Reasonably Optimistic

Social media is designed to keep us scrolling. But is it also keeping us angry? Rage bait is rewarded and amplified. It’s easy to react and even easier to get pulled in. Over time, this has changed how we interact with the world — and with each other. But is this just bad behavior, or something closer to addiction?

Host Megan McArdle is joined by Keith Humphreys, a Stanford professor and psychologist, to break down the mechanics of addiction and how they might apply to life online. Together, they explore why rage is so compelling, how platforms keep us hooked and whether it’s possible to break the cycle.

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Scroll through enough retro photos or vintage ads, and it’s easy to convince yourself that life used to be simpler, even happier. But why does the past look better the farther away it gets?

Host Megan McArdle unpacks how nostalgia distorts our view of history — from the food people ate to the cost of everyday life — and why forgetting the hardships can shape how we think about the present.

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From politicians to Silicon Valley, a growing chorus is sounding the alarm and calling for more babies. But the story behind America’s declining birth rate is more complicated than headlines and political talking points suggest. Is this just a temporary trend, or something deeper — and what does it mean for the kind of society we’re building?

Host Megan McArdle is joined by economist and demographer Lyman Stone to discuss what’s really driving the decline in birth rates — from delayed marriage to cultural shifts and rising anxiety about the future.

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From overdone plastic surgery to open-concept floor plans, we’re designing our lives to look good on camera instead of optimizing for what we need. Influencer culture — and our constant exposure to curated, edited and optimized images — has reshaped the way we see the world and ourselves. But chasing the perfect image can leave real life feeling strangely hollow.

Host Megan McArdle unpacks how we got here — and how to start seeing past the screen.

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The Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics. But these days, it doesn’t feel that way. From high-stakes rulings to increasingly bitter confirmation hearings, the court has become one of the most divisive institutions in American government. So how did this happen?

Host Megan McArdle is joined by Supreme Court analyst Sarah Isgur to break down what the justices actually do, why the court's breakdown isn’t as simple as a 6-3 conservative-liberal split, and how Americans' expectations — and Congress’s failures — have pushed the high court into a role it was never meant to play.

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