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The hottest new hangout for middle schoolers is NPR's comment section?
TechCrunch • • world
Key Points:
- NPR's podcast "Wild Card" experienced a surge of unusual comments on Spotify, initially mistaken for bot activity by the production team.
- Hannah Chin, a Gen Z audio producer at NPR, identified the comments as middle schoolers using the podcast comment section as a social media substitute.
- This phenomenon reflects younger kids avoiding mainstream social media platforms, instead congregating in less monitored online spaces like NPR podcast comments.
- When asked, one middle schooler admitted they chose NPR podcasts because they had fewer comments, making them easier to use as a chat space.
- Host Ira Glass expressed a mix of amusement and mild disappointment upon learning that public radio shows are being used as alternative social hangouts by kids.
