Welcome to Touching Grass, where two extremely online people attempt to explain internet discourse to those sensible enough to spend their time offline. This week, Lucy Reade unpacks what happens to people in love with AI when their chatbots’ coding is changed, and the rise of AI relationships among younger generations, while James Ball has accidentally waded into the great UK vs US debate on food and the weird politics which accompany it.

Links to X and Reddit posts and Telegraph article:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/25/schoolboys-ai-girlfriends/

https://x.com/boundandwoven/status/2058238387472216304?s=46

https://x.com/signalxsoul/status/2058171068133654862?s=46

https://x.com/groksbride/status/2017130525664956424?s=46

https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/s/oepRe3Zd2o

https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/s/0tpWm91Q4x

https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/s/tpajWPaRKU

Links to Tiktoks and Bluesky food discourse:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kjordyyy/video/7548881266955947287?q=british%20seasoning&t=1779781821401

https://www.tiktok.com/@emhdder/video/7137731683268267265?q=british%20seasoning&t=1779781821401

https://www.tiktok.com/@harrisonpawluk/video/7548059143551356178?q=british%20food&t=1779781665478

https://bsky.app/profile/jamesrball.com/post/3mmheaz2qhk2u

https://bsky.app/profile/youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com/post/3mm4rkh3q3k2h

https://bsky.app/profile/youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com/post/3mm4rrxgmic2h

Presented by James Ball and Lucy Reade

Produced by Matt Withers

Subscribe to The New World for just £5 for five weeks here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Touching Grass, where two extremely online people attempt to explain internet discourse to people sensible enough to spend their time offline. This week, James Ball dives into the debate over whether video games can be fascist, while Lucy Reade unpacks the baffling teen obsession with New Labour politicians – and their love lives.

Links from the episode:

Links to full Mass Effect thread: https://bsky.app/profile/machineiv.bsky.social/post/3mksstm3vss2u

Links to Tiktoks: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRtaYvwn/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRtaURon/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRtaF1m2/

Presented by James Ball and Lucy Reade

Produced by Matt Withers

Subscribe to The New World for just £5 for five weeks here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Touching Grass, the new podcast on online culture from The New World.

Telling someone to 'touch grass' means they need to get off their screen and get back in touch with reality - an insult which has been levelled many times at Lucy Reade and James Ball. This podcast is essentially two people who spend way too much time on the internet trying to explain what's going on there to people with much healthier lives.

James provides the Millennial perspective. Lucy explains what Gen Z are up to. Expect confusing discourse, culture wars and bizarre influencer scandals. They'll try to explain why you should care about any of this - and also, sometimes, why you shouldn't. It's 2026, after all - there's no escaping the internet.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.