Kids turned the comment section of an NPR podcast into a group chat
Middle schoolers used the Spotify comment section under NPR's Wild Card as a group chat after being blocked from social media.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Middle schoolers turned an NPR podcast comment section into a group chat
- The episode took place under the Wild Card podcast on Spotify
- Showrunners initially mistook the messages for bot spam due to emoji and shorthand
- Kids continue to find creative workarounds to social media restrictions
When middle schoolers find themselves blocked from mainstream social media apps and networks, they have no choice but to get creative to stay in touch with friends. This surprising online behavior was highlighted in an episode of This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, which explores how a group of kids landed in an unlikely corner of the internet and the reasons behind it.
The impromptu group chat took shape in the Spotify comment section underneath an episode of NPR's Wild Card podcast. When Glass asked one of the young participants why they specifically chose this podcast for their conversations, the kid simply stated that they searched for podcasts with very few comments, a candid response that reportedly hurt the host's feelings slightly.
This phenomenon highlights the resourceful nature of younger generations who repurpose digital tools in unintended ways to socialize. Similar to past generations chatting via Google Docs or obscure forum threads when restricted, today's youth continually demonstrate how technological barriers only spark alternative methods of peer communication.
Initially, showrunner Dave Blanchard suspected the influx of messages was coming from a peculiar strain of bots. He described the posts to Glass as gibberish, clipped, incoherent, and filled with shorthand and emojis, prompting him to delete them. However, the situation shifted when one of the accounts posted a complaint stating that their comment had been deleted, leading Blanchard to share screenshots of the chat within NPR's Slack workspace.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Producer Hannah Chin quickly identified the activity as human rather than automated bot behavior. Chin recalled using unconventional parts of the internet during childhood to chat with friends, noting how they used to converse back and forth on Google Docs, which highlights just how resourceful kids can be when cut off from traditional social networking platforms.
"We just, like, looked for podcasts that didn't have many comments."
Anonymous kid interviewed on This American Life
A strikingly similar incident occurred last year involving another public radio program, Ted Radio Hour, proving that this trend among youth utilizing alternative comment sections for private chats is becoming an ongoing internet culture phenomenon.
Source: The Verge
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