Note to Self

Right from wrong. We teach our kids what this means in the classroom and at home. But whatabout online? The next generation of tech users could be a part of much more civilized digitaluniverse, but only if they learn how now. Manoush talks to Richard Culatta (CEO of theInternational Society for Technology in Education) about the five steps to creating good digitalcitizens, and how to turn the current online “culture shift” into something positive, respectful, andmore accessible to all. Sign up for Manoush’s newsletter StableG.com/newsletter and find her other podcasts atZigZagPod.com and IRLPodcast.com

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

In 2018, Andria Zafirakou was named Global Teacher of the Year and given $1m in prize money. Why?

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.

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.

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.

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. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but Note to Self will be back before you know it with some changes and surprises.  Look at more postcards by Giorgia and Stefanie here. 

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. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but Note to Self will be back before you know it with some changes and surprises. 

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. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but Note to Self will be back before you know it with some changes and surprises. Keep in touch with her on Twitter, Instagram, and on her website.

Generic usernames, no photos, no tweets. This week, we investigate the dozens of mysterious accounts following Manoush on Twitter. Plus, what makes a good bot – and a bad one. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but Note to Self will be back before you know it with some changes and surprises. Keep in touch with her on Twitter, Instagram, and on her website.

This week, the Supreme Court cases that defined privacy for the digital age. Because the founding fathers didn’t write the Bill of Rights with the internet in mind. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but she’ll be back before you know it with some changes and surprises. Keep in touch with her on Twitter, Instagram, and on her website.

We visit the Dark Web, where you can get heroin, fentanyl and oxycontin shipped right to your door. This week, the link between online drug markets and America’s opioid crisis. ------- For the next several weeks you'll hear the “Best of” Note to Self in your podcast feed. Our favorite episodes. Manoush will be working on some other projects, but she’ll be back before you know it with some changes and surprises. Keep in touch with her on Twitter, Instagram, and on her website.

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.  

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)  

  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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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? Let us know. Record a voice memo from your browser or phone. Or email us at [email protected]. 

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 newest series is No Filter: Women Owning It Online. 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. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love hearing from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Mona Chalabi, data editor at the Guardian, takes the numb out of numbers. She joins Manoush to talk about stats versus stories, how data defines normal, and average testicle size. That one’s an interactive iPhone chart. For real.  Her hand-drawn illustrations are in her Instagram feed, if you want to check them out as you listen. Specifically, Manoush and Mona talk about the “iceberg of pervs,” women in Congress, the hairiness series, and male vocal change. *all credit for the numb/numbers wordplay goes to Mona, via her Twitter bio. ------- Listen to Mona's new podcast, Strange Bird. Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

We asked how you share personal photos. Here’s what we learned from your 1,200 (!) answers. Psychologist Guy Winch joins Manoush to untangle our mixed posting emotions. Because our grams are complex. A trans listener is thankful his parents didn’t post during his teen years. A mom doesn’t understand her daughter’s online brand. A son wishes his dad included him in family snapshots. Nothing is just a pretty picture. Plus, the wonderful Charlotte Philby, former editor of Motherland magazine. Her family posts were part of her "brand" - until she stopped gramming cold turkey. ------- Guy Winch’s new book is How to Fix a Broken Heart. Charlotte Philby’s website is here, and the article she wrote about her famous spy granddad is incredible. We gathered some of your comments in a Medium post, because you all are amazing. Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Real OKCupid message: “Hi, good evening, nice photos. You are not fat.” It’s rough on dating apps. Can romance survive? Eric Klinenberg wrote Modern Romance with Aziz Ansari. This week, he joins Manoush to make the case that dating apps have killed romance. Featuring a mystery dater, reporting from the frontier of 21st century love.  ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Let’s build a database of political Facebook ads. Just in case someone needs to check on them later. Like, say, if the Russians bought thousands of ads to sway an election. Manoush’s privacy girlfriend, ProPublica’s Julia Angwin, is back with a challenge (and a browser plugin) for Note to Self listeners. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

We all need someone to tell (or text) our stories to. Even if they’re paid to text back. This week, Manoush meets an Invisible Girlfriend, earning pennies a message to create fake love. And an utterly wonderful man using the service for an entirely valid reason. We’re revisiting this 2015 episode to warm your heart pre-Valentine's Day. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

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. Manoush gets the answers from Anya Kamenetz, NPR education correspondent and author of the 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. And we sneak a peek at Dina Temple-Raston’s new podcast, What Were You Thinking: Inside the Adolescent Brain.    ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Is there a secret solution to information overload? Can random accounts ever truly be erased? How do I stay connected if I break up with social media? It’s Manoush’s brain, distilled into actionable pearls of wisdom. Plus, meet the woman behind the Note to Self inbox. Read the full list of tips and services we discuss in the episode. Including Manoush's favorite newsletters, and a killer oatmeal cookie recipe. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

