Culture Study Podcast

Anne Helen Petersen

A podcast about the culture that surrounds you — with Anne Helen Petersen and a bunch of very smart co-hosts

  • 1 hour 12 minutes
    What's Behind All The BIG KOREAN POP CULTURE ENERGY

    Sometimes I wish I could just have the intro paragraph to an episode be GAAHHHHHHH THIS ONE WAS SO FUN! So this is my version of that: telling you that I wish it could be that, and then also telling you that we go deep on so many components of the global spread (and embrace) of Korean pop culture. We go into the calculated political elements, the uncanny elision of North Korean stories, and why so many of the Korean narratives resonating with American audiences are ones crafted by Korean-Americans. This is a really effusive and loving episode that also manages to have some very real talk about why kids dressing up as characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters is not yellow face. IT'S SO GOOD, and I know we're gonna have a great discussion about it.

    ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!

    • Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

    • Head to Graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use code CULTURESTUDY to get 10% off your order and get cooking this holiday season with some fresh, delicious olive oil!

    • Visit moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the new plant-based trial pack.

    • Go to shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to receive 55% off  your new nightguard PLUS a free foam gift.

    Show Notes:

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

    • '90s Movie Soundtracks

    • How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH

    • How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)

    • The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: What's your favorite manifestation of BIG KOREAN ENERGY right now?

    10 December 2025, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    How to Fall in Love with Birding

    Do you need an episode that's the equivalent of a big, deep, inhale and exhale? GREAT NEWS, TEAM, WE HAVE THE EPISODE FOR YOU. Journalist and urban birder Ryan Goldberg joins me to talk about the recent spike of interest in birding (particularly amongst young people), but we go a lot deeper than "wow seems like millennials are taking up old people hobbies." We talk about the intergenerational magic of birding clubs, bird list gamificiation (and how to avoid it), and how apps like Merlin have changed birding culture. But the real heart of this episode is what makes people fall in love — and stay in love — with a hobby that's really, at heart, about listening. I'm not a birder, so this episode will be accessible to anyone in my shoes (or who's birding-curious) — and if you are a birder, get ready to nerd out. I hope your blood pressure drops a few points while listening, because my mine sure did while recording.

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    We're experimenting with producing our own (moderately polished) transcripts. They'll be uploaded here within 24 hours of publishing.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    Show Notes:

    • Buy Bird City here!

    • Learn more about Ryan's work here — also noting two upcoming events (learn more on his website)

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

    • The Wild Largely Unregulated World of IVF (and IVF Bureaucracy)

    • Audiobooks!!! (with MVP audiobook narrator Julia Whelan)

    • '90s Movie Soundtracks

    • How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH

    • PEOPLE'S NAMES and what they signify (and how it changes with time)

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: Tell me about your experience with birding culture — or something about this episode that made you want to get into it! (I bet it was me laughing like a 5 year old about birds named tits)

    3 December 2025, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    What It's Actually Like to Run a Small (Creative) Business

    When I went freelance full-time to write Culture Study, I had no idea what I was doing. NONE. It took me several years — and encouragement from my accountant and other writers — to begin thinking of what I was doing as a small business. And it took me several years after that to understand how small businesses, especially small creative businesses, have to figure out strategies to fend off burnout in order to, well, stay in it for the long haul. We have to make our creative work and our business practices sustainable.

    Printmaker and textile artist Jen Hewett was one of the first people I saw talking frankly about what it's like to run a creative small business — the stuff that takes way too much time, the stuff that's super annoying, how she budgets and takes time off and deals with eldercare and divides her days and weeks and years. We loved answering all your questions about SMALL BUSINESS LYFE — balancing the 'business' with the 'creative,' how to think about social media promotion, how to protect a hobby from becoming a business — and I can't wait to talk more in the comments.

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    Side Note: We're experimenting with producing our own (very imperfect) transcripts. You can find it here.

    If there's enough demand, we might consider putting in the not insignificant labor to make these super readable — but for now, they're a backup to the podcast, not a replacement for it.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Visit AuraFrames.com and get $45 off Aura's best-selling Carver mat frames by using promo code CULTURE at checkout

    • Support local bookstores and get 10% off your next purchase at Bookshop.org with code CULTURE

    • If you're in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table, or bed, check out the beautiful, long-lasting options at Article.com

    • Go to WildAlaskan.com/CULTURE for $35 off your first box of premium, wild-caught seafood

    Show Notes:

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

    • How Did Everyone Low-Key Become an Influencer? AKA How do you see influencer posting logic creeping into non-influencer accounts

    • The Wild Largely Unregulated World of IVF

    • Audiobooks!!! (with MVP audiobook narrator Julia Whelan)

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: I'd love to hear about your own experiences (and challenges) running a small business!

