Close All Tabs

Close All Tabs

Ever wonder where the internet stops and IRL begins? Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor. From internet trends to AI slop to the politics of memes, Close All Tabs covers it all. How will AI change our jobs and lives? Is the government watching what I post? Is there life beyond TikTok? Host Morgan Sung pulls from experts, the audience, and history to add context to the trends and depth to the memes. And she’ll wrestle with as many browser tabs as it takes to explain the cultural moment we’re all collectively living. Morgan Sung is a tech journalist whose work covers the range of absurdity and brilliance that is the internet. Her beat has evolved into an exploration of social platforms and how they shape real-world culture. She has written for TechCrunch, NBC News, Mashable, BuzzFeed News and more. We love listening to shows about technology and culture like Power User with Taylor Lorenz, ICYMI, Wow If True, Hard Fork, There Are No Girls On the Internet, Endless Thread, Uncanny Valley from Wired, It’s Been a Minute, and You’re Wrong About. If you like them too, then trust us–you’ll like Close All Tabs.

Episodes

The All-Seeing Eyes of Modern Dating

October 8, 2025 • 29 mins
What happens to dating when every misstep has the potential to go viral? That’s what happened in 2022, when social media posts warning about a few bad dates with a man named “West Elm Caleb” blew up on TikTok in 2022, and became a cautionary tale on the culture of public shaming. In this episode, Morgan speaks with tech journalist Tanya Chen and culture writer Magdalene Taylor about the rise of the “dating panopticon” — a world in ...
Mark as Played

In Search of Thock: The Quest for the Perfect Keyboard

October 1, 2025 • 33 mins
“Clacky,” “Poppy,” and "Thocky" may sound like the latest cereal elves, but they’re actually terms to describe the sounds of typing on a mechanical keyboard. What started as a niche hobby blew up during the pandemic, with a huge influx of creators posting tutorials, reviews, and soothing ASMR videos on social media. Many hobbyists are so enthusiastic about achieving the perfect sound, feel and response from their personal keyboards...
Mark as Played

AI Prophets and Spiritual Delusions

September 24, 2025 • 30 mins
AI delusions, chatbot psychosis, AI-induced religious mania… The phenomenon goes by many names, but the common thread is the same: someone starts talking to an AI chatbot, the conversation turns spiritual, and then they seem to lose touch with reality.  In this episode, we’re exploring how AI and religion are colliding like never before — from biblical AI apps to self-proclaimed prophets who claim spiritual awakenings through chat...
Mark as Played

Groypers, Doxxing and Charlie Kirk’s Death as a S***post

September 17, 2025 • 32 mins
What is a “groyper?” The term began trending on Google in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. Kirk, the right-wing podcaster and Turning Point USA co-founder, was fatally shot last Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University.  Major news outlets quickly reported that authorities had found bullet casings engraved with a series of seemingly inscrutable messages, including, “Notices bulge, OwO, what’s this?”;  “Hey fascis...
Mark as Played

23andMe (andGeneticPrivacy)

September 10, 2025 • 36 mins
When 23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, it set off alarm bells among privacy experts and consumers alike. According to a 2025 survey, about 1 in 5 Americans has taken a home DNA test. Among those who haven’t, privacy ranks as one of their top concerns. As with so many things having to do with data, there’s a trade-off between confidentiality and the ability to access services that can improve our lives. The fallout fro...
Mark as Played

From MIT’s TeachLab: The Homework Machine

September 3, 2025 • 35 mins
The Close All Tabs team is taking the week off, but we wanted to share something else we think you’ll be into: a new mini series from MIT’s TeachLab Podcast. It’s called The Homework Machine, and it dives deep into how teachers and students are navigating the arrival of generative AI in schools.  Episode one is titled “Buckle Up, Here It Comes.” In late November of 2022, ChatGPT was released to the public as a free research previ...
Mark as Played

Teachers Strike Back Against AI Cheating

August 27, 2025 • 31 mins
Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms. First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discuss how detection tools should, and s...
Mark as Played

Before ChatGPT, There Were 'Shadow Scholars'

August 20, 2025 • 33 mins
Thousands of writers in Kenya make their living ghostwriting academic papers for wealthy Western students.  It’s an industry known as “contract cheating” or “essay mills,” and is the subject of a new documentary, “The Shadow Scholars.” Directed by Eloise King, the film follows Kenyan-born Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori as she investigates this hidden industry and seeks to understand the essay writers working in the shadows of th...
Mark as Played

Does Gen Z Have A Staring Problem?

August 13, 2025 • 35 mins
Have you heard of the “Gen Z stare”? It’s the blank look some Gen Zers seem to give instead of the usual greetings or small talk—and it’s the latest skirmish in a years-long generation war between Gen Z and Millennials. Internet culture researcher Aidan Walker joins Morgan to trace the origins of this rivalry, unpack what behavioral quirks like “the Gen Z stare” and “the Millennial pause” reveal about each generation’s relationship...
Mark as Played

Is Algospeak Coming for Us?

