Overthinking About Feeling Doomed

About this episode

Amanda Montell explores the sense of doom in modern life and its cultural implications.

This week, host Amanda Montell takes the mic solo to overthink the creeping sense of doom that seems to hum beneath modern life. Drawing from her Esquire essay on “doomslang,” she unpacks the language we use to joke about collapse, catastrophe, and existential dread... and what those jokes might be revealing about how we’re actually coping. From ironic nihilism to memeified despair, Amanda explores why we’ve turned apocalypse into punchline, how constant crisis reshapes our nervous systems, and whether calling everything “doomed” is a defense mechanism… or a warning. A short spiral about dread, dark humor, and the strange comfort of saying the quiet part out loud. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers. - To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack. - Pick up Amanda's book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, or listen to the audiobook. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/magical Shop plans at https://MINTMOBILE.com/magical To learn more about how to support Minnesota’s immigrant communities, check out this MSP Mag…

People in this episode

Host: Amanda Montell

Topics covered

• existential dread
• dark humor
• nihilism
• apocalypse
• cultural commentary
• mental health

Keywords

• doomslang
• collapse
• catastrophe
• ironic nihilism
• memeified despair
• defense mechanism
• apocalypse jokes

Sponsors

SHOPIFY, MINTMOBILE

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Esquire, Magical Overthinkers Club, Magical Overthinkers Substack, MSP Mag

Books & works: The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

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