Motherhood Has Been Hacked With Amanda Hess

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Parenting, Kids & Family, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if the thing you bought to keep your baby safe was actually preparing them for a lifetime of being watched? This week we sit down with New York Times critic and author Amanda Hess to talk about the dark underbelly of parenting tech. From the SNOO to the Owlet sock to that creepy CGI fetus in your pregnancy app, we unpack how modern devices promise safety while quietly feeding our data, and our kids’ data, to the algorithm gods. Amanda’s new book Second Life traces how technology has crept into every corner of motherhood, from tracking ovulation to surveilling toddlers, and how it’s reshaping what we think of as “good” parenting. We talk about the eugenic roots of menstrual tracking, how pregnancy apps manipulate your emotions, and what it means to grow attached to a hologram of a baby who isn’t yours. This episode is for anyone who’s ever googled “is my baby breathing” at 3 a.m. Get Amanda's book Second Life here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sales!
0:05.0	Captain, an unidentified ship approaching. Over.
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0:31.6	Adobe Express is the quick and easy Create Anything app.
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0:49.3	Search for Adobe Express to find out more and get the app for free.
0:53.3	Adobe Express, the quick and easy create anything app.
1:01.6	Hello all, Joe here. You are listening to Under the Influence.
1:10.5	Have you ordered everyone is lying to you yet?
1:13.4	The greatest, most grisly, most bananas, trad wife murder mystery ever written by yours truly,
1:19.8	or by anyone, for that matter? Get your orders in. You will thank yourself when it arrives on your
1:25.8	doorstep on July 15th and you have it before
1:28.4	everyone else and you can feel better than them. Okay, you can lord this over all of your friends
1:33.1	and I want that for you. I truly do. Today we have an episode that I think is fascinating.
1:42.1	What happens when the thing that's supposed to keep your baby safe at night
	...

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