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Mike Rugnetta: Friends, hello,
and welcome to a Neverpost team

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chat roundtable where the staff
of Neverpost gather round the

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metaphorical table to discuss
something that has been on our

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minds. And this team chat is
about how to not go insane. More

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on that later. First, joining me
today, paired with what I assume

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are their favorite dog breeds,
which I would like to

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contextualize by saying each dog
breed is god's favorite.

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Georgia Hampton: Nice save.

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Mike Rugnetta: But we but we ask
the hard questions here on

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Neverpost. Jason Oberholzer,
Neverpost executive producer,

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has a dog.

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Jason Oberholtzer: I do.

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Mike Rugnetta: An Australian
Shepherd named Hank.

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Jason Oberholtzer: This is true.

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Mike Rugnetta: But regardless, I
am gonna say retriever. Oh.

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Georgia Hampton: You

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Jason Oberholtzer: you you are
going to be incorrect. I will

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say Australian shepherds are
rising up the list very quickly.

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Hank rules. But I grew up rule.
Yeah.

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With dachshunds.

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Mike Rugnetta: Oh, that's I knew
that I should've Yeah. Did. This

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is my band.

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Georgia Hampton: That's amazing.

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Mike Rugnetta: And Jason has
told great stories about how

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they are tiny little jerks.
Well,

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Georgia Hampton: yeah. Oh my
god.

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Jason Oberholtzer: I love wild
little bullies. And once you get

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into that, it's hard to like
other things.

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Georgia Hampton: You with just
like a fleet of ducks. Oh my

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god.

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Jason Oberholtzer: My minions.

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Mike Rugnetta: Okay. Georgia
Hampton, never post producer. A

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cat person. Yes. Confirmed.

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Respect to his majesty, King
Beef.

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Hans Buetow: Yes.

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Mike Rugnetta: Georgia. I do not
know. Have you ever had a dog?

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Georgia Hampton: Yeah. I
actually did grow up with dogs.

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Mike Rugnetta: Okay. So don't
tell me what they were. Okay.

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I'm gonna guess. Spaniel.

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Georgia Hampton: Oh. Very regal.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Yeah.

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Georgia Hampton: That's not
correct.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Over two.

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Georgia Hampton: But I would be
shocked if you just out of the

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gate got mine, which is shipper
key.

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Mike Rugnetta: Oh, sure. Yeah.
The screeching dog.

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Georgia Hampton: I like them
because they look like little

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bats.

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Jason Oberholtzer: They do look
like bats.

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Mike Rugnetta: Hans Vito, never
post senior producer. Has a dog.

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Yep. A small gray I do not know
what Niven is other than he

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sorta looks like the end of a
mop.

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Hans Buetow: Yes. Alright. He's
a he's a Shih Tzu Poodle mix.

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Shih Tzu. A Shih Okay.

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Mike Rugnetta: So he's smart.
Sure. Okay. I'm gonna say

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favorite breed, Weimaraner.

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Hans Buetow: You're not far off.
Nice breed.

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Mike Rugnetta: See, I've known
Hans the longest out of all of

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you. So Fair enough. Weimaraner.

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Hans Buetow: No. That's
interesting. No. Interestingly,

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I was just thinking about it
because I had a lot of more time

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to think than everybody else.
Probably my two favorite breeds

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are German shorthaired pointer,
a GSP Mhmm.

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Or a German shepherd.

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Mike Rugnetta: Yeah. I see.

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Hans Buetow: Both both Germans.
The guy named Hans loves the

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German.

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Mike Rugnetta: And you've you've
met Jules. Right?

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Hans Buetow: Oh, yes.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Mike, as the
parent of Jules, who is a

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muttish sort of German or

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Mike Rugnetta: German German
What is a Jules? American bully.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Yeah. Woah.

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Georgia Hampton: Okay. American
bully. Yeah.

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Mike Rugnetta: A very strange
mix. Yeah. That is a very weird

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dog.

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Jason Oberholtzer: I'm going to
guess that your favorite breed

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actually is one that you would
not have been able to have

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because you live in a small
apartment or you live in a

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normal sized Brooklyn apartment.
Yeah. But you like metal shows.

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I'm gonna guess Kane Corso.

