Strangers showed us their Notes app. Here's what we learned. episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 4, 2025 · 20 MIN

Strangers showed us their Notes app. Here's what we learned.

from Post Reports · host The Washington Post

The note-taking applications on our phones are often where we go to jot down a quick reminder, a draft of a text message or a packing list. These simple text editors are there, on our phones, ready to document our fleeting thoughts.But what do these notes from yesterday, or last month, or three years ago say about ourselves? Post Reports co-host Elahe Izadi recently took on this question and asked strangers if she could look into their notes app. Host Colby Itkowitz chats with Elahe about what she learned from this little social experiment.  Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu. It was mixed by Sam Bair and edited by Ariel Plotnick. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Dec 4, 2025

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If our eyes are windows into our souls, then the notes applications on our phones are the wide-open doors to our lives. Why our digital notepads – full of grocery lists, to-dos and half-baked ideas – are more revealing than we think.

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Strangers showed us their Notes app. Here's what we learned.

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