    26 November 2025, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 11 seconds
    Tracing Cultural Panics with Sarah Marshall (!!!)

    What is it about a particular cultural object — or trend, or perceived trend — that makes people FREAK THE F OUT? Anyone who's looked at historical freakouts knows: it's never really about the thing itself, but more about ideologies that are under threat and in flux. If you challenge the status quo, in other words, there's a high likelihood that you could get swept up in a panic about something that has nothing to do with the way in which you're actually challenging the status quo.

    The best person to talk about these sort of freak-outs is Sarah Marshall, beloved host of You're Wrong About and current host of a new CBC limited series on the satanic panic called The Devil You Know. In this episode, Sarah brings her trademark empathy to your smart questions about freak-outs old and new (yes, we talk about kids & screens, but not for the entire episode). This episode was an utter delight to record and I can only hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    Side Note: We're experimenting with producing our own (very imperfect) transcripts. You can find it here.

    If there's enough demand, we might consider putting in the not insignificant labor to make these super readable — but for now, they're a backup to the podcast, not a replacement for it.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CULTURE and use the code CULTURE to claim your free 3-piece towel set and save over 40% OFF.

    • Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/CULTURE 

    • Go to shopbeam.com/CULTURE, use code CULTURE, and get up to 50% off during Beam’s Cyber Sale

    • Visit AuraFrames.com and get $45 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter -  by using promo code CULTURE at checkout

    Show Notes:

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

    • How Did Everyone Low-Key Become an Influencer? AKA How do you see influencer posting logic creeping into non-influencer accounts

    • The Wild Largely Unregulated World of IVF

    • Audiobooks!!! (with MVP audiobook narrator Julia Whelan)

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: I'd love to hear your alternate reads on what caused any of the cultural panics we discussed in the show.

    19 November 2025, 10:00 am
  • 58 minutes 31 seconds
    A Very Smart Conversation About Fantasy (and Romance) with Leigh Bardugo

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    I love books with complicated lore. I love plots that interrogate the way power accumulates and spoils — particularly but not exclusively on Ivy League campuses. I love it when a character learns of UNKNOWN POWERS, and I love a good heist. Which means I fell in love with Leigh Bardugo's books immediately. My favorite is Ninth House (and its sequel, Hell Bent) but she is equally well-known for the Shadow and Bone series and the duology Six of Crows, which was just re-released for its tenth anniversary... all of which pop up all over the Culture Study reading rec threads whenever we have them.

    So imagine my surprise when Leigh's team heard that Culture Study loved Leigh's work and would we like to have Leigh come on the show? YES, OF COURSE. And listen, I knew this conversation was gonna be great. But I didn't realize it was gonna be this great. We talk about genre, marketing, all the nerdy books she read as a teen, how to think about YA and exposure to the things that scare us, and, of course, whether there's gonna be a follow-up to Hell Bent. As always, we've worked hard to make this conversation interesting to people who aren't familiar with Leigh's work — all you have to be is interested in books, just generally — but if you're a fan, you're really gonna love it.

    Side Note: We're experimenting with producing our own (very imperfect) transcripts. You can find it here. If there's enough demand, we might consider putting in the not insignificant labor to make these super readable — but for now, they're a backup to the podcast, not a replacement for it.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Head to Graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY to get 10% off your order and get cooking this holiday season with some fresh, delicious olive oil

    • To stock up on sustainable cleaning products for yourself, or to give a beautiful, sustainable gift to your friends and family this holiday season, go to Blueland.com/CULTURE and save up to 30% during Blueland’s holiday sale

    • Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the plant-based trial pack

    • Go to shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE  at checkout for 55% off a new night guard plus a FREE foam gift that whitens your teeth and cleans your nightguard

    Show Notes:

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • Eldest daughter discourse

    • The sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: What's your favorite Leigh Bardugo book? OR OBVIOUSLY ANYTHING ELSE! Like how do you think about being exposed to 'scary' ideas as a younger reader?

    12 November 2025, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    Love is Blind as a Cultural Skeleton Key

    If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .

    And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!

