Normal Gossip host describes a pared-back digital life and a firm refusal of generative AI

Rachelle Hampton, a writer and co-owner at Defector Media who hosts the podcast Normal Gossip, has outlined a deliberately restrained approach to technology in an interview with The Verge. Her show features anonymous stories sent in by listeners about everyday drama. Before it, she spent years co-hosting Slate's In Case You Missed It, a podcast about internet culture that she says demanded constant time online.

A stand against generative AI

The clearest position in the interview concerns artificial intelligence. Hampton said she has never intentionally used chatbots, image generators or other large language model tools. She added that avoiding them is getting harder now that Gemini is built into Google products. Her objection is about compensation: she believes AI companies owe a very large sum to the writers and artists whose work their systems are built on, and she sees no appeal in the tools until that is settled.

Fewer feeds, more control

Hampton described leaving behind the heavy social media use her earlier job required. She now spends most of her time on Reddit and YouTube, which she says let her feel more in control of what she sees. She finds feed-driven platforms such as Instagram, X and Bluesky overwhelming after about 20 minutes. She also said she keeps an empty inbox and closes browser tabs once a task is finished.

The Notes app as an archive

Asked about her most indispensable tool, Hampton chose her phone's Notes app. She said it has held grocery lists, weekly to-do lists, recipes, draft messages and questions for doctors, with entries going back to 2018. That gives it the role of an informal journal covering most of a decade. She also keeps her text messages rather than deleting them, which makes her inbox a sizeable personal record.

For readers interested in computers and the internet, the interview points to a wider pattern among people who work online: cutting back on algorithmic feeds, choosing simple general-purpose tools over specialised apps, and questioning AI features that are increasingly switched on by default. It is also a reminder that basic built-in apps often end up holding years of personal data, so it is worth thinking about how that information is backed up and organised.