It's Been a Minute

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 :)

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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.

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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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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.

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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?

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AI is the future, but how is its infrastructure impacting your air, water, and utilities bills today?

You asked, and Brittany delivered. Many of you wrote in asking about artificial intelligence’s environmental impact. Brittany and Evan Halper, a business and energy reporter for The Washington Post, answer your questions and so much more. Like, is AI causing your energy bills to go up? Are tech companies tricking communities into building data centers? And how do you ethically use AI when you know it impacts nature?

This is the final episode in our AI + U series. You can check out past episodes (Can you trust the information AI gives you? Or How AI slop is clogging you brain) further down in this feed.

(0:35) The AI arms race and its immense energy demands
(5:24) How much energy does AI need to run? Where does that energy come from?
(9:13) Water usage and water quality concerns
(10:30) How does AI impact your energy bills?
(15:09) Can communities stop tech companies from building data centers?
(17:30) Why tech companies may skirt prior climate commitments
(18:49) How much AI should you use knowing its environmental impact?

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The Christian rapture didn't happen as predicted, but a lot of you still feel like we're living in end times. Why is that?

Right now - from religion to climate change to doomsday prepping - there's a lot of talk about the end of the world. And, yeah, there was a lot of joking (and some believing) this week that the rapture would happen, but this all points to a broader feeling a lot of us have: that something has to change. But what?

In this episode, Brittany is joined by culture writer Joshua Rivera and national writer for Religion News Service Bob Smietana. They answer those questions and get into why the rapture is so appealing to Christians and non-Christians alike. And how Christian beliefs about the end of days are seeping into all of our minds.

(0:35) The story of how The Rapture went viral
(3:57) What even is The Rapture?
(6:32) Why The Rapture is so alluring to Americans
(11:45) Why 4 in 10 Americans believe we are in the end times
(13:32) How TikTok contributes to our anxiety about the apocalypse
(15:19) How Evangelical beliefs fuels MAGA policies
(17:15) Why all of us - regardless of faith - think the end is near

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If more and more young people are dying of colorectal cancer, why aren't we talking about it? Is it because we're too ashamed of our bodies?

Rates of colorectal cancer are rising, especially for people under 50. But it's hard to raise awareness for a cancer that a lot of us find hard to talk about. In a recent essay for The Cut, writer Laurie Abraham described her experience of colon cancer, which included a lot of embarrassment. Talking about your bowel movements is...not fun. Can you relate?

Today, Brittany is joined by Laurie and Dr. Kimmie Ng, Co-Director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to get into the cultural shame around how we talk about colon cancer - and how that extends to a lack of funding and research.

(0:00) Why colorectal cancer rates are rising in young people
(3:18) The environmental causes that lead to colon cancer
(7:08) How cultural shame about our bodies stops diagnoses
(10:30) What can listeners do to raise awareness?
(15:58) Racial disparities and ageism against young people
(20:48) Some exciting news!

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After Grok's MechaHitler gaffe this summer, and President Trump's executive order to, "strip AI models of ‘ideological agendas," Brittany wondered, "how much influence does AI already have on our minds?"

This is AI + U. Each Monday this month, Brittany explores how we’re already seeing the impacts of AI. Artificial Intelligence has become a constant in ways we can and can't see… and for the next few weeks we're zeroing in on how AI affects our daily lives.

In this episode, The Argument's Kelsey Piper and NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn join Brittany to discuss what transparency looks like for artificial intelligence and what we actually want from this rapidly developing technology. 

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Why is Trump sending the National Guard to cities when crime is already falling?

Earlier this month, President Trump posted this: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR.” He seemed poised to send the National Guard to the city in an attempt to curb crime, after having deployed them in D.C. But this week, he turned his attention to Memphis, signing an order for deployment there and vowing to circle back to Chicago later. And these three cities aren’t the only ones on his radar: Baltimore, Portland, New Orleans, and St. Louis are also bracing for possible deployments. But why send the National Guard – a temporary military force – to these cities when crime has already fallen this year in every single city he’s mentioned? Brittany gets into it with Abdallah Fayyad, policy correspondent at Vox, and Alex V. Hernandez, neighborhood reporter for Block Club Chicago.

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