“I turned my phone into a landline” (that line from the Search Engine episode about phones made me laugh)
Also the idea from your last paragraph made me think about how sometimes getting an idea rejected a few times can mean they weren’t the right platform… and an idea might find a better home in a few months (like, the Out There Podcast for me!!)
Exactly!!! I submitted my story about Kool Aid Lake to a magazine that promptly 'forgot about it' lol... and it ended up leading me to an entirely new opportunity to pitch the idea to The Mountaineers (a huge hiking/climbing org here in WA). They excitedly offered to publish it in their Spring 2026 issue, and I could not be more thrilled because it'll reach the exact audience of folks for whom the story is meaningful.
Oh, I need to listen to this on my walk tomorrow morning, thank you, thank you! As somebody who did NOT have a smartphone as a child, I'm intrigued. There is also a really scary episode of Search Engine where they explore what your child sees through their phone. As a kid who grew up with no phones, it was somewhat horrifying lol.
“I turned my phone into a landline” (that line from the Search Engine episode about phones made me laugh)
Also the idea from your last paragraph made me think about how sometimes getting an idea rejected a few times can mean they weren’t the right platform… and an idea might find a better home in a few months (like, the Out There Podcast for me!!)
Exactly!!! I submitted my story about Kool Aid Lake to a magazine that promptly 'forgot about it' lol... and it ended up leading me to an entirely new opportunity to pitch the idea to The Mountaineers (a huge hiking/climbing org here in WA). They excitedly offered to publish it in their Spring 2026 issue, and I could not be more thrilled because it'll reach the exact audience of folks for whom the story is meaningful.
P.S. The Happiness Lab Podcast just put out an episode called "How Smartphones Changed Childhood"
Oh, I need to listen to this on my walk tomorrow morning, thank you, thank you! As somebody who did NOT have a smartphone as a child, I'm intrigued. There is also a really scary episode of Search Engine where they explore what your child sees through their phone. As a kid who grew up with no phones, it was somewhat horrifying lol.