Strangers showed us their Notes app. Here's what we learned.

Summary

Podcast Summary: Post Reports

Episode: Strangers showed us their Notes app. Here's what we learned.

Host: Colby Itkowitz
Guest/Co-Host: Elahe Izadi
Date: December 4, 2025

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Main Theme

This episode explores the secret lives of smartphone Notes apps, uncovering how people use these digital notepads for everything from lists and reminders to recording deeply personal thoughts. Reporter and co-host Elahe Izadi shares her experience of asking strangers to open up their Notes apps, revealing what these glimpses show about the way we live, remember, and connect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Notes App as a Digital Diary

[01:13–02:33]

• The Notes app is described as "a little piece of technology that helps us keep track of our lives," functioning as both utility and confessional.
• Elahe Izadi: "It's like this full collection of the totality of our lives." (03:37)
• The app is simple but powerful, available on over 2.35 billion Apple devices, and serves as a blank canvas for thoughts too fleeting or private for social media.

2. The Reporting Experiment: Asking Strangers to Share Their Notes

[04:08–05:16]

• Izadi approached people in Washington, D.C., and over the phone to ask if she could see their Notes app.
• She was surprised by how willing people were to let her look, despite the private nature of their notes.
• Colby Itkowitz: "Your Notes app is just for you... the fact that people let a Washington Post reporter just like, scroll through their phone—who knows what they'll find?" (04:56)

3. What the Notes Reveal—From the Ordinary to the Deeply Personal

[05:17–07:38]

• Many notes were mundane: packing lists, groceries, passwords.
• Others offered intimate glimpses:
  • Sasha Taskier kept her kids' teachers' coffee orders to give thoughtful pick-me-ups, showing care and attentiveness.
    • Elahe: "It just told me something immediately about her and how she moves through the world." (06:40)
  • Christopher Davis, 24, had a coffee order and a note reading "the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit," capturing the sacred and the mundane side by side.
    • Elahe: "The juxtaposition of those two things, like the holy and the banal, like that's life, right?" (07:01)

4. Using Notes for Support and Survival

[07:38–09:40]

• Olivia Norman used the app to privately document her breast cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy. She recorded symptoms, fears, and milestones as a way to process and remember, without subjecting herself to outside commentary or blame.
  • Olivia Norman: "I didn't want to be blamed for something that I couldn't control. It was a very private thing." (07:57)
  • Elahe: "It's a different type of nostalgia when you read what you wrote in the moment of going through something... it's like you're looking back at your past and like, if only that person knew what was coming." (09:09)
  • Olivia: "I never want to think about it, but if I ever get a recurrence, I know exactly what was done the first time." (08:57)
• These moments show Notes as both journal and historical record.

5. Innovative and Surprising Uses

[12:04–15:36]

• Some use Notes as a social memory bank:
  • Michael Lussier keeps a note for every friend—"birthdays, day we met, milestones, details to follow up on"—to be intentionally present in relationships.
    • Elahe: "It's his way of bringing a level of intentionality and that he can be really present with someone when he's with them." (14:02)
• Others use it for emotional prep:
  • Drafting difficult texts, emails, or conversations.
  • Colby: "I also use it for the first draft of, like, really hard conversations..." (14:45)

6. Notes as Artistic Workspace

[15:36–16:38]

• Creatives draft ideas, set lists, or song lyrics.
  • Elena Torres, comedian: "Usually the best joke ideas don't come when you're, like, sitting at your desk... or when you have a pen and paper." (15:43)
  • Elena: "I have one that's just titled '10 to 12 deep.' And that's it. I don't know what that means... but some of her greatest jokes started as a note like that." (16:07)

7. Nostalgia, Memory, and Digital Ephemera

[16:42–18:46]

• Colby and Elahe discuss differences between digital notes and physical journals.
• Concerns arise about digital memory loss over time—emails, text drafts, and Notes vanish, leaving gaps in the "archive" of a life.
  • Elahe: "It raises this question of, like, how will our future selves in the future... what will be their understanding of what it was like to live our lives right now if so much of it exists digitally?" (17:19)
  • Colby: "All of those college emails... are gone. I do wonder, like, will my grandchildren someday... they're not going to be able to see..." (18:24)
  • Elahe shares a story of a friend keeping a breakup draft that was never sent—now part of a love story.

