ICYMI - The Terminally Ill Influencers Posting Their Way Through Life—and Death
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Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2024
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s show, Rachelle makes her triumphant return. She’s joined by A.W. Ohlheiser, a senior technology reporter and editor at Vox, who recently wrote about the complicated lives and deaths of TikTok’s illness influencers. As Ohlheiser wrote, “These stories — whether held in an archive of personal letters, a widely discussed lecture, or on the For You pages of millions — are all shaped by the expectations of the ‘well.’ Turning sickness into content can get views. And just like any content, not all people, or illnesses, have an equal chance of going viral.”
But first, Candice fills Rachelle in on what she’s missed online during her time off.
This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Candice Lim. |
| 0:15.0 | And I'm Rachel Hampton, and you're listening to I see why am I. |
| 0:20.0 | In case you missed it, Slate it's podcast about internet culture. |
| 0:25.0 | And listeners, that is the sweet sweet sound of our one and only Rachel Hampton back on |
| 0:30.0 | the pod. |
| 0:31.0 | We have missed you so much and I'd love to hear in your own words Rachel what have you been up to any |
| 0:36.5 | highlights you'd like to share with us? Well I know you've been keeping the listeners |
| 0:41.9 | updated on what I've been doing. I don't actually know what |
| 0:46.2 | you've told them but suffice to say that I've had a productive and exciting time off. |
| 0:56.6 | Now, Rachel, you sound rested and relaxed |
| 0:59.7 | and for good reason because you logged off |
| 1:02.4 | from the apps during this sabbatical right? |
| 1:04.8 | Mm-hmm for the last month of it. So December I was on the apps because I'm |
| 1:09.8 | gonna be honest I was at home for two weeks and God knows I cannot spend two weeks in the suburbs of Texas without access to social media, but once I got back to New York, I was like, |
| 1:20.0 | what if I quit social media for the first time since I was 12 years old? |
| 1:24.5 | What would happen to my brain? |
| 1:27.2 | And so I tried it. And I gotta say, |
| 1:30.8 | maybe I should get a new job, because it was so nice. I know she got a social media |
| 1:36.4 | lobotomy. Basically. And the thing is I think this is great because you know with your skin |
| 1:42.3 | clear head empty I think this is great because you know with your skin clear head empty I think I'm going to |
| 1:45.5 | catch you up on some of the things that have happened online while you were gone because you know I saw |
| 1:49.8 | these and I immediately was just like I have to know what Rachel thinks so are you |
... |
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