Another internet downer, women ruining workplaces, and parasocial relationships

Another internet downer, women ruining workplaces, and parasocial relationships

Author: Amanda Stephens, Hanna Bilinski,Rti November 24, 2025 Duration: 0:00

This week, Amanda and Hanna are tackling: the Cloudflare outage and what (if anything) it means, a New York Times opinion debate that blamed women for “ruining the workplace”, and finally what it says about 2025 that Cambridge's “word of the year” is PARASOCIAL.

Read along with us:

Cloudflare outage: 1. Cloudflare Outage Disrupts X, ChatGPT and Thousands of Sites (Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly, Observer), 2. Why It Feels Like Your Favorite Websites Keep Going Down (Lisa Eadicicco, CNN)

Did women ruin workplaces?: 1. Opinion | Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace? (Ross Douthat and Victoria Chamberlin, The New York Times) , 2. Women of Vanity Fair Consider Ross Douthat’s Question: Did Women Ruin the Workplace? (Vanity Fair)

Word of the year: 1. Parasocial - that one-sided feeling you really know a celebrity - is Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year (Sky News), 2. Cambridge Dictionary’s 2025 Word of the Year: ‘Parasocial’ - an ‘unhealthy’ modern phenomenon (David Mouriquand, EuroNews)


Every week, writers Hanna Bilinski and Amanda Stephens find themselves stuck in the same cycle: falling down a rabbit hole of alarming headlines and relentless updates. The Doomscroll News Report is their attempt to climb back out and make sense of it all. Instead of just recapping the major international stories that flooded their feeds, they pause to place each event within a broader context, asking what it really means for the global conversation. This isn't a straight news broadcast; it's a dialogue between two curious observers who bring on knowledgeable guests to deepen the discussion. By weaving together expert insight with their own perspectives as individuals striving to stay informed, they create a space for understanding that goes beyond the reactive nature of the daily news cycle. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a necessary conversation that seeks clarity and connection amidst the noise, offering a thoughtful alternative to the endless scroll.
Author: Language: en_us Episodes: 51

The Doomscroll News Report
Podcast Episodes
What ICE is doing in Minnesota, and the continuing war on journalism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week, hosts Hanna and Amanda discuss the ongoing situation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the recent activities of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, with a focus on what journalists are doin…
2025 Year-end retrospective: Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week, hosts Hanna and Amanda reflect on the news story that most impacted Amanda in the year 2025: the on-going saga of U.S. "Secreatary of War" Pete Hegseth. They also briefly discuss events from the past week, inc…
2025 year-end retrospective: Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
The hosts reflect on the news story that most impacted Hanna in the year 2025: the assassination of Charlie Kirk.