8. Turning the Experiment on the Reporter

[19:05–20:22]

• Colby asks Elahe to read from her own Notes app.
  • Elahe shares a grocery list, loan calculations, and a note: "grief brings you back to your love of life."
  • Elahe: "Someone said something to me that really struck a chord, and it was worth writing down." (19:59)

9. Notes as Personal Keepsakes

[20:22–21:07]

• Colby shares a treasured note she saved from her late father:
  • "Just be the best you can be in whatever they hand you. It will work out. Be patient." (21:00)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the profundity of kids:
  • Colby (sharing her daughter's song lyric): "The odds aren't great, but the evens aren't perfect either." (00:54)
• On the Notes app's blend of personal and mundane:
  • Elahe: "The juxtaposition of those two things, like the holy and the banal, like that's life." (07:01)
• On digital memory and loss:
  • Elahe: "These things are ephemeral in a way that physical paper and pen are not." (17:19)
• On Notes as keepsake:
  • Colby: "Whenever I have a hard moment, I open up that app and I feel like he's right there. He's telling me that again." (21:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction / Notes App as Diary: 00:01–03:37
• Asking Strangers for Notes: 04:08–05:16
• Intimate Glimpses in Notes: 05:17–07:38
• Notes as Health Diary (Olivia Norman): 07:38–09:40
• Innovative Uses—Social Intentionality: 12:04–14:02
• Notes for Drafts and Artistry: 14:45–16:38
• On Digital vs. Physical Memory: 16:42–18:46
• Host Shares Own Notes: 19:05–20:22
• Notes as Emotional Keepsakes: 20:22–21:07

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Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, exploratory, gently humorous, and empathetic—revealing not only technical or lifestyle insights but also emotional truths. Speakers use a personal, reflective, and inviting tone, inviting listeners to consider their own habits and memories.

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Conclusion

The episode turns the seemingly mundane Notes app into a mirror for modern life, capturing everything from forgettable lists to unforgettable feelings. By peering into these digital nooks, the hosts and their interviewees highlight a surprising depth—and prompt listeners to reflect: what do your notes say about you?

Transcript

[Elahe Izadi]

Hi, Colby. Hi, Alahi.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Look at you on this side of the table.

[Elahe Izadi]

Yeah, I'm sitting in the guest spot and you're sitting in the host spot today. I know it's special, but I'm gonna start out by being the one to ask you a question, which is, would you open up your phone and tell me what is in your Notes app?

[Colby Itkowitz]

Um, yeah. Let's see. I have a packing list for the beach from August. Is there.

[Elahe Izadi]

Is there one in there that when you look at it now, you have no idea what it means anymore?

[Colby Itkowitz]

Someone named Joanna and her phone number?

[Washington Post Announcer]

I don't know.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Sorry, Joanna, I don't know who you are, but I have your phone number in my Notes app and not. I apparently didn't think she was important enough to save as a contact, so I put her number.

[Elahe Izadi]

You soft launched her.

[Olivia Norman]

I soft launched her into my notes.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Sorry. I will do a call out for my 7 year old because sometimes when she says something funny, I put a. They go in here.

[Elahe Izadi]

What do you got?

[Colby Itkowitz]

Well, so she fancies herself a songwriter, and the other day she started writing a song. And the first line is, the odds aren't great, but the evens aren't perfect either.

[Elahe Izadi]

Okay, how good is that? That is very good.

[Colby Itkowitz]

I was just like, wow, that is profound. Seven year old? Yeah.

Recently, I sat down with my co host, Elahi Ezadi to talk about a little piece of technology that helps us keep track of our lives. The Notes app. The Notes app is sort of like a digital diary. And Elai has been asking total strangers to open their phones and show her the private notes they write to themselves.

[Elahe Izadi]

Because I have been testing out this little theory that, yes, you can get to know someone, some aspect of them if you look at their social media profiles, you know, like what they're putting out on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever. But if you want the full story, the place to really look is inside of their notes.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Appreciate. From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Colby ekowitz. It's Thursday, December 4th. Today, what the reminders and memories we jot down in our Notes app reveal about us and how we live our lives. I talked to Elahe, who also writes for the style section of the Post, about what she learned in her Notes app experiment.

