If You Could Do Anything?

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 Britta Greene dig into four very different episodes from the first four years of that show's run (as well as the story of the time Rob met Roman Mars back in 2009):  Episode 6: "99% Symbolic" Episode 29: "Cul de Sac" (Produced with Katie Mingle) Episode 103: "U.T.B.A.P.H" (Produced with Sam Greenspan) Episode 83: "Heyoon" (Produced with Alex Goldman) To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling, including this month's story about a young mother's relationship to her hearing aids, having refused to wear them since she started losing her hearing in the 6th grade. Show Notes: Invisible Ink (featured on Transom.org) "Genesis Object" on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on Heyoon Alex Goldman's new podcast Hyperfixed Music from Blue Dot Sessions

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 insufficient fear of the virus, and I look back on a 1954 essay by E.B. White about the disparity between his experience of a hurricane and the coverage he hears of that hurricane on the radio. Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Music: Blue Dot Sessions Links: The Eye of Edna by E.B. White Cancel Everything by Yascha Mounk

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 called Anxious Machine. So here's my first episode in three years, part of a planned, ongoing audio journal. This episode starts with some thoughts about how this virus first entered my consciousness, how it felt to watch the movie Contagion with my daughter, and trying to stay awake to what's happening. Music: The House Glows with Almost No Help by Chris Zabriskie Contagion: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez Links: Contagion by Steven Soderbergh Dana Stevens on the Slate Culture Gabfest Wesley Morris on On The Media

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. This episode is about that happening to me. Part one of a three-part series. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Links: Startup Music: Opening Credits by johnny_ripper Divider by Chris Zabriskie Audrey by johnny_ripper Mario Bava Sleeps in a Little Later Than He Expected To by Chris Zabriskie Black Book by johnny_ripper The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Chris Zabriskie A Void by johnny_ripper Program Reverie by Podington Bear Massive by Podington Bear

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 adult world while in the midst of childcare. On the other hand, the culture is constantly telling parents, and particularly mothers, that they're too distracted by these devices, that smartphones are stealing precious attention away from our kids. But the idea that parents should be focusing so much attention on their kids is itself a modern invention. In fact, our current understanding of parenthood and childhood is, in a very real way, the product of technology. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Links: Moms, Let Go of Your Smartphone Guilt Siobhan Adcock's website Amy Shearn's website Music: Opening Credits by johnny_ripper Spring Solstice by Podington Bear Cylinder Three by Chris Zabriskie The Dark Glow of the Mountain by Chris Zabriskie Walkin Flags by Sealadder Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear Stuck Dream by Podington Bear 88 by Podington Bear What True Self? Feels Bogus, Lets Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie

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, my wife, her sisters and our families have had this tradition of going to a cabin for a few days to get out of the city. We don't own a cabin. We have to rent one. And this year, the process of finding it, looking at pictures of all the possible cabins on all the possible lakes, made me wonder about this particular, middle-class American ritual of going into the wilderness for vacation, where that ritual came from, and what it says about our relationship to modern life. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Patrons: Special thanks this week to new Patreon supporter Matt Holliday. Links: Where Was the Birthplace of the American Vacation? Thoreau Leaves Walden Pond Why Fire Makes Us Human Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States Music: Gentle Chase by Podington Bear Arrival by North Hive Tam by LJ Kruzer Electron by Podington Bear Halflight by Podington Bear Tamz by LJ Kruzer 88 by Podington Bear

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 story of one family who decided that they wanted to be the ones to wash and prepare the body of the son and brother they'd lost. This episode was previously aired on the podcast Neighbors, one of the podcasts in The Heard. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes   Music: Cylinder Five by Chris Zabrinskie 88 by Podington Bear

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 recently, he didn't even have a bank account or a telephone. In this episode, I try to get to the bottom of why he hates computers, and especially the internet, even though the internet helped him solve a question he's had since the day he was born. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Music: Heavy Flutter by Podington Bear I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie The Sun Is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie The House Glows with Almost No Help by Chris Zabriskie The Theatrical Poster for Potergeist III by Podington Bear The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Podington Bear 88 by Podington Bear Patrons: Special thanks to Eric Keys, Cam Hudson, Bradley Dunham, and Gordon Delp for their support of this podcast.

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 caused an uptick in the quantity of our reading, we're reading on screens instead of paper, and this seems to degrade the quality of our reading. On this episode, technology writer Clive Thompson talks about the history of reading as a technology, why we're worried about its future, and what happened when he tried to read War and Peace on his iPhone. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Links: Clive Thompson's essay about reading War and Peace on his iPhone Clive Thompson's essay about the novelty effect Clive Thompson's book Smarter than You Think Hanna Rosin's article for The Atlantic about children and screens Amaranth Borsuk & Brad Bouse: Between Page and Screen Music: Curious Process by Podington Bear Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie Deeper by Phlox.s Rythn by Podington Bear Mensa by Podington Bear Steppin Intro by Podington Bear Program Reverie by Podington Bear Euphoric by Podington Bear Respiration by Podington Bear 88 by Podington Bear

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 restored her hearing, and what happened when she did. Support Anxious Machine on Patreon Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes Patrons: Mark Bramhill Music: Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie There Are Many Different Kinds of Love by Chris Zabriskie Cylinder Six by Chris Zabriskie The Sun Is Scheduled to Come out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie I Am running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie Heavy Flutter by Podington Bear Brethren Arise by Chris Zabriskie I Need to Start Writing Things Down by Chris Zabriskie Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie 88 by Podington Bear What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let's Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie