Coping

Harry Styles is rumoured to be retiring. Amelia Dimoldenberg is bringing the Chicken Shop Date era to a close. We all remember Simone Biles stepping away from the gymnastics mat. More and more, we're watching people opt out of goals they've built their identity around and spent years publicly pursuing. Quitting seems more socially acceptable than ever, so why does walking away still feel like failure?

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson explore our relationship with quitting (it's complicated). In a conversation about identity, drive and sunk costs, they unpack where the "never give up" mindset actually came from, why perseverance is treated as a virtue while quitting is seen as a flaw, and whether knowing when to stop might be just as important as knowing when to keep going.

Harry Styles Is Still Getting Used to Being Harry Styles by Julio Torres, W Magazine

Is Harry Styles Retiring? by Sam Prance, Capital UK

Harry Styles’ Speech On Together, Together Tour

Simone Biles Says She Should Have Quit Way Before Tokyo Olympics by Katie Kindelan, ABC News

Hyrox Athlete Apologies and Withdraws After Viral Defecation Incident by Alexandra Koster, SBS

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism by E.P. Thompson

The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit Of Capitalism by Max Weber

Self-Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance by Samuel Smiles

Did ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Need an Encore? And Where Is Taylor Swift Going Next? By Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone

Amelia Dimoldenberg to close doors of Chicken Shop Date by Naomi de Souza, BBC

The Sunk Cost Trap: Why We Throw Good Money After Bad by Carlos Alós-Ferrer, Psychology Today

Errors in Aviation Decision Making: Bad Decisions or Bad Luck? by Judith Orasanu, Lynne Martin and Jeannie Davison, NASA Ames Research Center

Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience by Steven F. Maier and Martin E.P. Seligman, Psychological Review

Watch: Jerry Maguire

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It seems everyone around us is moving through life at exactly the “right” pace: getting engaged, having babies, buying houses, building careers, finding purpose. Meanwhile, we’re left wondering, are we running late to our own lives?

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson muse on ‘feeling behind’ after rediscovering an article Alice wrote at 25 about comparison culture and the anxiety around reaching success by a certain age, revisiting the question through older (hopefully slightly wiser) eyes. In a conversation about ambition, timelines, and growing up, they explore the social clock and the psychology of comparison, the arbitrary milestones and social expectations we measure ourselves by, and the people who found their way on their own terms.

☆ Want to stop guessing what your chart is trying to tell you? Get a personalised reading from real astrologers on CHANI – the #1 app for manifestation, meaning, and self‑discovery. ☆

The 27 Club: A Brief History, Rolling Stone

Social Clock: Age Norms, Age Constraints, and Adult Socialization by Bernice Neugarten, Joan Moore, John Lowe in University of Chicago Press

Australia's Fertility Taboo, TasIVF Report

A Theory Of Social Comparison Processes by Leon Festinger

Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?

When Every Day Is A High School Reunion: Social Media Comparisons and Self Esteem's by Claire Midgley, Sabrina Thai, Penelope Lockwood, Chloe Kovacheff, Elizabeth Page-Gould

Dealing With Post-Trail Depression by Annie Mueller, Psychology Today

The Hedonic Treadmill by Dan Pilat and Dr. Sekoul Krastev, Decision Lab

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

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AI experts, executives, and inventors themselves are sounding the alarm – warning us that an AI takeover could threaten all of humanity within just the next ten years. In other words, the call is coming from INSIDE the house.

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson unpack the full context behind the looming AI threat and its potential ten‑year countdown (and why the narrative is, unsurprisingly, more complicated than the spooky, scary headlines). They contemplate the echo chamber inside Silicon Valley, the psychology that makes our worst‑case scenarios feel super inevitable, and the machine‑god anxieties that have shaped culture for centuries. 

In a conversation about AI fears, futurism, and the ethics of progress, they mull over our obsession with acceleration – whether it’s sustainable, whether it’s necessary, and whether our future actually involves living among the stars (or just coping with what we’ve already built). 