People have a lot of excuses for not meditating. Eight, in fact. Dan Harris knows them all. And he can help. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Let’s create some calm as this year ends. It all starts with one deep breath, led by Google employee 107. This week, we revisit Manoush’s lovely interview with Chade-Meng Tan, who retired at 44 to meditate and search for world peace. Because these days, we sure need it. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

The creators of the Netflix hit Black Mirror on predicting the future, Twitter as a massive role-playing game, and nostalgia for meh. As season four of the Emmy-award-winning show approaches, we revisit Manoush’s conversation with show creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones. Chipper optimism and wit from two delightfully dark geniuses. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

The tradeoffs we don’t see when we shop on Amazon. Why the answer isn’t to cancel your Prime. And yes, I bring Alexa’s new camera into my bedroom. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

People say mean things to Dylan Marron online. He takes that as an invitation to call them up and make friends. This week, the benefits of talking to our haters, and why it’s good for the country as well as the soul.  ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise. Find Dylan’s show, Conversations with People Who Hate Me, here. 

An incomplete list of the objects listening to us: Siri. Alexa. Google Home. With so many recordings, the transcribed life isn’t far off. For better or for worse.  This week, one intrepid woman records every minute of her life for three days. She captured a lot of minutia, and one extremely uncomfortable interaction. Our guest co-host on this repeat episode is Rose Eveleth, of the Flash Forward podcast. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

How a single American’s quest for his own digital marketing profile may show us all how our data travels the world. And may even end up in the hands of foreign governments. ------- Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky. Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

From March, the first chapter in our look at Cambridge Analytica. 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.

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.     

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.   

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 executive Antonio Garcia Martinez. Exploring the Trump campaign’s use of psychometrics, we interviewed the chief product officer of data-profiling company Cambridge Analytica. April brought a foray into the alt-right corners of Reddit, and the origins of the word cucked. And in May, we talked to Phil Howard, an Oxford University professor among the first to research the armies of Russian bots spreading garbage and confusion on Twitter. Turns out, almost without realizing it, we’ve been assembling pieces of this puzzle all year. Become a member today and support our work. Just visit NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.  This is the first episode of our series on Russia. Listen to the second and third parts next. For more spy terms explained, reasonable/sensible coping strategies for when democracy is under threat, and Nyet more puns.   

There was a time humans were guided by stars, not satellite. Now you can beam into robots, or turn on GPS. But when we put ourselves on autopilot we may lose our minds. This week, Manoush outsources her body to a telepresence robot. And finds out what GPS has done to her brain. Turn right, turn left, right off a cliff.  With Greg Milner, author of Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds. We have photos of robot Manoush in this week's newsletter. If you don't already get it, sign up here. 

You judge the person playing Candy Crush. Even when it’s you. But that mental fist pump from leveling up has real value. How to stop judging and use games for a strategic reset. With game designer and futurist Jane McGonigal, author of SuperBetter and Reality is Broken.

The Replika app chats with you, learns from you, and reflects you back. It starts to become you. And your AI self gets pretty real. Journalist Mike Murphy used the app to create his mini-me, and wrote about it for Quartz. After months of talking to himself, he had a breakthrough. And some questions about how we define humanness. You can find Mike’s story here.

And other fibs we tell our friends, family and lovers. Psychotherapist Esther Perel is back to call us on our bullsh*t. This is the second of our two-parter on how our phones create such intimacy and such distance. Esther’s new book is The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity. Listen to part one here.

Remember being dumped? Now, technology lets us delay, deflect, and disappear. Renowned pyschotherapist Esther Perel is here to help us fall in love better. Esther is the bestselling author of Mating in Captivity and the host of the podcast Where Should We Begin? Her new book is The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity.

Silicon Valley is still a man's world. And Ellen Ullman, who started programming in 1978, thinks it's high time for the rest of us to infiltrate. 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, where she turned down a job offer from Larry Page. Ellen has watched tech-bro culture take over everything. Now, she says, we have to grab our angry dignity and fight back. 

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. And he recorded himself doing it. It was not easy. There are some painful moments - but man, is there a payoff.  Plus, seventh grade teacher-turned-neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on the link between single-tasking and innovation.  The second of our two episodes celebrating the launch of Manoush's new book, Bored and Brilliant. 

We deleted, we unplugged, we took walks. We made choices. We made time. Two years later, we catch up with some of the original Bored and Brilliant participants - some of the 20,000 people who joined our 2015 experiment. Today, that experiment is a book, designed to help us separate from our devices just a bit, and turn them from taskmaster to tool. To make space for boredom, and let the brilliance in. 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.

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. A brain nap. With historian Peter Toohey, and some very soothing, meditative music.

A surprise bonus, because Manoush's TED talk is online now (!) and she has some behind-the-scenes memories to share from the main stage. To celebrate - and vent (in a good way). 

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.