Vox Sentences - The secret to modern friendship

We’ve published so much good stuff this week, but the thing I’m most proud of (because, full disclosure, I got to lead it!) is our latest tentpole project, This Changed Everything. This is a huge package spanning text, audio, and video that looks back at the (wild! scary! unexpected!) moments that defined the past decade. 

Why this? Why now? Well, Vox just turned 10! But also 2014–2024 is a fascinating period that saw so many shifts. As I explain in a piece that brings together turning points from reporters all over the newsroom, we’ve focused our attention on the novel — both small-scale incidents that foretold big-deal changes and huge events that had surprising consequences. 

We’ve got stories on, well, everything from how the commodification of self-care fueled the loneliness crisis to how The Dress (you know the one) was both a high-water mark for internet fun and the first crack in our shared reality. We have a list of pivotal turning points from reporters across the newsroom, a forecast of what the next decade could look like by Future Perfect, a video starring members of the team, and two companion podcast episodes from Today, Explained.

Read, listen, watch, enjoy! But also make a little time for some other work I loved from Vox this week.

—Julia Rubin, senior editorial director for culture and features

Is TikTok breaking young voters’ brains?

It’s an election year, and things feel pretty different than they did in 2016 and 2020 despite how familiar the candidates are. One factor that sets 2024 apart? TikTok. The platform has exploded since the last presidential election and there’s plenty of reason for concern — privacy, polarization, misinformation. Christian Paz explains how we should be thinking about it all as we careen toward November.

🎧 Our immigration identity crisis

Today, Explained had a great two-part series this week about immigration in America. Their thesis is a sharp one: we can’t solve our immigration crisis because the country wants two very contradictory things. Listen to the first episode about that tension, and the second that digs into solutions, both hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

Meet the photo agency that turns celeb watchers into conspiracy theorists

As my social media diet has shifted heavily to Instagram (miss you, Old Twitter), I’ve become increasingly aware of Backgrid, the ubiquitous photo agency credited on pretty much any paparazzi photo the algorithm feeds me. Kyndall Cunningham did the work to answer a question on my and so many other scrollers’ minds: Are all of these photos staged? The answer is, of course, complicated.

 📹 You can help reverse the overdose epidemic

I oversee Even Better, Vox’s service journalism section that helps people lead better lives. It’s been really exciting to see its expansion into video, and this most recent episode by Coleman Lowndes on naloxone (which you may know by its brand name, Narcan) is such a smart and empathetic look at what we can all do to help reverse the opioid epidemic.

The secret to modern friendship, according to real friends

Ready to be charmed? Vox’s friendship expert Allie Volpe sat down with her real-life friend Anna Goldfarb, who just published a book about friendship, to talk about their friendship. I loved reading this conversation between two people who care so much about each other and who think so deeply about how to be a good friend. Friendship! One of the very best things about being alive.

🎧 What’s the tallest mountain in the world?

Unexplainable never fails to delight! The show is airing episodes on the most extreme places on Earth this week and next. First up: Just how tall is Mount Everest? I got a little obsessed with Everest this climbing season, which just wrapped up. There’s a lot out there to read and watch and listen to about who climbs the mountain — sherpas, guides, expert mountaineers, unprepared amateurs — but Noam Hassenfeld and Laura Bult tackle the natural wonder itself. (And next week’s episode is about the deepest part of the ocean…!)

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