Have you always been comfortable talking to people who are not your age?

I've always been comfortable talking to...

Well, I don't know how to answer that question honestly.

I've never felt like I'm particularly good at talking to anyone.

This is the answer.

This is Gaff Secks and Money.

The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.

I'm Anna Sales.

Author John Green is in his mid-40s, but he's built a career on his ability to connect with teenagers.

His best-known young adult novel is The Fault in Our Stars, a story about two teens both dying of cancer who fall in love.

Even before that book came out, he had a huge following of teenagers online.

When we talked in 2018, he told me he reaches them by being in the online spaces they're already spending time in, like on YouTube.

Good morning, Hank. It's Wednesday, August 31st. Apparently it's talk to people.

Back in 2007, he and his brother, Hank, started an experiment where they posted weekly videos for each other.

And soon, other people began to watch too.

Now, more than a million people subscribe to their channel.

Many of them teenage fans looking for advice and a sense of community.

So Hank, I want to address the people who have recently ended or will soon end their formal education and enter what is known as the real world.

Okay, the first thing that you'll notice upon entering the real world is that it is neither more or less real than any of the previous worlds you have encountered.

When John was growing up in Orlando, he didn't feel like he had a real sense of community.

He was close to his parents and to his younger brother, Hank.

But he also spent a lot of time alone with his thoughts.

...