You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

Writer, linguist, and podcaster Amanda Montel says we are living through the cultiest era on record.

As the hardwired cognitive biases that helped early humans survive

rush up against social media and digital communication.

Studies show that social media has damaged our mental health

and our attention spans, all the while making cult-ish leaders mega-accessible.

Who needs compounds when you have comment sections?

She exposes three sneaky language tactics that

cults use to influence us for better or for worse, revealing why none of us are as cult-proof

as we'd like to think. And stick around after the talk Amanda and I got together to go beyond

her talk, to discuss what led her to the study of cults, the role of AI in these cultier times,

and what to do if we think someone we know and love may be in a cult.

That's all coming up right after a short break from our sponsors. And now our TED Talk of the Day.

Hi, everyone.

Or shall I say, greetings, followers, and settle in.

Because I'm about to share with you a true story about one of the most zealous cults in the world. This story takes place on the group's holiest day.

Acolytes arrived at dawn, some having crossed oceans and sacrificed life savings in order to get there.

They came bearing hand-beated offerings inscribed with sacred numbers, 22, 13, 89.

But this, my friends, is not the story of an apocalyptic sect on a faraway compound.

No, this was a Taylor Swift concert.

I said it.

...