The Mortified Podcast

Awards or Honors

Best of Podcasts: ELLE (2019), The Guardian (2016), The Atlantic (2016), iTunes (2015)
(Mortified, n.d.)

Plot Summary

Katcher, N., & Nadelberg, D. (Hosts). (2021b, April 18) If you love me, prove it [Audio podcast episode]. In The Mortified Podcast. Radiotopia from PRX. https://getmortified.com/episode/212-if-you-love-me-prove-it-2/ 

  How do you know if the person you're dating is into you? Teenage girls featured in this story demanded that if you love me, prove it. Their fragile hearts required evidence that the love was real. Podcast episodes use recordings fromThe Mortified Live Show, similar to an open mic, to invite adults to reflect on their embarrassing teenage loves by reading their past conversations in front of an audience. In AOL chat rooms, diary entries, and text messages, three women detail the ridiculous ways they asked former boyfriends to prove their love. Narrator one asked her boyfriend if he loves her in a chat room. Narrator two asked her boyfriend of two days to post his relationship status, affectionately greet her in the hall, and have her to his house to meet his family all in one conversation. Then, narrator three confesses to entertaining a relationship with another boy to test her feelings for her old boyfriend. In present day it should not come as a surprise that the narrators are no longer in these relationships.

Katcher, N., & Nadelberg, D. (Hosts). (2021a, April 4) I'm deeper than you [Audio podcast episode]. In The Mortified Podcast. Radiotopia from PRX. https://getmortified.com/episode/212-if-you-love-me-prove-it-2/ 

  These high school students thought they were smarter than everyone around them. Through their writing, they expected to prove their superiority using large words they do not understand. Narrator one felt like an outsider as a Massachusetts transplant to a rural North Carolina high school and turned to making contemplative poetry. Narrator two tried to recreate the life of a serious author in his journal. While looking down on adults and his peers, he used outdated word descriptors such as "fellows" and "young lady." In reflecting on his teenage self, the narrator does point out that he grew up to be a professional writer. Narrator three had a comfortable life in rural Pennsylvania but wished for a life of hardship to give her the angst needed to become a great writer. She dreamed about leaving her hometown, getting into college, and becoming a literary star. 

Critical Evaluation

  The format of the podcast as an open mic was a good fit for the content of the stories. Narrators invite the listener to laugh at their teenage selves along with the audience. I also appreciate that the narrators are always telling stories from their own lives as the content is extremely self-deprecating. The positive outro tagline shapes the mission of this shared experience, "we are freaks, we are fragile, and we all survived" (Katcher & Nadelberg, 2021a). Through realistic monologues and conversations, we get the teenage perspective of their relationships and their abilities. It is more accurate than asking an adult to retell a story from their youth from memory.
In my middle school, there were very few people dating, so I was surprised that two of the three stories in If You Love Me, Prove It took place in middle school, and the couples already expressed sexual frustration or desires. Overuse of abbreviations to make possessive statements seem more joking than controlling, conversations carried by one person, and codependent friend groups transport us back to a chaotic social structure. In I'm Deeper Than You, the narrators boasted about their intelligence and creativity, while rejecting popular culture and teens they saw as average. For teens currently living through this phase, they can laugh and think, "at least I did not do that." Or maybe they lived a similar experience and now they feel less alone. Needlessly quoting from another person's work is an uncomfortable practice that we can all relate to as a typical teenage habit. Narrators reflect on who they used to be and if a small part of that lives on in their current relationships and personality. 

Creative Use for a Library Program: 

  Exhibit of Embarrassment: Create an intergenerational exhibit from anonymous stories supplies by staff and patrons centered around the theme of "the embarrassing teen years." Postsecret encourages participants to submit anonymous secrets (Postsecret, n.d.). This project will be more in line with the themes of The Mortified Podcast and ask for PG embarrassing stories from the teenagers, past and present. Teens can share and adults can take a trip down memory lane. It is recommended to have a submission box that a staff member can copy onto postcards to avoid handwriting recognition. 

Teaser: 

The Mortified Podcast is a read aloud from your teenage self's most embarrassing text message, chatroom, or diary pages. The older the story the more cringey the outdated pop culture touchstones. Did you need an entourage to go to the movies? Are you a possessive nightmare of a girlfriend ... lol? Do your diary pages end in music lyrics? If so, share your teenage pain with these storytellers. 

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation: 

There have been no censorship attempts with this podcast, and because podcasts are free and readily available outside of the library catalog, it is not a material in danger of a reconsideration request. 

Reason for Inclusion: 

Teenage mistakes that make you cringe is a podcast to make teenagers feel less alone (Lascala, & Schumer, 2022). For the adult storytellers and listeners, it's an opportunity to take a nostalgic trip to who they used to be.