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Blocking your mom: why adult children are going no contact

Is the culture around family estrangement changing?
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Is the culture around family estrangement changing?

It's the holiday season. The time of year when many of us go back home to see our families. But this year, a lot of people aren't going home, and maybe haven't been back in a long time. 27% of Americans are estranged from at least one family member, and the term "no contact" is increasingly being used to describe estrangement between adult children and their parents. But is estrangement happening more often, or are we just more open to talking about it? And is our culture around family shifting? Host Brittany Luse sits down with culture journalist Kui Mwai and Whitney Goodman, licensed marriage and family therapist and the host of the Calling Home podcast, to find out.

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Brittany Luse
Brittany Luse is an award-winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is the host of It's Been a Minute and For Colored Nerds. Previously Luse hosted The Nod and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She's written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, and Teen Vogue.
Liam McBain
Liam McBain (he/him) is an assistant producer on It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders. He's interested in stories at the margins of culture.
Jasmine Romero