DEEP DIVE: Susan Linn on How “Big Tech” Targets Our Kids
2026/07/06 | 30 mins.
This month, our "Deep Dive" is into some of our past episodes about screen time: the effects it has on our kids, how tech companies engineer their devices to be as addictive as possible, and how we can allow our kids to enjoy screens with supportive limits.
Psychologist Susan Linn, author of WHO'S RAISING THE KIDS? BIG TECH, BIG BUSINESS, AND THE LIVES OF CHILDREN, isn't anti-technology. She's anti-advertising to children, and has spent her long career spotlighting the "monumental shift towards a digitized-commercialized childhood."
With smart speakers and screens at arms' reach wherever kids go, digital technologies continue to evolve much faster than our understanding of the ramifications of their dominance in our kids' lives.
Susan began her career as award-winning ventriloquist (here she is on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood!) and has become a world-renowned expert on creative play and the impact of media and commercial marketing on children. In this episode, Susan tells us
Why her point isn't to make parents feel guilty
Why the best kinds of toys for children do very little
How branding can creep in where we sometimes don't even perceive it
What we can do to set parameters on the commercializing of our own kids' lives
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:
https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BEST OF: What Kind of Monster?
2026/07/03 | 48 mins.
There are these things that you just don't understand why anybody would do. But some people do them.
We aren't about judgment at the What Fresh Hell podcast, but we do sometimes have to ask: what kind of monster?
What kind of monster listens to videos on speaker?
Or keeps the keyboard clicks on their phone?
What kind of monster takes up two parking spots?
Puts empty cereal boxes back in the cabinet?
Gives small children toys with one hundred tiny pieces?
We went to our Facebook page and we asked people to share what kind of monsters they were encountering on a daily basis. In this episode we explore quite a few. And here's a disclaimer: we may each have been one or more of these monsters before.
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:
https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When It's Too Much Change All at Once
2026/07/01 | 44 mins.
Have you ever felt like your life consisted of too many moving parts at the same time? In this episode, we explore why life tends to deliver too much change at once—and the difference between an actual change and the larger, more uncertain area of transition that both precedes and follows any big change.
We discuss:
Why even positive and worked-toward life transitions can feel overwhelming once they arrive
What "change saturation" and "change fatigue" look like
How your business partners, family members, or loved ones might be going through the same change, but on a very different transition timeline
Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:
Our episode "Why We Avoid Uncertainty (And How That Gets In Our Way)"
Talkspace blog: How to Keep It Together When Everything Keeps Changing
North Highland blog: How Much Change is Too Much Change?
Cassandra Worthy: The 3 Stages Of Change Fatigue And How To Recover
Prosci blog: Bridges Transition Model Explained and Made Actionable
William Bridges Associates: William Bridges Bio
Cassandra Worthy: CHANGE ENTHUSIASM
Get tickets to see Amy in 42nd Street at the Sharon Playhouse, July 25th through August 9th! sharonplayhouse.org/42nd-street
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:
https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DEEP DIVE: When Mom Leaves Town
2026/06/29 | 44 mins.
This Deep Dive series is all about tips to stay sane while traveling with family —immediate or extended, kids younger or older in tow, across the state or across the globe!
Does it seem like just as much work to leave your kids behind for a couple of days as not to go in the first place? Do your instructions for family operational procedures during your absence run more than five pages?
Getting away from our kids—for work, for the weekend, for a friend’s 40th—isn’t just good for us. It’s also an opportunity for our kids to realize that “only Mommy” stuff they pull when we’re around is not as necessary as they might have thought.
Margaret and Amy discuss:
Why our kids may behave better when we aren’t around (and why it's not a bad thing)
Why the best time to call your kids when you travel is in the morning
How the instructions you leave behind can change as your kids grow
Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:
Kari Bodnarchuk for The Boston Globe: Preparing Kids for When a Parent Travels
Smart Women Travelers: Keeping Mom’s Business Trip from Being Mom’s Guilt Trip
Our episode "We Forgot What Little Kids Were Like"
Kara Williams has great advice for vacationing with kids of all ages
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:
https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fresh Take: Sara Hirsh Bordo on Autoimmunity and the Threat to Women's Health
2026/06/26 | 36 mins.
Why are autoimmune conditions so much more common in women? And does that have anything to do with the fact that those same conditions are misunderstood, under-researched, and accepted as things we just have to live with?
Sara Hirsh Bordo, author of the new book AUTOIMMUNITY AND THE GOOD GIRLS, discusses the questions that led her to examine the connection between women’s health, caregiving, stress, and identity.
After receiving her own autoimmune diagnoses, Sara began noticing that her fellow sufferers shared similar life patterns: especially eldest daughters, caretakers, and women raised to prioritize everyone else’s needs. That observation led her to fund original research exploring the relationship between girlhood experiences, cultural expectations, and autoimmune disease.
Amy and Sara discuss:
What autoimmune disease, means and why these conditions remain misunderstood
Hypotheses on why autoimmune diagnoses disproportionately affect women
The connection between caregiving roles, chronic stress, and the nervous system
How our life experiences can shape our long-term health
The difference between understanding mind-body connections and blaming ourselves when our bodies fail us
Why learning to receive care can be just as important as giving it
What it means to rewrite the stories that teach women to earn love through self-denial
This conversation explores a question many women may recognize: What happens when being “good” means becoming disconnected from your own needs?
Here's where you can find Sara:
https://autoimmunityandthegoodgirls.com
https://goodgirlsbook.com
@sarahirshbordo on IG
@sarahirshbordo on LinkedIn
Buy AUTOIMMUNITY AND THE GOOD GIRLS: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780063450660
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:
https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
About What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms
About What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms
About What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms
When you're a parent, every day brings a "fresh hell" to deal with. In other words, there's always something. Think of us as your funny mom friends who are here to remind you: you're not alone, and it won't always be this hard.
We're Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables, both busy moms of three kids, but with completely different parenting styles. Margaret is a laid-back to the max; Amy never met a spreadsheet or an organizational system she didn't like.
In each episode of "What Fresh Hell" we offer lots of laughs, but also practical advice, parenting strategies, and tips to empower you in your role as a mom. We explore self-help techniques, as well as ways to prioritize your own needs, combat stress, and despite the invisible workload we all deal with, find joy amidst the chaos of motherhood.
If you've ever wondered "why is my kid..." then one of us has probably been there, and we're here to tell you what we've learned along the way.
We unpack the behaviors and developmental stages of toddlers, tweens, and teenagers, providing insights into their actions and equipping you with effective parenting strategies.
We offer our best parenting tips and skills we've learned. We debate the techniques and studies that are everywhere for parents these days, and get to the bottom of what works best to raise happy, healthy, fairly well-behaved kids, while fostering a positive parent-child relationship.
If you're the default parent in your household, whether you're a busy mom juggling multiple pickups and dropoffs, or a first-time parent seeking guidance, this podcast is your trusted resource. Join our community of supportive mom friends laughing in the face of motherhood!
whatfreshhellpodcast.com
Listen to What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms, ShxtsNGigs and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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