☆ Want to stop guessing what your chart is trying to tell you? Get a personalised reading from real astrologers on CHANI – the #1 app for manifestation, meaning, and self‑discovery. ☆

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on Instagram and Pinterest. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Could AI Really Wipe Out Humanity and Hijack the Internet? by Robert Booth, Dan Milmo and Aisha Down, The Guardian

AI Could Possibly End Humanity. How Are Humans Supposed to Process That? By William J. Broad and Cade Metz, New York Times

One of AI’s Fiercest Critics’ Says All The Doom Talk ‘is Meant to Distract Us’ by Lauren Goode, WIRED 

The AI Researcher Who’s Investment Is Changing Everything on The Daily, New York Times

The AI Tipping Point by Billy Perrigo, Harry Booth and Naomi Nix, TIME

This Is Really Bad by Stephen Witt, New York Times

The AI Con by Emily M Bender

The AI Doomsday Skeptics by Katrin Bennhold, New York Times

Don’t Look Up

Ex Machina 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

‘Black Mirror’ Creator Charlie Brooker Wants Us Worried - and Not for the Reasons You'd Think, by Mikey O’Connell, The Hollywood Reporter

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Are you Type A or Type B? (Justice for Type C !)

Maybe the label you’ve given yourself feels grounding (and that’s okay!). Maybe it’s limiting – something you’ve been trying to shake off..? Or maybe you’ve turned a label into a sort of playbook, a personality shorthand we were never really meant to rely on.

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson dive into self‑imposed labels – dissecting the logic of Myers-Briggs and comparing their own Enneagram results as they unpack the universal urge to categorise ourselves. And can you ever truly shake off a label once it’s been culturally assigned… sometimes en masse? (Raygun made peace with hers two years post-Olympics – and you probably would too with Sammy Sex in your corner).

TikTok’s Obsessed With “Type A” and “Type B” Personality Types - Here’s Why by Keyaira Boone, Cosmopolitan

The Carl Jung Quote You’ll Love Based on Your Myers-Briggs Personality by Susan Storm, Psychology Junkee

Why Myers-Briggs Is Totally Useless - But Wildly Popular by Anna North, New York Times

To Promote Inclusivity, Stay Away From Personality Assessments by Quinisha Jackson-Wright, New York Times

Mindfulness by Dr Ellen Langer

Thank You For Smoking: How Big Tobacco Created the ‘Type A’ Personality Myth

Uncertainty-identity theory Hogg, M.A, in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 39

Schema Theory in Psychology by Charlotte Nickerson, Simply 

Personality Isn’t Permanent by Benjamin Hardy

All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot by Lucinda Froomes Price

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Untold: Raygun Breaking Badly, Netflix

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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We’re being watched: by surveillance cameras, safety tools, strangers in public, our own devices, and now by wearable tech that turns every interaction into potential content. Observation has become the ambient condition – part convenience, part paranoia.

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson unpack the psychology of being observed in how it shapes the calculated self, mull over the ethical questions raised by the latest wave of wearable tech like Meta Glasses, and confess the accidental data breaches from their own lives. It seems that the next era of surveillance culture might reshape our inner lives long before legislation ever catches up.

Modernising Australia’s Privacy Laws for the Digital Age, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland’s press release

I Feel So Sorry For My AI Sunglasses by Sam Anderson, New York Times

Meta’s Smart Ray-Ban Glasses Let Me Live in the Moment. But the AI is Useless by Caira Blackwell, Wirecutter 

What If It All Came Out? by Bridget Read, New York Magazine

The Audience Effect: Why We Change When Other People Are Watching by Anne Laure Le Cunff, Ness Labs 

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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We root for revenge plots in our tv shows (beware: House of the Dragon spoilers ahead!), appeal to a sense of karmic justice, hunt for it in celebrity narratives, and even fantasise about getting our own one day.

