Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

The podcast explores the world of cancer influencing and its impact on cancer patients. It discusses the positive and negative aspects of following cancer influencers, delves into the dangers of misleading information, and emphasizes the importance of seeking professional opinions. Additionally, it highlights the harmful impact of forgiveness advice on cancer patients and stresses the importance of living life fully.

Sarah Adams, founder of Mom Uncharted, discusses the perils of sharing kids' gross and dangerous videos online. Topics include the ethical dilemma of sharing children's lives online, a controversial video in Target, and the impact of hypersexualized content on young viewers.

You can read Minna's original piece in the New York Times here and buy Mom Rage here.As always, grab your Sicilian Inheritance often and early. I need to know how many cannolis to make for the launch! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Controversial social media personality Lex Delarosa discusses her Instagram account and whether it is satire. They also talk about the trad wife lifestyle, turning social media into a business, cooking skills and Hello Fresh, navigating finances in a traditional wife role, and teaching life skills to their children.

Have you heard about #softgirls? They're young women who want to check out of hustle culture. Their greatest dream is to achieve nothing. She doesn't want to be a girl boss. In fact, a lot of them do not want to work for pay at all. She just wants to perfect her skincare regime and do all the Pilates. Are these women aspiring to be little more than trophy wives? Are they the gateway drug to #tradwives and a life of submission to men? We're here to find out with Glamour reporter Stephanie McNeal who wrote a truly excellent piece on the #softgirls for Glamour mag.Read all of Steph's Glamour pieces, but especially her one on soft girls here.You can buy her book Swipe Up For More here.As always, you can pre-order the Sicilian Inheritance and I might just show up at your house with Sicilian wine and cannoli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anne Helen Petersen, a writer and author, explores the concept of tradwives, discussing their roots in Christianity and the expectations they adhere to in marriage. They also delve into the challenges faced by trad wives, the distractions of the lifestyle, and the limited choices available to women. The influence of influencers and the importance of accountability are also discussed.

Jessica Elefante, author of 'Raising Hell, Living Well', discusses the power of influence in politics and everyday life. The podcast also promotes HelloFresh as a convenient cooking solution with a unique code for free breakfast for life. The importance of using influence for good and maintaining boundaries offline are explored.

What will happen to all the kids having their lives made into content? How do they feel? Maybe they're fine, maybe they're miserable. It is so hard to know because most of them are still so young. But reporter Fortesa Latifi has done a deep dive into how influencer kids are feeling about their entire lives being broadcast online. She spoke to one young woman of an influencer who told her parents she didn't want to be in their videos any more and they told her if she didn't appear they would lose all their money. How should we think of this labor as we consume this content and how can and should the government step in to protect children from online exploitation?You can read Fortesa's story on influencer kids here:https://www.teenvogue.com/story/influencer-parents-children-social-media-impact  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What line do we cross when we post pictures of sick kids to social media and why does the Instagram algorithm and content machine seem to promote these kinds of images? I am not the only one who gets creeped out when I am served pictures and videos of other people’s sick kids in the hospital. The discomfort is very real. I need to talk through all of my feelings about posting sick kids on Instagram and the money making infrastructure (branded content of sick children) around it which is why I am so excited for today’s guest, Fortesa Latifi. She is a kick ass journalist who is one of the few covering the influencer world seriously and smartly for places like the Washington Post and Teen Vogue. Her recent piece in the Washington Post examined the phenomenon of medical influencers and asked the very important question….why can’t millions of people look away from these pictures being posted of kids during their most vulnerable experiences? Fortesa is a goddamn gem of a human and you are going to love her as much as I do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feeding kids is hard. It doesn't matter if you have a sushi-loving toddler or one who eats three beige foods. There is judgement and stigma about everything and it is easy for moms to feel like they are constantly failing. Today we talk to author, podcaster and substacker Virginia Sole-Smith (author of Fat Talk and substacker of Burnt Toast) about how kid food influencers on social media can make mothers feel shame and promote diet culture and anti-fat bias from an incredibly young age.BUY Virginia's book Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture here.https://bookshop.org/p/books/fat-talk-parenting-in-the-age-of-diet-culture-virginia-sole-smith/18525159Subscribe to Virginia's newsletter and podcast Burnt Toast here.https://virginiasolesmith.substack.com/Buy The Sicilian Inheritance here.https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sicilian-inheritance-jo-piazza/20266161 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices