Explain It to Me

Vox

Should I buy a house? Why do I say “like” so much? Should Gen Z bother to save for retirement?

Explain It to Me is the hotline for the issues that matter to your life. Send us your questions about health, personal finance, relationships, and anything else that matters to you. Host Jonquilyn Hill will take you on a journey to find the answers, whether it's to the halls of Congress or the local bar. You’ll get the answers you were looking for, and sometimes ones you didn't expect — and always with a dose of humor. New episodes every Sunday. Part of Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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32 episodes
weekly
Avg 30 min
English

Episodes 32

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Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

Today · 30 min
Is intelligence overrated?
We all think we’re smart. But are we really that intelligent, and why does it even matter?
November 1 · 30 min
When hobbies take over your life
If you've optimized your free time so much that it feels like work, maybe it’s time to rethink how you craft and kayak.
October 25 · 30 min
When AI agents run your life
What you gain, and what you give up, when you let AI agents take control.
October 18 · 30 min
The quest for the perfect baby
Men and women are trying to maximize their reproductive health due to anxieties around declining fertility trends. But are we taking “embryomaxxing” too far?
October 11 · 30 min
The cost of loving your pet
Our emotional relationships with our pets have only grown since the pandemic — and so has the financial price we pay.
October 4 · 30 min
Mass-produced fashion slop
How algorithms and instant fashion killed style — and how to get it back.
September 27 · 30 min
The end of etiquette
It’s not just about being nice. Manners allow us to peacefully coexist at work, in transit, and out in the wider world.
September 20 · 30 min
We should party more
We’re lonely, isolated, and bored. The solution may be as simple as an invite and killer playlist.
September 13 · 29 min
How to date IRL
People are getting tired of the dating apps and turning to a more old-fashioned way of finding love.
August 30 · 30 min
How to survive a flop
In the streaming era, success is public, failure is viral, and everyone's one release away from a flop era. How do you come back?
August 23 · 27 min
Why everyone's an introvert now
Move aside extroverts. In this episode — which aired last year — we explore personality types and whether they are set in stone.
August 16 · 29 min
Why can’t I remember being a baby?
Even if we have little to no memory of our first few years, our earliest experiences still matter.
August 9 · 30 min
Vacation? In this economy?
Gas is expensive and Europeans want us to stay home. How can you still make use of that precious PTO?
August 2 · 30 min
Going broke on wellness
Americans spend billions on healthcare products, from green powders and cold plunges to costly gym memberships. Last summer we asked: what good do they do?
July 26 · 30 min
The perimenopause moment
Women’s health and hormones have been misunderstood by the medical establishment for decades. That’s changing.
July 19 · 30 min
What's in a name?
Jalen and Olivia and Liam and Ailany. We look at what makes a name top the popularity charts.
July 12 · 30 min
Tanning is back
Never mind skin cancer. Summer 2026 is all about tanmaxxing.
June 28 · 30 min
Can we cheat death?
The trick to living a longer, happier life.
June 21 · 30 min
How to beat mosquitoes
They’re the deadliest animal on the planet. Now even Google is getting into the extermination business.
June 14 · 30 min
The lost art of handwriting
How our relationship with writing has changed, and how that’s changed us.

Showing 1–20 of 32 episodes