{"podcast":{"title":"The Vergecast","slug":"the-vergecast","podcast_index_feed_id":415434,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/vergecast","website_url":"https://www.theverge.com/the-vergecast","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e4c412e6-e1f0-11e8-9bde-83f9d376f059/image/fa367fa8b1b6ca01fc4b8c34d83ba4d8.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Vox Media Podcast Network","episode_count":1043,"summary":"The Vergecast is the flagship daily podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And Monday through Thursday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T02:18:18.596068+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vergecast"},"episode":{"title":"The life-changing magic of touching stuff","slug":"the-life-changing-magic-of-touching-stuff","published_at":"2026-07-07T18:45:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vergecast/the-life-changing-magic-of-touching-stuff","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vergecast","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP1106801566.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP1106801566.mp3","summary":"We have all become desensitized. Every place is like every other place, every experience is happening at a remove and on a screen. And Ian Bogost, a Washington University professor and a writer at The Atlantic, argues that this \"dematerialization\" is making our life worse. Ian joins David to explain how to once again commune with the world. He tells us of the magic of paper tickets, why he's kind of obsessed with the rubber on his water bottle, and why you don't need to throw phone into the ocean — but you should probably watch more ASMR videos. The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life The Cult of Delayed Gratification Is a Lie Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"We have all become desensitized. Every place is like every other place, every experience is happening at a remove and on a screen. And Ian Bogost, a Washi…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2059,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-vergecast/episodes/the-life-changing-magic-of-touching-stuff/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vergecast/the-life-changing-magic-of-touching-stuff.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}