Introducing podcast “Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet” - EPISODE DROP

There Are No Girls on the Internet

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Technology

4.4 • 820 Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We're excited to share the first episode of Peabody Award-nominated podcast Long Shadow’s new season, Breaking the Internet.

Hosted by Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Garrett Graff, Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet charts the evolution of the internet – from the optimistic days of the dot-com boom to our present moment. Produced by Long Lead and distributed by PRX, this seven-part series aims to tell the story of humanity's greatest invention, and how it's led us to the biggest crisis facing society today.

In this specific episode, you’ll travel back to 1993. Gas is just over a dollar a gallon. Minimum wage is $4.25 an hour. Mass media is hitting its apex, and American culture is about as homogenous as it’s ever been. And somewhere in the background of all that, this new thing called the World Wide Web just became available to the general public…. then a computer bug threatened to shut it all down forever. To listen to more episodes, follow Long Shadow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.

If you’re listening on Spotify, you can leave a comment there or email us at [email protected]!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:08.3	There are No Girls on the Internet as a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative.
0:16.4	I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.
0:21.9	This week, we're doing something a little bit different.
0:24.8	Instead of our normal news roundup, I'm so excited to share an episode of the Peabody Award
0:29.4	nominated podcast, Long Shadow, Breaking the Internet.
0:33.4	This is the first episode of their new season, which dives into the history of the Internet.
0:47.2	It's hosted by Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Garrett Graf and charts the evolution of the internet from the optimistic days of the dot-com boom to our present moment.
0:51.4	It's an ambitious project produced by long lead and distributed by PRX.
0:56.6	A seven-part series exploring how choices made by tech companies and others in those early days shaped the Internet into what it is today.
0:59.1	In this specific episode, the first in the seven-part series, you'll travel back in time to 1993.
1:05.7	Gas is just over a dollar a gallon.
1:07.7	The minimum wage is $4.25 an hour.
1:10.0	Mass media is hitting its apex, and American
1:12.5	culture seems to be getting ever more homogenous. And somewhere in the background of all of that,
1:17.7	this new thing called the World Wide Web just became available to the general public. Then,
1:23.5	Y2K threatened to shut it all down forever. If you like this episode, be sure to follow Long Shadow
1:29.5	on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, here's the full episode.
1:37.7	When was the last time you felt good about the internet? The online landscape today is a
1:44.1	harrowing one. People screaming at each
1:46.4	other on social media, violent videos going viral, cyberbullying, racism, misogyny. It's hard
1:54.1	to say for sure where the web started to turn sour. But a case can be made that the last
	...

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