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson unpack the psychology of vengeance, why it feels so titillating, and whether the payoff is ever what we had hoped. Plus, why do we cheer louder when women and marginalised characters finally get their moment? A reminder that revenge stories often tell us more about our cultural hunger for balancing the scales than the act itself ever could.

☆ Are you a creative looking for support? Visit the or call the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline on 1800 959 500 for a free and confidential chat (and remember, you don't have to be in crisis to call). Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who actually gets it and can hear you out. ☆

House Of The Dragon, HBO 

The Complicated Psychology of Revenge by Eric Jaffe, Association For Psychological Science

The Bittersweet Taste of Revenge: On the Negative and Positive Consequences of Retaliation by Fade R. Eadeh, Stephanie A. Peak, Alan J. Lambert

Victim Blaming and Belief in Karma by Cindel J. M. White, Aiyana K. Willard

Margaret Qualley Just Walked the Red Carpet in Chanel’s Viral Naked Sandals by Rosa Sanchez, Harper’s Bazaar

reputation, Taylor Swift

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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We’d like to think our memories are fixed but most of us are running on vibes, fragments, and deeply emotional edits n reedits. Our brains so easily forget the “important” stuff, cling to the weirdest details, and seemingly rewrite entire chapters without permission. And the things we actually do remember often says more about who we are now than whatever happened way back when. 

This week, Alice Griffin (resident unreliable narrator) and Jannah Anderson (she’s got receipts) dive into the mechanics of how memory actually works, the psychology behind recall, the fear of forgetting, and the stories we build from our own mental archives. And how much are we already outsourcing to Big Tech from a scale of 1-that Black Mirror episode?? 

☆ Are you a creative looking for support? Visit the  or call the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline on 1800 959 500 for a free and confidential chat (and remember, you don't have to be in crisis to call). Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who actually gets it and can hear you out. ☆

Creating False Memories, by Elizabeth L Loftus, in Scientific American 

How The Truth Gets Twisted by By Ann Marsh and Greta Lorge in Stanford Magazine 

False Memories Under Fire, Scitech Daily

Memory and Learning: How the Brain Stores, Retrieves, and Forgets Information, by Renz Solimen, The Science Times

The Woman Who Can’t Forget by Jill Price

Living On Record: My First Ten Days, Eka Ventures Newsletter on Substack

The Entire History Of You, Black Mirror on Netflix

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Boredom has gone from something we avoid to something we curate – a new metric in the self‑care economy to measure ourselves by. From 'rawdogging boredom' challenges to the obsession with performing “slow creativity,” we’re told stillness is a portal to a better, more imaginative self. But the research is messy, and our lived experiences even more so. 

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson dig into the neuroscience of boredom, the rise of the serial hobbyist, the existential itches that keep us chasing novelty, and the cultural urge to make boredom meaningful – even when the moments in between fail to deliver us anything profound.

☆ Are you a creative looking for support? Visit the ⁠Support Act Creative Industries Hub⁠ or call the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline on 1800 959 500 for a free and confidential chat (and remember, you don't have to be in crisis to call). Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who actually gets it and can hear you out. ☆

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and⁠⁠ ⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

They Want To Influence You To Do… Nothing by Alexander Nazaryan, The New York Times

Boredom, Sustained Attention and The Default Mode Network by James Danckert and Colleen Merrifield

You Need To Be Bored, Here’s Why by Arthur Brooks, Harvard Business Review

The Association Between Boredom And Creativity In Educational Contexts’ by Anke Zeißig, Julia Kansok-Dusche, Saskia M. Fischer, Julia Moeller, Ludwig Bilz

Boredom, A Lively History by Peter Toohey

Just Think: The Challenges Of The Disengaged Mind by Timothy D. Wilson, David A. Reinhard, Erin C. Westgate, Daniel T. Gilbert, Nicole Ellerbeck, Cheryl Hahn, Casey L. Brown, and Adi Shaked in Science

What Does Boredom Do To Us And For Us? by Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker

⁠Quit Romanticising Boredom⁠ by Anna North, The Cut

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Doomsday prepping has gone mainstream. What was once a fringe fixation tucked away on conspiracy forums has morphed into a booming industry, with everyday people stockpiling, strategising, and spending (a lot) in the name of “being prepared.”

