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Phonograph - 99% Invisible
If you're a fan of Anxious Machine, you might enjoy Rob's new show Phonograph, an audio zine about podcasts. On this episode, as the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible approaches, Rob and his co-host…
S4E2 The News
I've always had a problematic relationship to the news, and I've struggled to navigate that even more since this pandemic began. I talk to my father about the night I yelled at him over his…
S4E1 Contagion
Like most people, I imagine, I've been having a lot of anxious thoughts these days. And I've been wishing I could get those thoughts out of my head. Then I remembered that I used to have a podcast…
If You Could Do Anything?
Sometimes in your life, you reach a crossroads, go on a men's weekend, spend too much time alone in the forest, have a mid-life crisis, and start thinking you can change the world with your podcast.…
Pay Attention All the Time
Parents of young children have an especially fraught relationship with their smartphones. On the one hand, these devices are indispensable tools for getting things done and staying connected to the…
Do You Feel More Like Gods?
This past week, my kids went back to school. Summer vacation has come and gone. And that's gotten me thinking about the very idea of summer vacation because every summer, for the past several years,…
Bringing Wes Home
Since the wide-spread adoption of embalming in the United States, most Americans have turned the process of handling the deceased over to experts in the undertaking business. On this episode, the…
A Horrible Experience
My older brother Scott lives almost completely outside the network of modern life: he has no internet, no email address, no cable TV or satellite, not even an antenna for his television. Until…
Teleportation Device
Humans have been reading for thousands of years, but ever since the invention of television, people have been worried that reading is in decline. The latest worry is that, even if the Internet has…
These Things Is Miracles
When she was growing up, Adrienne didn't want to believe she was losing her hearing, and she didn't want to wear hearing aids. This is the story of how she decided to embrace the technology that…
A Piece of Paper (S2: E4)
When I heard the news of the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage between same sex couples, I wanted to go back to an interview I did in 2009 with two women who decided to get married before it…
Looking at the Wall (S2: E3)
Amelia’s childhood was largely devoid of technology. But when she got a computer and the internet in her own bedroom, she found the new mode of communication through chatrooms and email utterly…
All My Days Have Been Guns (S2: E2)
Bernard did not get along with his father, who expected him to work like a full-time employee in the family gas station starting when Bernard was just eight years old. But then Bernard went off to…
Didn't Want to Be Conscious (S2: E1)
Humans have been getting intoxicated, and finding new ways to get intoxicated, for thousands of years. On this episode, I explore the history of intoxication, and how that history played out in the…
The Question is Ridiculous (Interim Episode 4)
I recently decided to ask a big question at a cocktail party. This episode is about asking the question, some of the answers I got, and how that question is shaping the stories I’m trying to tell in…
Every Other Fight (Interim Episode 3)
I’ve always loved telling the story of the first (and only) time I got punched in the face, and not because I won the fight. I lost, by a long shot. But it’s a story about standing up to one of the…
Completely Clueless and Completely Paranoid (Interim Episode 2)
Sara thought she knew her son, but then a medical diagnosis left her questioning everything. This is the story of how she coped when the medical treatment turned him into a completely different…
The Letter (Interim Episode 1)
Fewer and fewer people writes letters anymore, especially by hand. It’s a dying technology. But for this episode, I have a story from the 20th century about how a single, handwritten letter changed…
Inbox Time Machine (S1: E6)
Sarah’s parents got divorced when she was little. She and her siblings stayed with their mom, even though Sarah preferred her father’s company. She only saw her father for dinner once a week and…
The Window Seat (S1: E5)
Mohamed fell in love with air travel at a young age. He lived in Kuwait, but he would fly with his family back to Egypt at the end of every school year, so air travel was imbued with the pleasure of…
Frequently Asked Questions
Anxious Machine has published 24 episodes since January 2015, covering topics in Society & Culture, Technology.
Anxious Machine is currently dormant with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 21m.
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