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Why the internet sucks (and keeps getting worse) Oct 20, 2025

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Do you ever feel like the internet just doesn't work as well as it used to?
Or maybe you wish you could go back to the old internet? Where your search queries actually served you what you wanted, and your feeds weren't overrun by ads? Well, it's not just you - the internet IS getting worse, and platforms are getting harder to leave. But how did we get here? Journalist and tech activist Cory Doctorow joins Brittany to lay out why in his new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
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Is Taylor Swift exploiting her fans? Yes, but... Oct 17, 2025

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Love it or hate it, your favorite pop star is a person and a product. How much are you willing to pay?
Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, smashed records for first week album sales. This was in part due to all the different limited-edition variants that went on sale; some for only 24 hours. Talk about pressuring your fans! Is this business strategy fan service, or fan exploitation? Where’s the line?
Brittany sits down with Stephen Thompson, host for NPR Music and Pop Culture Happy Hour, and Ann Powers, NPR music critic and correspondent, to get into the life of a business woman, why they think Swift had to make this album, and whether or not it's worth the cost.
Read Ann's (mostly positive) review of The Life of a Showgirl.
(0:00) Is Taylor exploiting her fans? Yes and No!
(3:08) Taylor's business strategy isn't hers alone...
(6:11) Why Taylor is a proxy for all our rage
(10:43) Why vinyl sales in general have skyrocketed
(13:46) How the charts impact the music industry
(15:50) Why Taylor Swift HAD to make 'The Life of a Showgirl'
(18:15) Does greed make bad art?
(21:00) Responding to your comments :)
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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Art, faith, & your tendency to overthink it. Oct 15, 2025

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Sometimes the harshest critic is the one in your head. What if instead you had faith in yourself, and what you're making?
It's a familiar, paralyzing fear that not only keeps you from creating your best work, but can also make you question your own worth. Novelist Brandon Taylor knows this fear intimately. And in his new book, 'Minor Black Figures,' his characters - maybe just like you - are tortured by harsh online criticism from random keyboard warriors, and their own inner saboteurs. In this episode, Brandon joins Brittany to talk through the "double consciousness" of creating art today, and what it means to have faith as an artist.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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Brittany pops off on Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Oct 14, 2025

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NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour asked Brittany to go to the movies and bring them her thoughts on The Rock's new movie, The Smashing Machine. She fulfilled the assignment and more.
In this special bonus episode, Brittany, Pop Culture Happy Hour's Aisha Harris, Code Switch's Gene Demby, and NPR contributor Reanna Cruz get into The Rock's attempt at capital-A acting. Is Dwayne Johnson going to get an Oscar, or is the movie an all-around skip?
You can listen to more episodes of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour here.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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TikTok, Censorship, & Algospeak Oct 13, 2025

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There's his trend on social media of using code words for different topics so you can trick the algorithm from categorizing your content in a certain way. What do you think? Is this a form of censorship?
Or...are algorithm categorizations a way of protecting users from seeing too much violent or aggressive content? Well, whatever side of the debate you fall on, Code Switch's B.A. Parker and Gene Demby are going to show you how this so-called ALGO-speak or algorithm-speak shapes your beliefs in conscious and unconscious ways.
You can listen to more episodes of NPR's Code Switch here.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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People say college doesn't matter. They're right and wrong. Oct 10, 2025

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Does a college degree get you anything these days? Some people say no, but the reality is far more complicated.
About 19 million people are going to college right now. But one recent poll from Gallup shows that the percentage of Americans who view college as very important is at an all time low, dropping from 75% in 2010 to 35% now. Those who say it's not very important increased from 4% to 24% in the same time period. This is a pretty dramatic change that goes beyond ballooning costs.
Brittany chats with Elissa Nadworny, an education correspondent for NPR, and Kathryn Palmer, reporter for Inside Higher Ed, to get into what’s behind this changing perception – what politics has to do with it – and whether college is still worth it.
(0:00) Is going to college still beneficial?
(2:04) What's behind people thinking a college degree isn't necessary?
(7:54) Why colleges should be responsible for their students's success
(10:23) Why Republicans benefit from college but still discredit it
(16:39) 'Wait WHAT?!': Trivia about the poppiest moments from last week
(21:22) Responding to your comments :)
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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Is the economy slowing? Ask Black women. Oct 08, 2025

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Black women’s unemployment rate is hovering at 6.7% — higher than the rate for white workers. Is it a sign the broader economy could sour? These economists say yes.
Black women are the 'canary in the economic coal mine,' says Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. She's the author of The Double Tax: How Women of Color are Overcharged and Underpaid. Brittany speaks to Anna and Ofranama Biu, chief economist and senior research director at the Maven Collaborative, about why Black women's unemployment is on the rise and why this trend could be a troubling sign for the rest of the country.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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If American films are meh...are China’s better? Oct 06, 2025

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Hollywood isn't performing as well at home or abroad. Is it losing its cultural dominance to China's burgeoning film industry?
‘Survive until 2025’ was the mantra that got Hollywood through the past five years of lockdown, streaming wars, and franchise fatigue. And while summer films like Lilo & Stitch, Superman, and Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning made critical and box office impact… on the whole, it still doesn't compare to pre-2020 levels. And even more curious, the international box office - specifically in China - has declined over the years as well.
At the same time, the highest grossing animated film of all time hit theaters this year… in China. Ne Zha 2 has dominated the global box office and with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and K-Pop: Demon Hunters also breaking records, Brittany had to ask: What does this say about Hollywood’s global influence and how have audience appetites changed since 2020? Staff writer at The Atlantic, Shirley Li, joins the show to answer those questions and more.
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Ketamine & the Era of Dissociation Oct 03, 2025

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Recreational ketamine use is on the rise. But why are some people using it to dissociate in the club?
Ketamine – a dissociative anesthetic – is illegal without a prescription and can potentially be harmful. Yet, it has had a massive rise in recreational use over the past decade. One study found that use increased by 81.8% from 2015 to 2019 and rose another 40% from 2021 to 2022. What is driving the illicit drug's sudden popularity? And is it's dissociative properties indicative of our times?
Brittany chats with P.E. Moskowitz, a journalist and author of Breaking Awake: A Reporter’s Search for a New Life, and a New World, Through Drugs, which explores our national mental health and drug use crises, and Benjamin Breen, associate professor of history at UC Santa Cruz, who specializes in the histories of science, medicine and drugs and is the author of the book, Tripping on Utopia. Together they investigate why ketamine is showing up in more people's social lives.
Warning: this episode contains discussion of illegal drugs and drugs use and may not be suitable for all listeners.
(0:00) Why Ketamine is the party drug on the moment
(5:12) What recreational drug users say about it's affects
(13:06) Why ketamine's dissociative effects match today's cultural anxieties
(17:24) Safety concerns for recreational ketamine use
(19:42) Responding to listeners comments
For more information on the science of ketamine, check out NPR's Short Wave podcast.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Should teens have political opinions? Oct 01, 2025

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At what age did you have a fully formed political perspective? Did tens of thousands of people listen to you? Well, teens today are more influential than ever.
From Charlie Kirk to Greta Thunberg, teenagers and children have long had political influence. But what’s new is that teenagers are creating their own media ecosystem for teenagers, by teenagers. And they’re doing it through highly popular podcasts, like: MD Foodie Boyz or The LOL Podcast.
Brittany, NPR’s Jordan-Marie Smith, and The Cut’s EJ Dickson are delving into the “boyosphere” and exploring what teenage boys and girls are talking about in the rapidly expanding child content creator space. What do these teens have to say about politics and more? And what do their views say about all our futures?
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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