BBC Sounds - Influenced - Available Episodes

Welcome to Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat

From WhatsApp leaks to group chat nightmares, how instant messaging changed the world.

• 2 mins
• 27 Mar 2024

Left the Chat: No 1. Whatsapp Mishaps

In 1998, Helen joined a vast social experiment - one that you are probably part of too.

• 28 mins
• 03 Apr 2024

Left the Chat: No 2. Fax Machines and Foxy Natashas

Everyone at Westminster is addicted to WhatsApp. Should we be worried?

• 28 mins
• 10 Apr 2024

Left the Chat: No 3. Several People Are Typing

How a video game about giants led to a wave of workplace rebellions.

• 28 mins
• 17 Apr 2024

Left The Chat: No 4. I Married a ChatBot

Millions of us enjoy flirting by text. But are there downsides to digital love?

• 28 mins
• 24 Apr 2024

Left the Chat: No 5. Thug Shaker Central

How one journalist uncovered the most unlikely leaker of military secrets in US history.

• 28 mins
• 01 May 2024

Left the Chat: No 6. The Telegram War

How one messaging app became Vladimir Putin’s nemesis - and perhaps his secret weapon.

• 28 mins
• 08 May 2024

New Gurus: Bonus Episode - Gigachads and Sigma Wolves

Helen Lewis enters the Manosphere.

• 28 mins
• 09 May 2023

New Gurus: 8. Prophets of Doom

Does collective anxiety explain our new age of gurus? Helen Lewis looks to the future.

• 28 mins
• 29 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 7. Bitcoin FC

Helen Lewis meets the Bitcoin guru from Bedford who bought his local football team.

• 28 mins
• 28 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 6. Daygamers and Daydreamers

Nerdy student Tom Ralis reinvented himself as a seduction guru. It ended in tragedy.

• 28 mins
• 27 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 5. Gazing into the Abyss

David Fuller was enthralled by Jordan Peterson. So how did his guru let him down?

• 28 mins
• 26 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 4. White Women's Tears

Dinner time. A dozen white women. A discussion of racism. And one rule - no crying.

• 28 mins
• 22 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 3. Fitter, Happier, More Productive

Helen Lewis is drowning in deadlines. Can a productivity guru sort out her life?

• 29 mins
• 21 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 2. Taking the Urine

How did the son of a doctor end up rejecting modern medicine? Helen Lewis finds out.

• 28 mins
• 20 Dec 2022

New Gurus: 1. The Birth of the New Guru

Did Steve Jobs' quest for enlightenment create the modern guru? Helen Lewis investigates.

• 28 mins
• 19 Dec 2022

Welcome to The New Gurus

Helen Lewis meets the new gurus promising us enlightenment in the digital world.

• 3 mins
• 12 Dec 2022