So let's set the stage maybe for people who don't see their phone as like an extension of their body and don't know this. What is a Notes app?

[Elahe Izadi]

Yeah, so most smartphones have some Note keeping app. There's Google keep. Samsung has Samsung Notes. But Notes app is kind of the shorthand for the one that is probably the most ubiquitous, which is Notes in the iPhone. And it's been available on every version of the iPhone since the iPhone debuted in 2007. It's currently on 2.35 billion active Apple devices. So not just on your phone, but the laptop. And Apple does not release data on how frequently this app is used. But I think the fact that it has been there since the beginning speaks to how likely it is that people find this useful. And there have been some updates to the technology since it first came out, but it's pretty much always been this thing where you can just click it, open it up, and you can just start typing. It's a basic text editor, which is why I was kind of drawn to this idea of looking inside of it, because it's this blank canvas. You just open it up and you write what is on your mind. Things that you were afraid of forgetting, things that are too important to forget, things that are too private to post on social media, or things that you don't think are even worth posting on social media. So it's like this full collection of the totality of our lives.

[Colby Itkowitz]

That's such an interesting theory. So you take this theory and you have this idea, okay, what can I learn about people from their Notes app? How did you then go about reporting this?

[Elahe Izadi]

Okay, first of all, I realized I reconnected to one of the reasons I love being a reporter, which is you get to walk up to strangers and ask them questions. And I went up to people throughout Washington D.C. i called up some people on the phone. I introduced myself as a Washington Post reporter and asked, can I look inside your Notes app? I wanna know.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Like, I can't imagine how people responded to this.

[Elahe Izadi]

So most people, as I was going around Washington, D.C. and calling them up on the phone, were totally game, surprisingly, to let me look inside their.

[Colby Itkowitz]

That is surprising.

[Elahe Izadi]

Some people actually let me hold their phone and scroll myself.

[Colby Itkowitz]

That's shocking because to your point, like, Instagram, Facebook, whatever, highly curated. Right? It's the image we want to put forward to the world. But your Notes app is just for you. And so the fact that people let a Washington Post reporter just like, scroll through their phone, who knows what they'll find?

[Elahe Izadi (continuation or interviewer)]

Yeah.

[Elahe Izadi]

And they didn't even know what was going to be in there until they opened it up.

[Colby Itkowitz]

So what did you find?

[Elahe Izadi]

Okay, so lots of packing lists, grocery lists, recipes lists, lists on lists, lots of Lists.

Also people had their passwords in there. But what I was really struck by was when people started reading to me the very specific things in their notes, I very quickly did get a window into their lives.

So this one woman I spoke to over the phone, her name is Sasha Taskier. I feel like it's the catch. All of so many different things in my life, I probably use it every day. And I asked her, you know, what's at the top of your list? And she's like, oh, it's coffee orders. And I'm like, coffee orders? So she starts reading them out like a decaf americano, a tall ice white mocha, a pike with cream, a white mocha soy latte with an extra shot. And she's like, yeah, these are the coffee orders for my kids teachers. I like like to treat my kids teachers to nice little moments. So I like to have their drink.

[Elahe Izadi (continuation or interviewer)]

Order at the beginning of the year.

[Elahe Izadi]

And then know what to order them when I feel like they need an extra pick me up. And to me, that just immediately telegraphed to me like, okay, this is someone who is involved in her kids lives, but also is like paying attention to the teachers and has that level of attentiveness and thoughtfulness.

[Washington Post Announcer]

Yeah.

[Elahe Izadi]

And it just told me something immediately about her and how she moves through the world.

[Washington Post Announcer]

Yeah.