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Georgia Hampton: Woah. I

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Mike Rugnetta: have only met one
is it Kane Corso? Kane Corso?

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I've only ever met one and she
was the sweetest, hugest,

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floppiest dog in the world. Just
like would wanna sit on you and

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weighed like a hundred and
seventy five pounds.

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Jason Oberholtzer: That's I I

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Mike Rugnetta: think that my
favorite breed is the breed of

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our last dog, Jack. He was a a
whippet. Yeah. And I did not

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know anything about whippets
until we got Jack. But ever sit

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now now I can pick them out.

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Like, know that it's like, you
know, a greyhound, but not. And

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they are little weirdos

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Georgia Hampton: I love that.

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Mike Rugnetta: Who can run like
75 miles an hour. Yes. Which is

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occasionally harrowing, but
always impressive.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Jack was the
best.

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Mike Rugnetta: Yeah. He was
good. Yeah. And like, even

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though they run just at the
speed of light outside, when

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they're in the house Just flop.
Us.

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Yeah. And the classic, you know,
they fall asleep with all four

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legs in the air. Yeah. Yeah.
Which is always a good time, you

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know?

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Georgia Hampton: That's just a
dog built to wear a turtleneck.

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Hans Buetow: Right? It's true.
Yeah.

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Georgia Hampton: Yeah. Love it.
Okay. Well, that's

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Mike Rugnetta: the end of the
fun. Let's get on to those next.

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Let's go. Okay. So we are here
to discuss one thing, both

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broadly and specifically as it
relates to our phones our

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computers, our devices, the
internet, our lives.

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And that is how to not go
insane. Or maybe just like how

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to maintain some baseline level
of sanity in the media and

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information environment in which
we all live and work, which is

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no small task. So what do I mean
by all of this? I think this

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could mean a bunch of things.
Like, the world is really lousy

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with evidence that constantly
tethering yourself to the world

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wide web is bad for you.

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It's not good. Yet we all do it.
We make a show about it. You

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know, it's bad for self image.
It's bad for time management.

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It causes FOMO. It's the drainer
of bank accounts. And, you know

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Jason Oberholtzer: The end. The
end. See you next week.

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Mike Rugnetta: See you next
week. Bye, guys. The source of a

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lot of overwhelm, so much so
that I didn't know how to finish

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that sentence. Today,
specifically, I wanna focus on

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one of those things, which is
current events. So that can mean

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news, but I think it could also
mean, like, things that don't

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even necessarily rise to the
relatively low bar that is news.

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So it's like things happening in
town, in your neighborhood, but

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then also, yeah, like global and
national political events. And

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related to that, and the use of
the Internet and the feed and

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social media and devices, my
sense is that the following

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things are true. That the first
election of Donald Trump, the

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chaos that ensued after that,
followed then by COVID, had a

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kind of, like, two level effect
on a lot of people. And I think

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that that group includes the
members of this team. The first

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is it baked our brains a little
bit.

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Got a little fried. Little brain
fried.

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Hans Buetow: Lot of nods. Lot of
nods.

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Mike Rugnetta: Lot of nods.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I

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think that that can have a bunch
of different effects that are

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different on different days.

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Kinda like generalized anxiety,
a little bit of emotional

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detachment from what goes on in
the world,

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hyperintellectualization of the
problems that we face in the

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world. And then second, it
forced us to develop skills to

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deal with this current onslaught
of just pieces of news that by

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themselves would be too much to
deal with. It's like, you know,

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the economy, the climate, public
health, law enforcement,

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genocide, and now, of course,
secret police disappearing your

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neighbors and your friends and
your family members. It's like,

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any one of those things is bad
enough, and now every day, it's

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all of them. I just wanna flag
also that I said we had to

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develop skills, and Hans made a
face like Hans made a face like

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someone shined a bright
flashlight in his eyes.

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Hans Buetow: The skills is, I
mean, I appreciate the

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generosity of thinking that
that's what I've done.