August 6, 2025 • 32 mins
Social media creators started using words like “unalive” and “seggs” to dodge algorithmic filters that might suppress “inappropriate” content. But these workarounds aren’t staying online. They’re leaking into real life — like last year, when the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture explained on a placard that Kurt Cobain “unalived” himself.  In his new book Algospeak, linguist and online creator Adam Aleksic argues that algorithms are sh...
Mark as Played

Save or Scroll: ICE + Influencers, Data Hygiene on Grindr, and Labubu Desserts

July 30, 2025 • 33 mins
In another installment of Save or Scroll, Morgan teams up with internet culture writers Daysia Tolentino and Moises Mendez II to dig into the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From people calling ICE on influencers, to Grindr’s new age verification, to the Labubu matcha Dubai chocolate craze (yes, you heard that correctly), the three of them have plenty to scroll through.  Save or Scroll is our series where we team up with g...
Mark as Played

Bonus: A Big Win for the Internet Archive

July 28, 2025 • 11 mins
Who decides what is and isn’t a library? The Internet Archive now has federal depository status, joining a network of over 1,100 libraries that archive government documents and make them accessible to the public — even as ongoing legal challenges pose an existential threat to the organization. Some of the organization’s critics even argue that the Internet Archive is not a library at all.  In this special update to our deep dive o...
Mark as Played

OGs of Tech: A Latino Engineer in Silicon Valley

July 23, 2025 • 32 mins
In a field obsessed with the future, sometimes it’s worth looking back. OGs of Tech is a new occasional series from Close All Tabs that looks beyond the billionaires to spotlight the often-overlooked innovators who helped build the digital world we live in today. One of these OGs is Felidoro Cueva, who grew up in a rural village in the Andes mountains of Peru, and immigrated to the US in 1964 — during the height of the Civil Right...
Mark as Played

Teens Under the Influence (of Chatbots)

July 16, 2025 • 34 mins
Young people are increasingly turning to AI “companion chatbots” to meet their emotional needs. But a new study shows that these chatbots, which are designed to mimic real social relationships, can carry serious risks. In this episode, Morgan and her sister put one chatbot's safety guardrails to the test — and get more than they bargained for. Then, KQED Silicon Valley senior editor Rachael Myrow explains why teens are especially v...
Mark as Played

How the Furry Fandom Says Goodbye

July 2, 2025 • 34 mins
Furries are often known for wearing full-body animal suits at conventions — but the characters they inhabit, called “fursonas,” are much more than costumes. They’re deeply personal expressions of identity and creativity. So when someone in the furry fandom dies, how does the community say goodbye? In this episode, Morgan explores a virtual memorial created by a furry named Changa Husky, where mourners gather in VR to remember those...
Mark as Played

Curls, Coils, and Pixels: Researchers Crack the Code on Black Hair Animation

June 25, 2025 • 32 mins
The animation industry has long struggled to get Black hair right — from the infamous “Killmonger locs,” named after the Black Panther character and copied across video games, to the stiff, oversized afros of The Sims 4. As it turns out, hair animation tools were built almost exclusively with straight hair in mind. Two researchers, A.M. Darke and Theodore Kim, recently published a landmark paper about the physics of animating curly...
Mark as Played

The Spotify Effect, Pt 2: Micro-Genre Madness

June 18, 2025 • 35 mins
Spotify didn’t just change how we listen to music — it changed what a genre even is. In this episode, producer and rapper Quinn reflects on being thrust into the spotlight at age 15 as one of the breakout faces of Spotify’s meteoric Hyperpop playlist.. Then, music journalist Kieran Press-Reynolds breaks down how Spotify’s made-up micro-genres—like Goblincore, Anime Drill, and Bubblegrunge—are reshaping music discovery and putting p...
Mark as Played

Elon's Great Crash-Out / Unmasked in LA

June 11, 2025 • 26 mins
Elon Musk and President Trump breaking up? LA protesters clashing with law enforcement? Waymos on fire (again)? Things have been moving fast the last few days — and like you, our feeds are on overload. Today, we’re bringing you a quick reaction episode to catch you up on a couple stories we’ve covered before that are suddenly back in the news. Close All Tabs producer Maya Cueva joins Morgan to break it all down. We’ve talked abo...
Mark as Played

The Spotify Effect, Pt 1: Ghosts in the Playlist

June 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Spotify has morphed from a straightforward music library and search engine into a data-driven system built to feed you songs to match your mood and optimize your time on the platform.  In this episode, Morgan is joined by music journalist and author Liz Pelly to break down how Spotify built its playlist empire, the rise of so-called “ghost artists” on the platform, and how its algorithmic approach is changing our relationship to m...
Mark as Played

Do You Hear What I Hear? Audio Illusions and Misinformation

May 28, 2025 • 32 mins
Are you old enough to remember the “Magic Eye” optical illusion mania that gripped the nation in the 90’s—random patterns that you had to squint at just right for the 3D image to pop out?  It turns out it's not just our eyes that can be fooled. Our ears can play tricks on us too. There's a whole world of auditory illusions that seem to say one thing when they're really saying something else, and that matters, especially in our age ...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

    My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

    My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

    24/7 News: The Latest

    24/7 News: The Latest

    The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

    Dateline NBC

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Stuff You Should Know

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    The Bobby Bones Show

    The Bobby Bones Show

    Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

Explore

iHeart

Live Radio

Podcasts

Artist Radio

Exclusives

News

Features

Events

Contests

Photos

Information

About

Advertise

Blog

Brand Guidelines

Contest Guidelines

Subscription Offers

Jobs

Get the App

Automotive

Home

Mobile

Wearables

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.