[Elahe Izadi]

And then I met this other guy, 24 year old Christopher Davis. And his most recent note was also a coffee order. But then the note that he had written just before, the day before was the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And he told me that he was in church on Sunday and he felt, you know, divine love in his heart. And he just had this feeling and he opened up his phone and he just wanted to capture the feeling that came to him in that moment. And I just thought that the juxtaposition of those two things, like the holy and the banal, like that's life. Right. And so I did feel like I got a window into his life and in a way, how we all move through the world, we all have these moments where we're struck by something really profound. And then it's like, oh, I gotta what, what was the coffee order I gotta get? Like, we still gotta live life, you know.

[Colby Itkowitz]

So true.

[Elahe Izadi]

Yeah.

But then, you know, I spoke with this other woman by phone, Olivia Norman, and she used her notes app in kind of interesting ways. Like she kind of kept it as a diary. But then also she shared with me, you know, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was not something that she was sharing on Social media as she was going through it.

[Olivia Norman]

I think because I didn't want to answer everyone's questions. I didn't want people to tell me, oh, well, if you just hadn't eaten sugar, you might not have cancer. I didn't want to be blamed for something that I couldn't control. It was a very private thing.

[Elahe Izadi]

But she was documenting and taking notes.

[Olivia Norman]

Here's one from my first day where I said chemo was okay. Had to take a break because the meds made me cold and a little short of breath.

[Elahe Izadi]

For anyone who's been through a health struggle, if you go to the doctor's office and they're telling you a lot of stuff, that's one of the places people open up their Notes app and they type in like, what is the medication I'm supposed to take? What am I? You know, what is the prognosis?

[Elena Torres]

All that.

[Elahe Izadi]

And it was really interesting because when I asked her, like, why do you keep these? She told me, I want to preserve and know what it felt like walking in that door.

[Olivia Norman]

Just to remember what it felt like walking in and going into that chemo.

[Washington Post Announcer]

Room.

[Olivia Norman]

You know, and just to justify. And also, I never want to think about it, but if I ever get a recurrence, I know exactly what was done the first time.

[Elahe Izadi]

You know, it's like a different type of nostalgia when you read what you wrote in the moment of going through something either wonderful or very difficult. And it's almost like you're looking back at your past and like, if only that person knew what was coming, right? And her. Even reading that over the phone to me, I could feel like I felt chills. Like we were transported back in that moment walking into that hospital room with her.

[Colby Itkowitz]

God, that's profound.

After the break, how the Notes app can help us workshop our most intimate conversations and allow us to be more intentional with our friends and family. We'll be right back.

[Elena Torres]

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Shopify gives you that leg up from day one with hundreds of beautiful ready to go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code. Tackle all those important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. Spread your brand's word with built in marketing and email tools to find and keep new customers. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com reports. Go to shopify.com reports. Shopify.com reports.

[Washington Post Announcer]

You listen because you know the power of good journalism and the Washington Post is there for you 24. 7. When you become a Washington Post subscriber, you get exclusive reporting you can't find anywhere else. You also get sharp advice columns, delicious recipes, TV and music reviews and stuff. So much more. Right now, you can get all of that for just $4 every four weeks. That's for an entire year. After that, it's just $12 every four weeks and you can cancel anytime. Add to your knowledge and discover all the Post has to offer. Go to washingtonpost.com subscribe. That's washingtonpost.com subscribe.

[Colby Itkowitz]

So I'm thinking about the woman who documented her first day of chemo. You know, using it as kind of a diary that can give this window into people's lives. But not everyone is using the app in that way, right? I mean, a lot of what you're talking about, like, I have my packing list, right? People have a grocery list. Like, what is the fact that I, you know, need to pack four bathing suits for my beach trip? Like, really tell you about me? I guess other than the fact that I don't want to rewear bathing suits, but other than that, like, did you meet anyone who used it in a way that, like, really surprised you? And you were like, huh? I never knew someone would use a notes app for that reason.

[Elahe Izadi]

Oh my gosh. So I've discovered several interesting new ways to use this. Use this app and use this technology.

[Colby Itkowitz]

I'm ready for it.

[Elahe Izadi]

One person told me by phone, Michael Lussier. He told me, and this is genius. He has an individual note for every friend person in his life. So he has four 46ish notes. And I'm like, okay, what's in these notes? And it's like, okay, you open one up. He's like, all right, here's a friend of mine. It has their birthday, the day we met, any sort of milestones they've shared.

