runs the OCD clinic. He’s the author of Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the e-Personality. And he’s worried that all our posting and sharing is making it hard for us to protect our true, inner self. Or even find it.
And it's not too late - you can sign up for the 5-day newsletter here to get details on each day's action step.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 8, 2017
Day 3: Something To Hide
In this episode, we hear from Luciano Floridi, University of Oxford professor of philosophy and ethics of information. In 2014, he was appointed as Google’s in-house philosopher, advising the company on the right to be forgotten. Think you have nothing to hide? As Floridi says, a life without shadows is a flat life.
And if you haven't already - sign up for the 5-day newsletter here to get details on each day's action step.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 7, 2017
Day 2: The Search For Your Identity
In this episode, we hear from Joseph Turow, professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s studied the marketing and advertising industries for decades, and recently wrote a new book called The Aisles Have Eyes: How Retailers Track Your Shopping, Strip Your Privacy, and Define Your Power.
And we hear from our friend Julia Angwin at ProPublica, who’s been doing brilliant reporting on algorithms and how they’re being used online and off. Her series Breaking the Black Box lifted the lid on ad targeting at Facebook.
And if you haven't already - sign up for the 5-day newsletter here to get details on each day's action step.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Feb 6, 2017
Day 1: What Your Phone Knows
What does your phone know about you? And what can you do about it?
Welcome to the first day of our week-long series of podcasts and action-steps designed to help you take back your digital identity. We’re starting with trimming your digital exhaust - your metadata.
Many of your apps track your location even when you’re not using them. Others listen in via your microphone when you’re not talking to them. In this episode, renowned security technologist and cryptographer Bruce Schneier takes us on a guided tour of our phones and the metadata they’re giving away.
To get details on the day's action step, sign up for the 5-day newsletter here.
If you want to check out the secure messaging app Signal that Bruce and Manoush talk about, that's online here.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.
Jan 30, 2017
Introducing: The Privacy Paradox
We've heard so many stories from you, listeners. You love the convenience of living online. But you want more control over where your personal information goes and who can see it. Researchers call this the Privacy Paradox.
Our 5-day plan, starting February 6th, is here to solve that digital dilemma.
This week, we're laying the groundwork. What it'll take to resolve the privacy paradox -- and how it starts with you. In this episode, we'll hear from behavioral economist Alessandro Acquisiti, retired Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff, who coined the term “Surveillance Capitalism," and -- of course -- more of you, dear listeners. Stories of ex-wives hacking social media accounts, stolen social security numbers, and (from a lot of you) that vague creeped out feeling.
Then, after you listen, join us and start resolving your paradox.
Sign up for the Privacy Paradox newsletter here. And, take our quiz to find your Privacy Personality.
From February 6th to 10th, we'll send you a daily ne…
Jan 25, 2017
Saving Big Data From Itself
In a room at The MIT Media Lab, you can find the dreamscape of small children everywhere. Giant cities, in perfect detail, constructed entirely from tiny white Lego.
Sandy Pentland built them. These dioramas use all sorts of data, from foot traffic to investment dollars to tweets, so cities--and the people living in them--can be improved in ways they’ve never been before.
A few doors down is Rosalind Picard’s office. She met a young man who just could not tell if his boss was happy or furious. And it kept getting him fired. He was on his 20th job. So she built him a glasses-mounted camera that reads facial expressions, matching what it sees against a huge database of faces. Problem solved.
That’s the promise of big data. It can smooth social interactions. Solve sticky municipal problems. Cure cancer, slow climate change. But the data has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is us.
This week, as we get ready for our big project on privacy, Note to Self looks at the good…
Jan 18, 2017
The Bookie, The Phone Booth, and The FBI
This week, Note to Self gets in our time machine, back to the court cases that brought privacy from the founding fathers to Google Docs. Stories of bookies on the Sunset Strip, microphones taped to phone booths, and a 1975 Monte Carlo. And where the Fourth Amendment needs to go, now that we’re living in the future.
The amendment doesn’t mention privacy once. But those 54 little words, written more than 200 years ago, are a crucial battleground in today’s fight over our digital rights. That one sentence is why the government can’t listen to your phone calls without a warrant. And it’s why they don’t need one to find out who you’re calling.
But now, we share our deepest thoughts with Google, through what we search for and what we email. And we share our most intimate conversations with Alexa, when we talk in its vicinity. So how does the Fourth Amendment apply when we’re surrounded by technology the Founding Fathers could never dream of?
With Laura Donohue, director of…
Jan 11, 2017
The Four Tendencies: How to Feed Good Habits
See more friends. Take more walks. Read more books. Get more sleep. Why don’t those intentions stick? You want to change. But it doesn’t seem to take. Maybe you just haven’t identified what house you’re in.
Gretchen Rubin, mega-bestselling author of The Happiness Project, says the key to long-term habit change is understanding how we respond to expectations. She names four broad categories of responders: the Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin of habit-changing. Figuring out your cognitive house might be the key to changing your bad habits for good. Including one habit we hear about a lot: clinging to the phone right up until our eyes drop closed.
If you want to know which house you’re in, there’s a handy quiz. An online sorting hat, if you will. Manoush is a Questioner. Obviously.
For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.
Support Note to Self by beco…
Jan 4, 2017
New Year. Same Old You.
New year, new you. That’s the idea, right? And 2016 in particular left a lot of people extra-eager to start fresh.
One problem. Our fitbits and apps and tracking tools all collect data on us. The slate isn’t clean - it’s full of digital permanent marker.
In an ideal world, all that information helps us become better people. More fit, healthier, rested, hydrated. And for some people, those stats are the motivational key to a better life. But what happens when the data just sabotages you? For some of us, data just isn’t the magic bullet for optimizing our quantified selves.
So instead of resolving to track every calorie, minute slept, and stair climbed, how about this: be gentle with yourself. This repeat episode can help.
This episode originally aired in 2016. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.
Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio…
Dec 28, 2016
Go Ahead. Miss Out.
It's cold. Bed is so tempting. As is your sofa. But the siren song of your phone is calling you. According to Instagram and Facebook, every single person you know is looking gorgeous at the world's best party, eating photogenic snacks.
Fear Of Missing Out. It's so real. And social media amplifies it 1000x.
But maybe there's another path. Another acronym to embrace. The Joy Of Missing Out. JOMO.
Caterina Fake popularized the term FOMO, with a blog post waaaay back in 2011. And her friend Anil Dash coined the term JOMO (after missing a Prince concert to attend his child’s birth). On this week's (repeat) episode of Note to Self, the two talk about the role of acronyms, the importance of thoughtful software design, and the recent history of the Internet as we know it.
And if you want even more Anil Dash, he'll be talking to Manoush on January 31st at the Greene Space in New York City. We're teaming up with our friends at ProPublica for an event called Breaking the Black Box: How Algo…