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson sit with the existential threats uniquely shaping our generation, the preppers taking that fear to its furthest extreme, the brands that saw an opportunity to sell safety, and ultimately ask whether a state of hypervigilance actually soothes our anxiety or just feeds it. After all, what’s worse: the apocalypse (and the world’s least satisfying “I told you so”), or realising you spent your life waiting for it?

Prepper Used To Be A Dirty Word. But These 'Ordinary' People Think It's Just Sensible Now by Alexandra Koster, SBS Australia

What Doomsday Preppers And Survivalists Can Teach The Rest Of Us, by Anna Levy and Rebecca Cushway, ABC 

The ‘Panic Industry’ Boom by Coralie Kraft, The New York Times

The cognitive avoidance theory of worry, Sibrava, N. and Borkovec, T in APA PsycInfo

Blast From The Past

Pandemic Practice: Horror Fans And Morbidly Curious Individuals Are More Psychologically Resilient During The COVID-19 Pandemic, by Scrivner, Johnson, Kjeldgaard-Christiansen and Clasen, ScienceDaily

‘All Of His Guns Will Do Nothing For Him’: Lefty Preppers Are Taking A Different Approach To Doomsday by Aaron Gell, The Guardian
OpenAI Model Hacks Startup After Going Rogue During Testing, ABC
No Worries? Australian Attitudes To National Security, Risk And Resilience, Prof Rory Medcalf AM FAIIA and Tim Wilford, Australian National University
Kennedy, Rockefeller, and Civil Defense by Naomi Kroll Hassebroek, NPS

☆ Are you a creative looking for support? Visit the Support Act Creative Industries Hub or call the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline on 1800 959 500 for a free and confidential chat (and remember, you don't have to be in crisis to call). Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who actually gets it and can hear you out. ☆

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and⁠ ⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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We’re taught to crave closure – the tidy explanation, the perfectly heartfelt apology, the moment where we SEE Idris Elba push the button (or not… idk go watch ‘A House of Dynamite’ and tell us your take).

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson explore our obsession with resolution: where it comes from, whether it’s even possible, and why some of us need a definitive finish while others move through life more content with the grey. And how are we supposed to cope if closure never shows up??

☆ Are you a creative looking for support? Visit the⁠⁠ Support Act Creative Industries Hub⁠⁠ or call the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline on 1800 959 500 for a free and confidential chat (and remember, you don't have to be in crisis to call). Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who actually gets it and can hear you out. ☆

A House Of Dynamite, Netflix 

The Writer Of Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ Explains Its Ambiguous Ending by Noah Oppenheim, LA Times

Do You Really Need Closure? by Christina Caron, The New York Times 

How To Know If You Really Need Closure Or If It’s Just An Excuse To Talk To Them, by Jolie Price, Fashion Journal

Individual Differences In Need For Cognitive Closure, by Donna Webster & Arie Kruglanski, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

There’s Not Always ‘Closure’ In The Never-ending Story Of Grief, by Michael Bull, The Conversation

Beyond Dogmatism: The Need For Closure As Related To Religion, by Vassilis Saroglou

Closure: The Rush to End Grief and What It Costs Us, by Nancy Berns

Does Time Really Heal All Wounds? by Leah Royden, Psychology Today

This Too Shall Pass: Temporal Distance and the Regulation of Emotional Distress, by Emma Bruehlman-Senecal and Ozlem Ayduk, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 

The Widow’s Guide To Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite

Requiem For A Nun by William Faulkner

Want to support our show? We'd be so grateful if you hit 'follow' or left us a 5-star review so we can bring you more Coping content.

Plus, you can follow along with us on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find out more about what we're up to (and how you can get involved) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copinginc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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