Are we surveilling our children too much? Do we need fancy gadgets to track their sleep? Should we be taking so many pictures of them? Longtime New York Times culture critic Amanda Hess joins Offline to discuss why the optimization of childhood may just be another empty promise of the information age. Amanda's new book, Second Life, follows her digital identity crisis as she grapples with her newborn baby's rare genetic disorder, traversing the Facebook groups, Reddit threads, spy cams and momfluencers she and other parents use as a 21st century substitute for a proverbial village.

To celebrate his final appearance on the pod, Max takes Jon on a trip down memory lane, sharing his favorite Offline clips from the past two years—including lessons he learned while trying to take control of his screen time, insights about loneliness in the digital age, and a touching reflection on what it means to pay attention to what you pay attention to. But first! Your favorite millennials discuss a terrifying AI model that’s likely to kick off the fake news apocalypse and the Democratic Party’s new not-so-secret secret plan to win back the support of young men (and what Democratic donors should spend their money on instead).

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

The tech elite believe AI is just a few years away from displacing most computer-based jobs, and they seem…excited about it? Atlantic staff writer Matteo Wong joins Offline to discuss why Silicon Valley thinks AI is more important than anything happening in politics or the economy, and why it’s all eerily similar to their optimism around social media in the 2010s. But first! Max shares a personal update that we all hate, and then it's onto the news. This week, foe of the pod Elon Musk decided he’s done spending millions to be fake friends with Donald Trump. America’s edge lord may be posting less, but xAI is still spreading the good word. Max and Jon explain why Grok got so obsessed with unfounded claims of white genocide in South Africa, examine why Jon is STILL getting in Twitter fights, and explore new research on social media's dubious teen accounts.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.