Offline with Jon Favreau

We did it folks! Jurors for Trump’s hush money trial are getting to read their resistance tweets to his face as Meta’s crackdown on news is slowly asphyxiating conservative media. Jon and Max celebrate the good news, and then dive into the much more somber topic of dating in the Internet Age. It turns out Gen Z is abandoning dating apps in favor of social media and the “old school” approach of meeting people in person...

Is FOMO the only thing keeping you on social media? Have we already reached peak artificial intelligence? And are Max and Jon too old to enjoy Glorb, a Spongebob Squarepants AI that’s become the hottest rapper on the internet? The guys cheer on the nosedive of Trump’s media company stocks, break down the latest research in why your friends want you to quit social media, and answer mailbag questions like “will Jon ever stop getting in Twitter fights?”

Are college educated Democrats going to cost Joe Biden the election? Eitan Hersh, a Political Science professor at Tufts, joins Offline to take a closer look at “political hobbyists,” aka people who think that getting involved in politics means following the news and forming political opinions. Eitan’s book, Politics is for Power, lays out a roadmap for folks who are tired of online takes and ready to get involved in politics at the community level—where engagement could make a real impact...

Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale University's “Happiness Professor,” joins Offline to lay out a scientific guide to finding happiness. On her podcast The Happiness Lab and in her course Psychology and the Good Life (the most popular in Yale’s 300 year history), Laurie educates people on the way our brains lie about what makes us happy and helps them reorient their priorities to find genuine happiness...

Eric Klinenberg, sociologist at New York University, joins Offline to discuss why our failure to process 2020 may lead to another disastrous Trump term. His newest book, 2020, breaks down the year that reshaped our politics, unveiled cracks in our society, and transformed the ways we live, work, and interact with each other. Eric and Jon unpack how Trump’s Covid-era leadership politicized public health and left Americans to fend for themselves...

Kate Middleton sightings have dipped below UFO sightings, and the internet is having a heyday! It’s conspiracy theory week at Offline, with Max and Jon offering up their own takes on the missing Princess of Wales. Then, they break down the latest developments of the House’s proposed TikTok ban––including content creators’ ludicrous theories behind what’s really going on...

Jon Ronson, author of So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and host of the BBC podcast “Things Fell Apart,” joins Offline to discuss culture wars—why do they originate in America? Are they going too far? Are we all becoming immune to the public-shaming superbug? But first! Max and Jon break down the latest bombardment of everyone’s favorite algorithm (TikTok ban) and everyone’s favorite politician (AOC being screamed at).

Zeynep Tufekci, sociologist and New York Times opinion columnist, joins Offline to discuss why long covid has unleashed so much online vitriol, united the Senate, and exposed just how little Americans trust institutions. Jon also sits down with his producer, Emma, to talk about her firsthand experience with the disease, and how she navigates an information environment rife with suffering and confusion—but also solidarity and hope...

Tina Nguyen, national correspondent at Puck News, joins Offline to talk about her new memoir, “The MAGA Diaries.” The book sheds light on the conservative movement’s college recruitment pipeline, and how it’s propelled a new generation of alt-right leaders to the upper echelons of American politics, courts, and social movements...

Cass Sunstein, Harvard professor and coauthor of the forthcoming book, Look Again, joins Offline to discuss the dangers of habituation. When things become so commonplace that they blend into the background of our everyday lives, we stop appreciating the good and identifying the bad. Jon and Cass examine how authoritarian regimes are normalized, whether you can pay people to quit their social media addictions, and why repeating lies makes them more believable...