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Lately, I’ve found myself feeling a little disenchanted with the online world. Which is a strange thing to admit considering I’ve spent years creating content through blog posts, social media, podcasts, and newsletters. But the more time I spend online, the more I find myself craving something that feels real. Part of that is because of AI. Over the last few years, I’ve watched it completely transform the way content is created. What started as a helpful tool quickly became the source of much of what we read online. Once I learned to recognize it, I started seeing it everywhere… articles and social posts that technically said all the right things but somehow felt empty. Content that was polished but lacked the sense that there was a real person behind it. 

 

 

As I’ve reflected on why this bothers me so much, I’ve realized that AI isn’t really the issue. It’s simply exposing something that was already happening. Somewhere along the way, much of the internet stopped feeling like a conversation. I especially noticed this even through my own podcast. When I first launched From Within, my vision was simple: I wanted listeners to feel like they were in the room with me and/or us sitting across the table with a cup of coffee. I wanted conversations that felt natural and personal. Many of my guests were authors, which I loved because I love books. I made a point to read every book before recording. Then I was shocked to discover that my guests were shocked (every single one of them) that I had actually read their book. They were used to podcast hosts asking the same publisher-provided questions over and over again. Nobody was doing anything wrong, but I often found myself longing for something deeper than another rehearsed interview.

At the same time, I was beginning to notice how much effort goes into creating a traditional podcast. Scheduling guests, coordinating calendars, preparing questions, editing episodes, managing timelines; it can all become a production. In fact, it is for many bigger podcasts. They literally have a whole production team and podcast producer. But that wasn’t me. In fact, my podcast production was just me. So if I had multiple cancellations (which happens sometimes) it could throw off an entire month of content. And while I still love podcasting, I started asking myself whether all of that production was actually helping me create the kind of connection I wanted in the first place.

Then last year, my best friend moved away. Since then, we’ve stayed connected through voice messages. Sometimes they’re ten or fifteen minutes long. We’ll send updates while we’re folding laundry, driving somewhere, making dinner, or getting ready for the day. There’s something incredibly personal about hearing someone’s voice in the middle of ordinary life. It feels like she’s sitting in the room with me. One day, while listening to one of her messages, I had a realization: this is what I’ve wanted my podcast to feel like all along.

So that’s what these voice messages are. They’re not highly produced. They’re not perfectly edited. Most of them will probably be recorded while I’m sitting in my car, doing my makeup, or thinking through something in real time. But maybe that’s the point. In a world filled with more content than ever before, I don’t think people are necessarily looking for more information. I think we’re looking for connection. We’re looking for reminders that there are still real people on the other side of the screen. Perhaps voice messages are the modern version of love letters; not because they’re eloquent or polished, but because they’re personal. And right now, that feels like exactly what I want to create. 

I even hope you’ll respond with your own voice messages.

All my love,

Allison Sue

P.S. Want something more to read? Check out this post I wrote about How to Quiet Other People’s Opinions in Your Mind.