    I've never resisted Love is Blind so much as run out of time for it... but then Audie Cornish said she wanted to come on the show to talk about it, and I said: I will watch any reality show, in its entirety, to talk to you about it. (Cornish was previously best known as the co-host of NPR's All Things Considered; now she is best known as the host of CNN's early morning newscast and The Assignment with Audie Cornish). I did my homework and thought I had smart things to say about Love is Blind and then Audie had way, way smarter things to say, specifically about the ways in which this current season functions as a skeleton key for the ideologies battling for dominance in our cultural moment.

    Even if you've never watched an episode of Love is Blind, there's a LOT here about how people perform their identities and politics and relationship needs that will snag you — and if you have watched this season (or any season), you're gonna love it even more. What a privilege to have Audie Cornish on-air cackling over reality television, and what a delight!

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/culture to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

    • Take the guesswork out of your dog's well-being. Go to ollie.com/culture and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your first box!

    • Go to  https://zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY  and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.

    • Get better sleep, hair, and skin with Blissy. Use code CULTUREPOD to get an additional 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

    Show Notes:

    We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)

    • Eldest daughter discourse

    • The sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: We can obviously talk about Love is Blind, but I'd also love to hear how you think other reality shows are reflecting the conflicting ideologies of this moment.

    5 November 2025, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 26 minutes
    What It's Like to Grow Up With Hoarders

    People are fascinated by hoarding culture — in part because it presents a reality that's not that distant from our current accumulation habits. Like, turn one screw in my brain slightly more to the left, and my dahlia collecting habit becomes something that's widely understood as a social problem. When I heard about Amanda Uhle's Destroy This House, a memoir of growing up in a hoarding household, I knew listeners would want to explore that fine line between "proper" consumption and hoarding, the stories we tell about why people hoard, and the real difficulty in navigating hoarding behaviors by people you love.

    Culture Study is now on Patreon! To read about why we moved, go here.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    Show Notes:

    We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • BIG KOREAN ENERGY with Mash-Up Americans (Their framework for questions: What is this Korean vibe everywhere in culture, in food, in beauty, in politics? Definitely not complaining, but maybe confused? Well. Do we have the explainer for all of you Korean Americans, Korean Koreans, and everyone who is adjacent to Korean culture -- which is everyone. What are YOUR questions?)

    • Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)

    • Eldest daughter discourse

    • The sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: What is YOUR relationship to stuff? How did this conversation reframe it?

    29 October 2025, 9:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    The Outdoor Gearification of the American Wardrobe

    I can’t tell you how excited I am about this one: Avery Trufelman, host of the beloved podcast Articles of Interest, is here to talk all things OUTDOOR GEAR. More specifically: how so much of our everyday clothing became gear adjacent, what the military has to do with all of this (everything), why outdoor clothes still don’t come in plus sizes, gear as Tech Bro status symbol, and SO MUCH MORE. This one’s a multi-faceted delight — the sort of episode you’ll be bringing up in conversation for weeks to come.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    Show Notes:

    We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • BIG KOREAN ENERGY with Mash-Up Americans (Their framework for questions: What is this Korean vibe everywhere in culture, in food, in beauty, in politics? Definitely not complaining, but maybe confused? Well. Do we have the explainer for all of you Korean Americans, Korean Koreans, and everyone who is adjacent to Korean culture -- which is everyone. What are YOUR questions?)

    • Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)

    • All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish

    • Eldest daughter discourse

    • An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!

    • The sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: How do you see gearification in your own wardrobe? What piece of clothing are you going to look at differently from now on?

    22 October 2025, 9:01 am
  • 55 minutes 52 seconds
    How the Manosphere Fuels Climate Change Denial

    What does masculinity have to do with climate change denial? F-ing everything! Daniel Penny, host of the new Drilled podcast Carbon Bros, joins me to answer all of your questions about how the Manosphere and its ideologies of dominion, virility, control, and anti-wokeness collide with climate change narratives. We talk about petro-masculinity, of course, but also how environmentalism became “feminized,” the intersection with “muscular” Christianity, the Spotted Owl, fear of the electric truck, and how the Trump Administration has successfully exploited fears of a cucked, climate-focused nation. This one will piss you off and give you a lot to think about.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Get 35% off the best blankets of all time at LolaBlankets.com, using code CULTURE at checkout

    • Blueland is offering 15% off your first order of cleaning products at Blueland.com/CULTURE

    • Try OneSkin with 15% off using code CULTURE at oneskin.co

    • If you’re in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table or bed, find something beautiful and long-lasting at Article.com.