[Elahe Izadi (continuation or interviewer)]

So this one friend I met on, for instance, so their birth date is October 6th. The first time we interacted was November 25th. Then the first time we went on a big trip was May 25th.

[Elahe Izadi]

And then he kind of has this running list of things. Like, let's say you go to coffee with a friend and they're telling you, no, I'm trying to, like, work on a thing, and you're having a conversation and you're trying to support your friend, we'll put it in there so that when he reconnects with his friend the next time, he knows to follow up on it.

[Elahe Izadi (continuation or interviewer)]

When we do finally have time for both of our schedules to sync or for both of us to make it into the same coffee shop or make it into the same concert, whatever it may be. Once we're able to do that, we can make sure that time is meaningful and that if we're actually enjoy enjoying each other's presence, we're. We're following up on those things that are important to each other.

[Elahe Izadi]

So it's his way of bringing a level of intentionality and that he can be really present with someone when he's with them, rather than trying to remember, like, what is it that they were telling me about? You know, I do have to tell.

[Colby Itkowitz]

You, like, Michael, my husband, does this, but it's not for close friends, it's for new friends. Oh, so if he meets someone new, like at a party or at a work event.

[Washington Post Announcer]

Yeah.

[Colby Itkowitz]

He'll like, go home, open up the notes app, and he'll be like, joe Schmo has four kids. One kid plays baseball. And so like, the next time he runs into that person, he can be like, hey, how's Johnny's Little league team? So it's a very similar usage. I mean, I think that's great. I don't personally use my notes app for that reason, but I sometimes use it as a place for first drafts.

[Elahe Izadi]

Totally.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Like, whether it's the first draft of an article I'm writing or for something for a podcast episode. But I also use it for the first draft of, like, really hard conversations. Like if I need to send someone a difficult text or a difficult email or even, like, have a one on one, I might, like, jot down what I would say to that person first. Is that a common use of the Notes app?

[Washington Post Announcer]

Yeah.

[Elahe Izadi]

So I think you can just even look out at some of your favorite artists, musicians, novelists, people. Like, some of the biggest songs they started in the Notes app. Like, people will write down lyrics. It is where the first draft for a lot of people lives. So I spoke to this one woman. She's a comedian, Elena Torres. And I especially wanted to talk to a comic because I know comics use the no cap to write premises or they write their set list, and it's like living next to all this other stuff.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Well, because I imagine as a comic, like, an idea pops in your head for a bit and you gotta jot it down quickly, right?

[Elahe Izadi]

And that's what Elena told me.

[Elena Torres]

You know, I'm a mother of two and a comedian. Someone was running around. Usually the best joke ideas don't come when you're, like, sitting at your desk right. In the perfect moment, or when you have a pen and paper.

[Elahe Izadi]

And so then I asked her, is there a note in there? That was the premise for a joke that you just have no idea what it is anymore. And she read one out to me.

[Elena Torres]

I have one that's just titled 10 to 12 deep.

And that's it.

[Elahe Izadi]

That's all it says.

[Elena Torres]

I don't know what that means. That's all it says.

[Elahe Izadi]

She couldn't crack that code. And I'm sure that's, like, infuriating, too, because you're like, that must have meant something.

[Colby Itkowitz]

And it was probably hilarious.

[Elahe Izadi]

It was probably hilarious. But it's like the shorthand that many of us have, and it's like, surely I'll remember what that is. But, yeah, if you revisit it, you're not gonna know. But also, some of her greatest jokes started out as a note like that, and she did figure it out, and now she's telling those jokes on stage.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Yeah.

I am interested in the people that use it as a journal, because I remember when I was a girl, and I think for most women our age, like, we had a physical journal growing up, right? And we used paper and pen, and mine even had a lock and key on it. Right. But now people are using, like, a digital app for the types of things that we used to write down on paper. And in some ways, I feel like that makes, like, the memory keeping, I don't know, less nostalgic. Like, do you. Do you see it that way? Like, I don't know, you look back at, like, the yellowing of paper of people's diaries. And does that get lost in keeping your thoughts in a phone?

[Elahe Izadi]

Yeah, it's interesting. Cause I still think there are lots of people, myself included, who write a physical journal. And that's, like, the place you go to really work out whatever it is you're working out. But the point you're raising is a really interesting one, because if we take the view of, let's say we're historians and we're trying to see what everyday life was like 100 years ago or 200 years ago or further back, we reference as primary source material, like the notes and the journals and the handwritten things that people are writing. And increasingly a lot of that, from letters to, like, the day to day. This is what happened in my life. Today is being outsourced to digital platforms. And so there is this question of, especially for folks who are actively deleting these things, these things are ephemeral in a way that physical paper and pen or not. And so it raises this question of, like, how will our future selves in the future. What will be their understanding of what it was like to live our lives right now if so much of it exists digitally?

[Colby Itkowitz]

Well, there are, like, things that I can't access anymore. Like, all of those college emails that would tell me so much about what I was like 20 years ago are gone. And so it's to your point, I do wonder, like, will my grandchildren someday, like, they're not gonna be able to see the emails that, you know, my husband and I have sent back and forth over the last 15 years, or.

[Elahe Izadi]

Like, someone shared with me that they have. Speaking of first drafts, they have the draft of a text message they were gonna send to the guy they were dating being like, what's going on here? They never hit send. Now that person's their husband. So is, like, is that gonna live somewhere or is that gonna be lost? You know, like, that's part of their love story.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Yes, totally. Well, Alahi, I would like to turn the tables on you because, I don't know. Has anyone asked you to open up your notes?

[Elahe Izadi]

Actually, no one has. No one did. Everyone's like, oh, I guess I'll show you what's in mine. I'm like, do they have any idea what's in mine?

[Colby Itkowitz]

Okay, well, I'm gonna ask you now, Alahi. Show us your notes.

[Elahe Izadi]

Okay, let's see. Oh, my gosh. Okay, at the top we have.

Grocery list. And I will show you what's the.

[Colby Itkowitz]

First item on the grocery list.

[Elahe Izadi]

Most of these things are not checked off. Bananas spinach frozen fruit, half and half almond milk. And then I have some calculations for a loan application.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Oh, on the same. In the same loan.

[Elahe Izadi]

You know, why not, why not, why not, why not? And then the next note is something profound that someone said to me and I didn't want to forget it. It says, grief brings you back to your love of life.

[Colby Itkowitz]

If you were reporting on yourself, what do you think your notes app would tell you about yourself?

[Elahe Izadi]

Oh, that I like I'm healthy because I'm, like, trying to buy bananas and spinach and frozen fruit. That I am embarking on something in life where I'm inquiring about a lo that says something about, you know, and then this grief brings you back to your love of life. Like, yeah, I must have gone through some grief, but someone said something to me that really struck a chord and it was worth writing down. Yeah.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Well, that's beautiful. My dad passed away two years ago, and I had been going through my text messages with him, and there was one that I just didn't wanna lose. And so I copied it and I put it in my notes app. For some reason, I thought that would be easier to find in the future than scrolling through, you know, dozens and dozens of texts over the years. So it says, and I imagine it was at a time when I was struggling at work. And it's very simple. He just says, just be the best you can be in whatever they hand you. It will work out. Be patient. And so whenever I have a hard moment, I open up that app and I feel like he's right there. He's telling me that again.

Alahi, this was so fun.

[Elahe Izadi]

Yeah, I had so much fun.

[Colby Itkowitz]

It was so fun.

[Elahe Izadi]

We'll do it again.

[Colby Itkowitz]

I'm here for your next social experiment.

[Elahe Izadi]

Thanks, Colby.

[Colby Itkowitz]

Thanks.

Elahi Zadi is one of the co hosts of Post Reports and a reporter for the Style section. That's it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening. If you want to show your support for the show, please subscribe to the Washington Post. Not only is it a great way to help us continue to do this work, but you can now get access to Washington Post podcasts ad free and Apple Podcasts. You can subscribe in Apple Podcasts or by following the link in our show notes. Today's show was produced by Thomas Lu. It was mixed by Sam Baer and edited by Ariel Plotnick. I'm Colby Ikowicz. We'll be back tomorrow with more stories from the Washington Post.

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