Overthinking About Feeling Doomed

Magical Overthinkers

Amanda Montell & Studio71

Education, Science, Society & Culture

4.3 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, host Amanda Montell takes the mic solo to overthink the creeping sense of doom that seems to hum beneath modern life. Drawing from her Esquire essay on “doomslang,” she unpacks the language we use to joke about collapse, catastrophe, and existential dread... and what those jokes might be revealing about how we’re actually coping. From ironic nihilism to memeified despair, Amanda explores why we’ve turned apocalypse into punchline, how constant crisis reshapes our nervous systems, and whether calling everything “doomed” is a defense mechanism… or a warning. A short spiral about dread, dark humor, and the strange comfort of saying the quiet part out loud. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers. - To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack. - Pick up Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical Shop plans at https://MINTMOBILE.com/magical To learn more about how to support Minnesota’s immigrant communities, check out this MSP Mag article, which shares several ways to offer help or find support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am downright chuffed to tell you about MintMobile.
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0:45.0	Welcome to the magical overthinkers podcast, a show for thought spirallers, exploring the subjects we can't stop overthinking about.
0:54.8	From celebrity worship to revenge.
0:58.6	If you ever get the feeling that despite living in the information age, the world only
1:03.5	seems to be making less sense.
1:05.8	If you identify as a thought spiraler, someone who lives in their head, also maybe a dreamer, then you're in the right place.
1:13.3	This podcast is here to help us quiet the cacophony in our brains for a little while, or even hear a melody in it.
1:21.6	I'm your host, Amanda Montel. Today, we're overthinking about feeling doomed.
1:32.3	Today's episode is going to be another one of those cozy ones.
1:37.3	I couldn't really bring myself to get fully dressed and put on a face of makeup today.
1:47.3	I'm recording this at the end of January in the thick of the terrifying and demoralizing ice takeover
1:54.2	that's happening in Minneapolis
1:56.2	and so many other cities and neighborhoods
1:58.9	throughout the U.S.
2:00.5	There's a lot of doomy talk in my algorithm right now, understandably.
2:06.6	Talk about how the vibes in 2026 couldn't be worse, were cooked, etc.
2:11.6	All of that kind of rhetoric and the feelings of, you know, hopelessness and doominess
	...

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