Episode 2: "When Systems Collide" This episode examines what happens when different manners systems crash into each other in everyday life. Maya Chen explores generational conflicts over phones at dinner and email formality, cultural collisions around eye contact and directness, and class-based tensions over punctuality and thank-you notes. The episode reveals how power dynamics determine whose rules prevail and how people from marginalized groups bear the invisible burden of constant code-switching. It traces how rapid social change—from remote work to social media—creates periods where old rules no longer apply but new ones haven't formed. Rather than declaring winners, the episode offers tools for navigating collision: negotiation, flexibility, explicit communication, and approaching differences with curiosity instead of judgment. Manners emerge as living systems perpetually breaking down and rebuilding.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI