The Broski Report with Brittany Broski

Episode 118: This Still Keeps Me Up At Night

Release Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Brittany Broski
Produced by Audioboom Studios

Episode Overview

In this episode, Brittany Broski takes listeners on a winding, hilarious, and thoughtful journey through the anxieties of modern digital life, the role of learning and curiosity, and how horror media reflects collective fears throughout the decades. Through personal anecdotes, deep-dives into pop culture and psychology, and trademark comedic tangents, Brittany invites her audience into an inner monologue that is as relatable as it is insightful.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Five Nights at Freddy’s, Animatronics, and Bullying

• Brittany jokes about being a FNAF animatronic, humorously pondering the existential implications, peer pressure, and the hierarchy of suffering.
  • “If I was a FNAF animatronic, I'd be like, ‘Guys, we can't keep doing this. We're just kids. Why are we killing people?’... But honestly, I'd probably just go along with it. Nothing is worse—murder can't be worse than being bullied.” – Brittany (01:00)
• Audience engagement plea: Encourages fans to draw her as a FNAF animatronic.

2. Journal Prompts for Self-Reflection

Brittany introduces a series of lighthearted self-check-in prompts, aiming to inspire both herself and listeners. She shares her responses honestly, then encourages introspection:

Synesthesia & Songs as Colors

• Prompt: What color is your favorite song?

  • "Movement" by Hozier is blue:
    • “Movement by Hozier to me is the perfect song... It's like the light through the water from the bottom of a pool.” – Brittany (04:47)
  • "Georgia on My Mind" (Michael Bolton) is green
  • "Play God" by Sam Fender is gray, “like industrial Gray.”

• Explores the lyrics of “Movement,” delves into Greek mythology (Atlas), and pokes fun at herself for falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.

  • Quote: "Like to utterly bear witness to the beautifully tragic existence of someone you worship as an elemental deity—you witness their act of being as an elemental phenomenon. Like, what the fuck is wrong with him?" (06:28)

The Value and Struggle of Learning in the Attention Economy

• Brittany describes her lifelong pride in being ‘smart’ and laments the challenges of maintaining curiosity and focus in the age of algorithmic media.
  • “There is like, I feel like there is a shackle around my waist... I start to run towards something, and the shackle like, it’s like a dog collar.” (13:11)
• She critiques social media’s impact on attention spans, algorithmic curation, and the frustration with TikTok’s “not interested” options.
  • “I’m over it with myself. And I feel like this is an opportunity. Like, we're at a turning point with our relationship to social media... my job is on social media, but that doesn't mean I don't have fatigue from it.” (16:59)
• Acknowledges her tech addiction as “functioning because it has to be.”

More Journal Prompts

• What do you feel when you look at the stars?
  • “Small. I feel infinitely small in both the best and the worst way... Megalophobia is so fucking for real for me.” (23:19)
• Who would narrate your autobiography?
  • “Josh Gad.” (24:43)
• Does love conquer all?
  • “Yeah, of course it does. You have to choose to believe it does.” (25:00)
• What’s your golden rule?
  • “Leave it nicer than you found it,” and, “Do it now so you don’t have to do it later.” (25:34)
• What’s something about yourself you find hard to understand?
  • “I am someone else entirely when you remove the need to be loved.... There is this monstrous part of me that so deeply desires love that when I get it, I worry I won’t know how to hold it.” (26:44)

3. Pop Culture Deep-Dive: Horror as a Reflection of Societal Fears

Brittany reads and reacts to an Instagram carousel (“Pop My Bub”) on how horror media mirrors collective anxieties, providing both recaps and critical commentary.

The Evolution of Horror by Era

• 1800s (Gothic monsters): Frankenstein (fear of science, ambition), Dracula (repressed sexuality, foreignness)
  • “Frankenstein’s creation reflected the fear of invention, a symbol of the outcast. Dracula embodied everything Victorian society repressed.” (29:59)
• 1950s (Aliens/outsiders): “Fear of infiltration, losing individuality in the collective.”
• 1960s (Psychological horror): Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby—fear from “the familiar; mothers, husbands, neighbors, ourselves.”
  • “I was addicted to Bates Motel when that shit came out. I had it so bad for Officer Romero.” (36:39)
• 1970s-80s (Body horror): Final girls and obsession with flesh, puberty, control.
• 1990s (Meta/Ironic): Scream, Blair Witch Project; fear becomes entertainment, blurred line between fiction and reality.
  • Brittany recounts scaring herself reading the Blair Witch Project Wikipedia summary in real time, viscerally reacting (“Ew!”, “Absolutely not—why would you watch this movie?”) (42:20-49:00)
• 2000s (Cruelty and chaos): “After 9/11, fear and violence everywhere... Suddenly death had no logic. Pain became the point—like Saw and Hostel.”
• 2010s (Emotional realism): Babadook, Hereditary, Midsommar—horror is now about grief, trauma, inherited pain.
• 2020s (Digital/identity horror): “Monsters are algorithms, influencers, clones, AI... Visibility has replaced violence as the new terror.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On algorithmic reality:
  • “It is not interpersonal in a way that actually facilitates connection and empathy. I genuinely think this is the final stage of deterioration. A dark age is probably coming.” (59:43)
• On horror reflecting us:
  • "The monster is no longer a stranger. It's our reflection... Maybe that's cringe, but it's kind of true." (1:01:12)
  • Self-aware commentary about the cliché: "I've been seeing a bunch of critiques—like, 'the real monster is us'—okay, duh, but also... valid point." (1:02:08)
• On generational anxieties and dystopian fiction:
  • "There was a real frenzy... I love dystopian and I need to get more into it. It's interesting from one adult to another to think: this is your theory or your fanciful scenario of how you think this shit's gonna go down." (1:06:00)

4. The Responsibility and Anxiety of Influence

• Brittany expresses concern about the impact of digital life on youth, addressing the disconnect she feels when approached as a "non-person" due to social media fandom culture.
  • “The way that I am spoken to sometimes, as almost a video game character or a chatbot... It’s just take this fucking picture with me. It’s no human behind the eyes.” (1:00:22)
• Describes discomfort with being surveilled or photographed without consent, connecting it back to the anxieties reflected in modern horror.

5. Brittany’s Song Recommendations

• “The Parting Glass” by Hikings
• “Falling Down a Well” by Jack J
• “Chitlin Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County” by Sierra Ferrell
• “Dracula” by Tame Impala
• Promise of a forthcoming review of Rosalía’s new album (wants to “marinate” before giving thoughts).

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:46] – FNAF Animatronic musings and opening banter
• [03:42] – Introduction to journal prompts; song as color & deep-dive on “Movement” by Hozier
• [10:40] – Social media, learning, and the algorithm’s war on curiosity
• [23:19] – Star-gazing, existential smallness, megalophobia
• [25:34] – Golden rules and daily philosophies
• [29:59] – “Pop My Bub” Instagram carousel: horror as societal mirror, decade-by-decade analysis
• [42:20-49:00] – Reading Blair Witch Project Wikipedia; live scare reaction, 90s/00s horror trends
• [59:43] – Reflections on digital anxiety, social media’s effect on empathy and youth
• [1:04:00] – Dystopia, literature as reflection of collective psyche, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison
• [1:11:00] – Song recommendations, promises for future episodes

Notable Quotes

• “Murder can’t be worse than being bullied. Okay, you got murdered. Okay, well, I got bullied, so come on. You have to understand where I was coming from.” – Brittany (01:13)
• “Podcasts and longer form content are a direct rebellion and reaction to this just inundation of short-form media.” (14:55)
• “Nothing else in this world would satiate my soul than doing what I do right now. But there are also things you can critically call out about these platforms.” (16:32)
• “If I am not desired and loved, who am I? Right?... There is this monster, this monstrous part of me that so deeply desires love that it’s almost like when I get it, I worry I won’t know how to hold it.” (26:50)
• “Every generation creates the monster it needs. The idea goes back centuries. Horror has always been a way to externalize fear.” (29:59, quoting IG post)
• “We are deteriorating as a society, and this is, again, cyclical, and a dark age is probably coming.” (59:43)
• “Visibility has replaced violence as the new terror. We fear being watched, misrepresented, duplicated, or worse, forgotten. The monster is no longer a stranger. It’s our reflection.” (1:00:50-1:01:12, quoting and reflecting)
• “We've been desensitized to so much... Social media is a reality, but it’s not OUR reality. It’s a virtual reality. And some people are trapped in it." (1:02:40)

Tone & Style

• Brittany is candid, self-deprecating, thoughtful, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
• Even as she discusses existential or sociological anxieties, the delivery never feels heavy—she tempers every insight with levity or a tangent.
• She frequently breaks the fourth wall, directly addressing “Broski Nation” (her fans) and inviting them to reflect along with her.

Summary

Brittany’s meandering but purposeful reflections in “This Still Keeps Me Up At Night” provide a snapshot of millennial/Gen Z angst, pop culture curiosity, and humor as a coping mechanism. She oscillates between warm, connective moments with listeners and broader, critical reflections on the atomizing effects of digital life, always circling back to art, learning, and connection as avenues for surviving the “brain rot.” Her analysis of horror—both personal and collective—serves as a microcosm for the entire episode: we shape our monsters, both on our screens and in our minds, but community, self-understanding, and a little absurdity may be what keeps the darkness at bay.

Listen if you enjoy:

• Introspective comedy
• Pop culture, horror, and literary analysis
• Honest discussion of tech addiction and digital fatigue
• Being made to feel seen (even by a “Supreme Leader” in a dragon helmet)

Next episode tease: Brittany promises to actually discuss dragons after derailing with horror (and will don her dragon helmet again).