Dylan Matthews facts for kids

Dylan Matthews is an American journalist. He writes for Vox, which is an online news website. He is known for explaining complex topics in an easy-to-understand way.

Dylan Matthews' Career

Starting Out as a Writer

When Dylan Matthews was 14 years old in 2004, he started his own online blog. He called it minipundit. On his blog, he wrote about politics and other important topics.

Matthews finished high school at Hanover High School in 2008. After that, he went to Harvard University. There, he studied social and political philosophy. He also wrote articles for the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.

Writing for The Washington Post

From June 2013 to January 2014, Dylan Matthews wrote for Wonkblog. This was a special section of The Washington Post newspaper. He focused on topics like taxes, government budgets, and how the US economy works.

In October 2013, Matthews helped start a new blog called "Know More." This project aimed to make articles spread quickly online, like popular content on websites such as BuzzFeed. "Know More" became very successful. It helped Dylan Matthews become well-known inside and outside The Washington Post.

He even won an award from The Washington Post publisher in October 2013. The award was for his great work on "Know More." An internal note said that Dylan was the main writer and the "sensibility" behind "Know More." The goal was to grab readers' attention. It also aimed to encourage them to read more deeply about important subjects.

"Know More" quickly became one of the most popular blogs on The Washington Post website. Some days, it even had more visitors than Wonkblog. In its third week, "Know More" was the most-read blog on the entire washingtonpost.com site. It often stayed in the top five most popular blogs.

Matthews explained that the project focused on sharing content on Facebook. He said that most successful social media sites get their traffic from Facebook, not Twitter. He also said that BuzzFeed is a very effective journalism group. He believed they are good at giving people what they are looking for.

Working at Vox.com

In January 2014, Dylan Matthews joined a new online media company. This company was called Vox Media. The new website, Vox.com, started in April 2014. Matthews wrote his first article for the site that same month.

Later, it turned out that some of the scientific research he wrote about in that first article was not real. About a year later, he wrote another article. In it, he explained that he was sorry and how he had been tricked by the false information.

Today, Dylan Matthews leads a section of Vox called "Future Perfect." This section focuses on effective altruism. This is a movement about using evidence and reason to find the best ways to help others.

Other Writing and Work

Dylan Matthews has also written for other online publications. These include Salon and The New Republic. He has discussed many topics in his writing. Some of these include basic income, which is a regular payment to everyone. He also writes about immigration policy and effective altruism.

Matthews is also part of an advisory board for an economic journal. This journal is called the Journal of Economic Perspectives. It is published by the American Economic Association.

Personal Life

In 2017, Dylan Matthews made a very special donation. He donated one of his kidneys to help someone else. He wrote an article for Vox about his experience. In the article, he encouraged other people to think about donating a kidney to help save a life.

Matthews is part of the effective altruism movement. He is a member of Giving What We Can. This is a group of people who promise to give at least 10% of their earnings to charities that are very effective at helping others.