    Show Notes:

    We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • BIG KOREAN ENERGY with Mash-Up Americans (Their framework for questions: What is this Korean vibe everywhere in culture, in food, in beauty, in politics? Definitely not complaining, but maybe confused? Well. Do we have the explainer for all of you Korean Americans, Korean Koreans, and everyone who is adjacent to Korean culture -- which is everyone. What are YOUR questions?)

    • Cultural panics with THE Sarah Marshall

    • Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)

    • All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish

    • Eldest daughter discourse

    • An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!

    • The sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)

    • WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: Where have you seen anti-climate-change masculinity pop up in your own life? Commercials, relatives, IG feeds — tell us about it.

    15 October 2025, 9:01 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    Let's Talk About Baseball Culture!!!

    FIRST OFF — PLEASE TAKE OUR MEMBERSHIP SURVEY!!

    The podcast only works because of your questions (and episode ideas!) and we want more of them (and your ideas about bonus episodes, pricing, etc.) It’ll take five minutes tops, and really helps us figure out the future of the entire Culture Study extended universe. Thank you ahead of time, and just click here to take it.

    Baseball is so romantic!! There is SO MUCH RITUAL! It’s beautiful, it’s meditative, it’s the very best thing to listen to on the radio. And I’m so glad that we convinced Ali Liebegott [Mets Fan] to come join Melody [Royals Fan] and me [Mariners / Twins fan] to answer all of your questions about baseball culture (and there were SO MANY OF THEM). We talk about how to respond to people who say it’s boring; we talk about the changes in the game over the last two years (and how casual and opposite-of-casual fans feel about it); we talk about MR MET and Homer Hankies and Dadness and being a queer fan of baseball and how long a game should be (Ali says: forever). It’s just a really delightful conversation, and I’m so excited for you to join it.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • It’s Graza’s annual sitewide sale! Time to stock up on olive oil for the year. Discounts are automatically applied at checkout; no code needed.

    • Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe today

    • Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best sellers Trial Pack or the NEW plant-based trial pack

    • Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

    Show Notes:

    We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • Running a Small Business — and How to Make It Sustainable & Survivable (with Jen Hewett!)

    • All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish

    • Different Modalities of Hanging Out (aka, best ways to hang out with different people) with Mary HK Choi

    • What an actually family-friendly society would look like (with Elliot Haspel)

    • An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!

    • The sociology of NAMES

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: There’s so much we didn’t even have time to cover, so consider this a free for all!

    8 October 2025, 9:00 am
  • 1 hour 23 minutes
    Why Other People's Screen Time Annoys You

    Maybe your mom endlessly scrolls Facebook every time you visit. Maybe your kid has to be asked six times to get off his tablet. Maybe your friend is always checking Instagram when you’re out to dinner. Maybe your partner keeps checking their phone while you’re watching a movie together. Or maybe you find yourself doing all the things you find SO ANNOYING when others do them — and know these behaviors are affecting your relationships, but struggle to change them. Are you one of the 510234 moms who submitted a question about feeling guilty being on your phone (even if you’re just reading an eBook!) in front of your kids? Welp, this is the podcast for you.

    This isn’t a podcast episode about how ALL SCREENS ARE BAD and YOU ARE BAD FOR ENGAGING WITH THEM. It’s about recasting our relationships with them so that we can have better relationships with each other (which sometimes involves watching a screen… together!) Ash Brandin, founder of the tremendously popular Instagram account The Gamer Educator and author of Power On: Managing Screen Time To Benefit The Whole Family, joins me for a nuanced and deeply empathetic conversation that I know we’ll continue in the comments.

    Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

    • Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics

    • Try a Blissy silk pillowcase for 60 nights, risk-free, and get an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/CULTUREPOD and use code CULTUREPOD at checkout

    • Visit Article.com/CULTURE to get $50 off your first order of $100 or more

    • Try Remi risk-free at shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to get up to 50% off your nightguard at checkout

    Show Notes:

    We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

    • Running a Small Business — and How to Make It Sustainable & Survivable (with Jen Hewett!)

    • All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish

    • Different Modalities of Hanging Out (aka, best ways to hang out with different people) with Mary HK Choi

    • The history/utility/culture of OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE GEAR with Avery Trufelman (of Articles of Interest)

    • What an actually family-friendly society would look like (with Elliot Haspel)

    • An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!

    • The sociology of NAMES

    • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

    • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

    For this week’s discussion: How have screens been affecting your relationships with your friends or family members — and what would you like to shift?

    1 October 2025, 9:00 am
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