Episodios

  • Overthinking About Social Awkwardness

    Overthinking About Social Awkwardness
    Oct 1 2025
    Why does walking into a room, saying the wrong thing, or laughing too loud feel like the end of the world? This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by journalist and audio producer Alex Sujong Laughlin (@alexlaughs) to spiral about social awkwardness and the tiny stumbles and silences that can feel so major in our heads. Together, they explore what awkwardness reveals about vulnerability, belonging, and the impossible standards we hold ourselves to in social spaces. Is awkwardness a flaw to overcome or proof that we’re trying, reaching, and wanting connection? A gentle spiral into shame, empathy, and the small, crooked ways we show up as ourselves. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Head to https://Greenchef.com/50MAGICAL and use code 50MAGICAL to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 m
  • Overthinking About Revenge

    Overthinking About Revenge
    Sep 17 2025
    Revenge is one of our oldest fantasies. It's sharp, seductive, but rarely as satisfying as it promises to be. This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by lawyer, author, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, James Kimmel Jr. to overthink our obsession with revenge: why it feels so good in theory, why it rarely delivers in practice, and what it reveals about our deepest wounds and longings. Together, they explore how the brain processes revenge almost like an addictive substance - flooding us with momentary relief, then keeping us hooked in a cycle of suffering. From the neuroscience of vengeance to the quiet, radical possibility of letting go, this conversation opens up a gentler path through pain. A soft spiral into anger, control, and the sacred art of breaking the cycle. Further Reading: The Science of Revenge by James Kimmel Jr. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at⁠ ⁠⁠https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical⁠ Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to ⁠https://Zocdoc.com/MAGICAL⁠ to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 m
  • Overthinking About Ditziness

    Overthinking About Ditziness
    Sep 3 2025
    “Ditz.” It’s a word that sounds harmless, silly, soft-edged, even cute. But underneath it is a long, messy history of gendered judgment. This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by journalist and author Koa Beck (@koabeck) to gently spiral about the cultural construction of ditziness: where the word came from, who it’s been used against, and what it reveals about how we punish femininity for being either too much… or not enough. Together, they unpack how "ditzy" became shorthand for whiteness, blondness, and a very specific kind of Southern California-coded femininity, despite the fact that the so-called “ditz” in pop culture (Elle Woods, Cher Horowitz, Regina George) is often brilliant, strategic, and socially powerful. Is ditziness a stereotype, a defense mechanism, a flirtation tool, or all three? What happens when smart women lean into softness? And how do internalized misogyny and impossible expectations make it feel safer to play dumb than to risk being called bossy, smug, or shrill? A quietly radical spiral into language, performance, and the politics of not being taken seriously on purpose or by accident. Further Reading: White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind By Koa Beck Further Reading: Valley Girl Substack by Koa Beck - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers. - To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack. - Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Head to https://Greenchef.com/50MAGICAL and use code 50MAGICAL to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping. Head to https://LETSLIVEITUP.com/MAGICAL and use code MAGICAL for 15% off your first Super Greens order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 h y 12 m
  • Overthinking About Gaslighting

    Overthinking About Gaslighting
    Aug 20 2025
    Can you be trained by a gaslighter to gaslight yourself? This week, Amanda (@amanda_montell) is joined by Harvard historian and sociologist Rebecca Lemov (@rebeccalemov) to overthink gaslighting, a word that’s become part of our everyday vocabulary, but whose origins and implications run deeper than we realize. Together, they trace gaslighting’s roots in psychology, politics, and culture, and explore how this slow erosion of truth can shape our relationships, our self-trust, and our collective understanding of reality.A quiet spiral about doubt, distortion, and the radical act of believing yourself. Further Reading: The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion by Rebecca Lemov - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://Zocdoc.com/MAGICAL to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Get this new customer offer and your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at https://MINTMOBILE.com/magical Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    48 m
  • Overthinking About Indecision

    Overthinking About Indecision
    Aug 6 2025
    Should I move or stay where I am? Take the job or turn it down? Text back or disappear into the ocean? This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by Vicki Tan (@vickiheart), a digital product designer and author, to gently spiral about indecision: why it’s so hard to choose, what’s actually hiding underneath all that back-and-forth, and how much of it is really fear dressed up as logic.Together, they unpack the mental clutter, perfectionism, and quiet grief that decision making so often stirs up, and ask what it would feel like to choose without trying to be perfect. A spiral into possibility, analysis paralysis, and the sacred mess of not knowing what comes next.Further Reading: Ask This Book A Question by Vicki Tan - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Head to https://Greenchef.com/50MAGICAL and use code 50MAGICAL to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 h y 1 m
  • Overthinking About Parasocial Relationships

    Overthinking About Parasocial Relationships
    Jul 23 2025
    In the digital age, the people we feel closest to sometimes don’t even know we exist. This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by Jessica Zier and Lizzie Li, PhD students at Northwestern University who study parasocial relationships, to spiral about the emotional life of one-sided intimacy. Together, they explore how digital closeness blurs the line between connection and projection, and why it makes perfect sense that we feel so seen by people who’ve never met us. A soft spiral into loneliness, identity, and the very human instinct to reach for connection, even through a screen. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://Zocdoc.com/Magical to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 h y 9 m
  • Amanda and the Nonstop Narrator

    Amanda and the Nonstop Narrator
    Jul 16 2025
    The case of Amanda, a writer whose internal monologue won't stop narrating her life, instead of just letting her live it. Listen to Proxy with Yowei Shaw Follow Yowei on Instagram @yoweishaw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    56 m
  • Overthinking About Generational Wealth

    Overthinking About Generational Wealth
    Jul 9 2025
    What happens when the future is something you have to build, but others get to inherit? This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by journalists Wailin Wong and Stacey Vanek Smith (@svaneksmith) to overthink the emotional, historical, and spiritual weight of generational wealth: what it gives, what it withholds, and who it was never designed for. Listen as they explore the systems that have kept generational wealth out of reach for so many marginalized communities, the guilt of those who inherit it and do care, and the quiet alienation of watching others take it for granted.A layered spiral into privilege, precarity, and what it means to want stability in a world that’s never been fair.Further Listening: The Indicator from Planet MoneyFurther Reading: Machiavelli For Women by Stacey Vanek Smith - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers.- To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack.- Pick up a hard copy of Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Head to https://Greenchef.com/50MAGICAL and use code 50MAGICAL to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical Go to https://Quince.com/magical for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 h y 23 m