That was a really good piece, and it aligns with what I’ve observed among my cousins, nieces and nephews. I have one cousin in particular who’s obsessed with politics, but she completely shuns all the news networks and pays no attention to presidential debates. She listens mostly to podcasts and watches a few YouTube channels. I think she enjoys them for the exact reason you mentioned, which is that they’re typically much more like the real-world conversations she’s used to having with other political junkies. I only listen to a couple of podcasts myself, but I do wish I had time for more. They’re much more interesting and informative than just about anything that’s on TV.

Are you familiar with the IQ2 debate series? I think you might like those! I used to listen to them all the time and learned quite a bit from them. They normally feature serious thinkers, academics, and experienced professionals (as opposed to the television personalities that Rushkoff mentions), and you’re bound to pick up a few interesting bits of information in each and every debate. Here’s their YouTube if you wanna check them out: https://www.youtube.com/user/IntelligenceSquared/featured