We discuss "ugly laws", shadow bans, influencer snark (especially r/illnessfakers), influencers using sick kids for clout, child agency, state hopping by family content creators, the history of influencers , consumption and identity formation, “infotainment”, "Can we have an intellectual conversation on a platform that’s designed to mine our attention?", lolcows, autism and TikTok, and more.

Dr. Jess Rauchberg is an award-winning creator culture expert and Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds.

Jess's Instagram

Jess's Website

Social media was once sold to us as "fun"—years later, the Big Tech leaders who sold us on it flaunt their authoritarian alignments.

Gil Durán and I discuss his new book, "⁠The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy"⁠.

We speak about what "technofascism" is and its origins; "The Nerd Reich" and its similarity to the Third Reich; the "religion of technicity"; Gil's permanent ban from X and suppression on Meta platforms which drew headlines; Peter Thiel (ranging from "Zero to One" to his current obsession with the antichrist to his relationship with JD Vance); fringe philosophers' impact on Big Tech leaders & the U.S. government; DOGE and RAGE; Palantir and 9/11; the challenge of imagination in today's world; how professionals can navigate the job market with so many open roles coming from Big Tech; whether it is possible to work in Big Tech and still make a difference; and more.

Gil Durán is a San Francisco-based journalist covering tech extremism.

⁠⁠Buy the book⁠⁠

⁠More about Gil Durán⁠

⁠The Nerd Reich Newsletter⁠

We discuss connection bloat, unfollowing, the 'timeline acquaintance', unread messages, ambient copresence, Instagram Close Friends, cultural obsession with quantification, the realm of the facial hyperreal, AI looksmaxxing apps, online checkpoints, shock of alteration/deletion, digital memory, and more. 

Ruby Justice Thelot is a designer, artist & cyberethnographer based in new york city. He is a Professor of Design and Media studies at NYU and the author of A Cyberarchaeology of Checkpoints. 

His recent essay for Mozilla Foundation, Everyone Has Too Many "Friends" Online, can be read here. 

Ruby's Instagram

Ruby's Substack

Ruby's YouTube

How is AI affecting our relationships? Our problem-solving capabilities? Our confidence? Steve Rathje and I chat about some of his recent research on AI sycophancy to explore these questions and more.  A preview: people HATE disagreeable chatbots; humans are influenced by flattery even if we know it is insincere; AI has a bias toward AI-generated text...

Steve Rathje is an incoming Assistant Professor of Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon. As of July 2026, Steve's important research on psychology of technology and related topics have been cited over 7,000 times. Some of his notable research includes Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media (2021) and Sycophantic AI increases attitude extremity and overconfidence (2025). Steve received his PhD from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Previously, he studied Psychology and Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.

Keep up with Steve on TikTok, Instagram, and at stevenrathje.com.

If you missed it, also be sure to tune into Steve's first appearance on Progression to Analog from 2025, "Psychology of Virality".

I speak with content creator Bella Dane about how to cultivate a learning lifestyle... we cover topics like the importance of curiosity, how to rethink your relationship with learning, the role consistency and systems play in our everyday lives, and more.

Follow Bella on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Substack.

We discuss the science behind analog hobbies, decluttering digital and physical lives, and more.

Kerry Hurlbut, DNP, CPNP-PC is the founder of Pointed Positivity, a needlepoint wellness brand. She is also a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Philadelphia.

Shira Lazar is the Co-Founder of What's Trending and the Founder of Creators 4 Mental Health. Creators 4 Mental Health brings mental well-being tools to the creator economy through individual support, community connection, and collective advocacy.

Shira recently won a Shorty award for Creator Advocate of the Year! We speak about her latest study on creator mental health, important statistics on suicidal ideation in creators, negative wellbeing associated with checking analytics consistently, ways to improve mental health, creator access to mental health care, and more.

We also touch on topics like technofeudalism, therapy, the contentification of everyday life, trust in platforms, and more.

The important information in this episode is a great way to wrap Mental Health Awareness Month. For more information on Creators 4 Mental Health, go to creators4mentalhealth.com.

You can also follow Shira Lazar on Instagram and TikTok.

Adam and I chat about the commodification of identity, language trends for 2026, how language shapes our shared realities, technology's effect on conversation, the analog movement, the return of vibes, Dutch conveyor belts, and more. 

You can keep up with Adam on:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Substack

His latest book, Algospeak, is available now... and he is currently writing a second book - working title Reality Drift.

From founding BossBabe at 21 and coining the term “millennial pink” to a career in tech philosophy spanning companies like Snap and LVMH... Alex Wolf has spent years at the intersection of community, culture, and technology.

In this episode, we discuss all things tech: her four qualifiers of human-friendly technology, tech's effect on everyday life, why it’s important to design responsibly, fashion and tech, why a fully analog life isn’t realistic for many people (with some tips for your balance).

Alex's mini-documentary "Attention For Sale" can be viewed here.

You can follow Alex on Instagram and on LinkedIn, and visit her website here.

New York-based technology and culture writer Tiffany Ng and I sit down to speak about all things ⁠Cyber Celibate⁠, Neo-Luddism, whimsy, 'rawdogging vacation', chaining her phone to a wall for a week, ⁠HTML energy⁠, and her MIT Technology Review article "⁠How to break free of Spotify's algorithm⁠".

⁠Cyber Celibate⁠

Tiffany's ⁠Instagram⁠ (@tffanyng) and ⁠TikTok⁠ (@cybercelibate)

Some of Tiffany's other interesting articles...

• WIRED: ⁠The Best Programming Language for the End of the World ⁠
• MIT Technology Review: ⁠Recapturing Early-Internet Whimsy with HTML⁠
• MIT Technology Review: ⁠Meet the man building a starter kit for civilization⁠
• It's Nice That: ⁠Work better this year (or don't, it's your life)