Note To Self

A little yellow ghost has joined Manoush’s home screen. This week, Note to Self takes the plunge into Snapchat. Where we find lots of opportunities for passive aggression, obligation, and shade. And that’s not a bug. It’s a feature. With designer Tristan Harris, of Time Well Spent, and Snapchat artist CyreneQ. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.      

Can brain stimulation tech replace your glass of wine? Or your joint? We strap a digital potato chip to our heads, and zap our brains with electricity, in the name of science. And we accidentally over-chill. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

No, not by watching porn. By sharing with your partner what turns you on, and weirds you out. Through an app. Kaitlin Prest of The Heart podcast recruits two couples to test drive the Pls Pls Me app. And talk about awkward conversations, making out, and more… unusual desires. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Technologist Anil Dash on mistakes he’s made, and the new ethics of tech. Journalist Julia Angwin on why we’re all losing, and her strategies as a privacy prepper. Much laughter ensues. Note to Self nerds out, live from WNYC’s Greene Space. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Tens of thousands of people did the Privacy Paradox challenge. And the results are in. Seven percent of you said you want to give up. (Sorry. Don’t!) Seventy percent of you want to push for big change. (Hooray! Do.) And we have ideas.  We’ll hear from Michal Kosinski, creator of Apply Magic Sauce, and Solon Barocas, who studies the ethics of machine learning at Microsoft Research. Plus, reports from our listeners on the wonder and terror of digging through their digital identities. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

The last day of the Privacy Paradox challenge. We'll draw some conclusions from this week—and some boundaries for the future. With Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented a little something called the World Wide Web. He has a big idea for a more secure, more private experience online. And he thinks we can build it together.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

It's day four of the Privacy Paradox challenge. We talk to Elan Gale, executive producer of The Bachelor, about how we perform for social media, and how we change when we know we’re being watched. Also, the dangers of drunk tweeting. And Stanford psychology professor Elias Aboujaoude on how to find your true self when your personal details are public knowledge. Plus, it's time to get away from wifi, unplug the smart devices, and turn off your phone. We're going off the grid. Briefly.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

It's day three of Note to Self's Privacy Paradox challenge. There are the things you know you share online: selfies, emails, Facebook posts. But there is so. much. more. Marketers are mining the words you use, your tone and sentence length, to profile you. To assess your personality.  Today, find out who the Internet thinks you are. With the man who helped Google implement the right to be forgotten.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.     

It's the second day of the Privacy Paradox challenge. You know - as you move across the web, clicking and searching and liking, you’re being tracked. You might use an ad blocker. Or a do-not-track plug-in. But you're still leaving tiny traces everywhere.  Today, we go from creepy to crappy. Creepy is that vague feeling that the machines know… something. Crappy, at least, is knowing what they know. And taking a step to slow the information flow. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Your Privacy Paradox challenges start today.   What does your phone know about you? Too much, probably. And it’s even more than you think. Many apps track your location, even when you’re not using them. Others listen in via your microphone, even when you’re not talking to them. Maybe you want your apps to know what you’re up to. Or maybe want to open up your Settings app and check out what data you’re giving away. That’s your task for day one of “The Privacy Paradox,” our five-part project to help you take back your digital identity.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

We want control of our personal information. But even when risks to our data are high, we sign up for services and apps. We download, click, and post without being sure where that data ends up. The Privacy Paradox, Note to Self's latest interactive project is your answer to this digital dilemma. Next week, we'll bring you five days of challenges and mini-podcasts, to help you make digital decisions that feel right for you.  To join the project, sign up at privacyparadox.org. And listen here. Let's do this, folks. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

There’s so much potential. With big data, researchers can smooth social interactions and create better cities. Maybe cure cancer, and slow climate change. But the data has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is us. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

The Fourth Amendment doesn’t mention privacy once. But those 54 little words are a crucial battleground in today’s fight over our digital rights. This week, Note to Self gets in our time machine, back to the court cases that brought privacy from parchment to Gmail. Tales of Miami bookies, tapped payphones, and a 1975 Monte Carlo. And where the Fourth Amendment needs to go, now that we’re living in the future. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Are you an upholder, a questioner, an obliger or a rebel? Gretchen Rubin of the Happier podcast has identified four ways that people respond to expectations - the Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw of habit change, if you will. Figuring out your cognitive house might be the key to changing your bad habits for good. Including one habit we hear about a lot: clinging to the phone right up until our eyes drop closed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Can we really start fresh when our every step, nap, and calorie are measured? If even a hard-core coder fails at a tech-enabled diet, maybe we need a new way to optimize our quantified selves. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

FOMO is real. And it's amplified during the holiday season when party glam shots and scrumptious food pics are everywhere. So let's embrace a little JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) instead. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Ginger Johnson is battling cancer. She has three children and wants to stay in their lives after she's gone. So she's using a service called Safe Beyond that helps her make messages and then schedule them for delivery in the future. But her kids aren't sure they want them. We're planning episodes both intense and light next year. And we count on listener contributions to make it happen.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

If police smell booze on your breath behind the wheel, you'll be asked to blow into a breathalyzer. But if they notice distracted driving, how do they measure clicks, taps and swipes? Plus, a sneak peek at Note to Self's next big listener project.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Back in the ‘90s, health researchers planted stories against drunk driving on primetime shows. Growing Pains even killed off Matthew Perry in a crash. Now, the challenge is getting people to stop texting on the road. But we don't watch TV like we used to. So who’s the new influencer?  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

We've seen the good, bad and ugly of tech this election cycle. And we all have big feelings about it. So Manoush hosted a good old-fashioned call-in, for listeners to share their thoughts and fears about our digital lives under a Trump administration. With Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times, and Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.