Quick Fix | Challenge #3: Social Media Cleanse
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can advice from a podcast actually make your life better? How To! producer Rosie Belson is putting sage wisdom from past episodes to the test. This month: How to reevaluate your social media usage!
Featured How To! episodes:
How To Break the Spell of Social Media
Tell us about a piece of How To! advice that stuck with you. ? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001—and Rosie might just try out that advice for herself.. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
The show is produced by Rosemary Belson, with Kevin Bendis. How To's supervising producer is Joel Meyer.
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock this episode—you'll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/howtoplus to get access wherever you listen.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you |
| 0:24.8 | on April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:33.1 | Hello and welcome to Quick Fix, how to Slate Plus segment. My name's Rosie Belson, and I've been producing advice here at Slate for half a decade now. |
| 0:41.3 | And during that time, I've come across a lot of solid advice. |
| 0:44.3 | The only question is, does it work? |
| 0:46.3 | So I've been going back through the how-to archives to put some of the most promising advice to the test. |
| 0:51.3 | Last month, I attempted to correct my sleep habits, and during that process, I realized |
| 0:55.8 | one of my biggest hurdles to a good night's sleep was scrolling through Instagram, specifically |
| 1:00.3 | Instagram Reels, which is kind of like an alternate TikTok. |
| 1:03.7 | Ironically, I never signed up for TikTok because I know I have terrible self-control, |
| 1:07.6 | so I figured I'd not tip myself, but with platforms like Instagram pushing |
| 1:11.4 | similar short-form content, it kind of found me anyways. It's so hard to resist getting stuck |
| 1:16.3 | down social media rabbit holes. And then you look up and are surprised an hour, two hours, |
| 1:22.4 | maybe sometimes three hours has passed. And while I'm susceptible to that at any time of the day, |
| 1:27.2 | it was particularly bad at the end of the day, it was particularly |
| 1:27.8 | bad at the end of the evening. There's a psychological phenomenon called revenge bedtime procrastination, |
| 1:34.1 | and it's essentially where people stay up later than they want in order to reclaim some control over |
| 1:38.8 | the day. And for me, the social media rabbit hole absolutely aids and bets that procrastination. |
| 1:45.0 | And, you know, for good reason, right? Social media, especially the types like TikTok or Instagram |
| 1:49.1 | Reels are essentially dopamine slot machines. It is entertaining and feels good to use it. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peach Fish Projects, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Peach Fish Projects and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.