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Mike Rugnetta: I'm assuming
because of your continued

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presence in the world and the
fact that we can have normal

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focused conversations that must
indicate some level of coping

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mechanism. So I did I wanted to
talk about what happens at the

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intersection of these two
things, sort of like baked or

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fried, depending upon your snack
preparation of choice brain that

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has nonetheless, you know, had
to figure out how to cope with

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the world, and perhaps some of
those approaches are better than

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others. And I just wanna talk
about how it is we do those

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things, what our day to day
processes are like, if we're

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finding them effective, and what
it's just like to be on the

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Internet at the moment being
constantly confronted with this

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onslaught of stuff. You guys
ready? How does that sound?

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Georgia Hampton: When is the
right time to start crying?

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Mike Rugnetta: I mean, honestly,
you might wanna just get it out

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of

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Georgia Hampton: the way. Yeah.
Pause the recording.

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Hans Buetow: Or not. Just keep
going. Or not. Just record

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through it. That's how I get
through.

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I record through it.

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Georgia Hampton: Oh, god.

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Mike Rugnetta: I have a first
question, which is a personal

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one, but this is a safe space.
It's a safe space. Open your

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phone. Please go to the
settings. Yeah.

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I know what

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Georgia Hampton: this is going
Oh, no. Mike, no.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Delete phone.

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Mike Rugnetta: Scroll down until
you see notifications.

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Jason Oberholtzer: Mhmm.

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Mike Rugnetta: Sounds and
haptics. Mhmm. Focus. Mhmm.

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Screen time.

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Jason Oberholtzer: No. Yes.

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Mike Rugnetta: What's your daily
average? I will go first. Minus

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two hours and fifty six minutes.

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Georgia Hampton: I don't feel
like that's that bad.

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Hans Buetow: Five hours eighteen
minutes. I can explain why, but

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I wanna hear yours.

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Jason Oberholtzer: I am right
there with you. I am at between

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five and six hours a day on this
device.

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Georgia Hampton: I really
expected mine to be a lot higher

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than this. Minus three hours and
twenty eight minutes.

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Mike Rugnetta: How does that
number feel to all of you? I

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feel I have a sense from
Georgia. You're Georgia. You're

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surprised. I I am.

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Hans, what's your caveat?

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Hans Buetow: My caveat is that I
have a game that I let run with

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my phone on most of my workday.
Woah. Apparently not because I

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work more than five hours a day.

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Georgia Hampton: The truth comes
out.

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Hans Buetow: But I think, like,
weekends, I probably I have very

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little. But, like, a lot of my
actual phone open time is that

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game just running in the
background. It's four hours also

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than me watching Golden Girls
when I can't sleep, and just I

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put it on so that I can hear it,
but I can't see it, and then

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that's what gets me to go back
to sleep. And so that'll run for

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four or five hours straight.

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Georgia Hampton: Wow.

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Hans Buetow: So, like, using it,
yes. Using it, no.

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Georgia Hampton: No. I imagine
that out of all of us then,

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Hans, you might be at the lowest
in terms of tactics.

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Hans Buetow: Actually probably
am of the most time that I spend

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interacting with my phone.

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Jason Oberholtzer: I find myself
really needing to, like, find

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excuses for this, which is,
like, doesn't seem like a

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healthy reaction to this news. I
also find myself thinking that,

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like, six hours a day is, like,
kind of reasonable and that I

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have expected more. I expected
someone to come in with like an

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eight hours or something like
that. My caveats are that I read

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00:11:27,585 --> 00:11:33,100
my Kindle books on my phone at
night and so that adds an hour

226
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plus every day of staring at the
phone in bed. I do wonder also

227
00:11:37,820 --> 00:11:40,700
how much of that is like second
screening because most of my

228
00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:44,780
work day, it's like on a little
stand sitting next to my

229
00:11:44,780 --> 00:11:48,425
keyboard and I'm just, like,
responding to things or looking

230
00:11:48,425 --> 00:11:50,185
a thing up or tapping away at
it.

231
00:11:50,185 --> 00:11:53,625
So it kind of is a second screen
companion for the majority of my

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day as well.

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00:11:54,825 --> 00:11:56,025
Mike Rugnetta: Georgia, how are
feeling?

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00:11:56,105 --> 00:11:58,105
Georgia Hampton: Like like I
said, I'm kind of pleasantly

235
00:11:58,105 --> 00:12:02,180
surprised at what mine is,
because I was expecting to be

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the one who had, you know, eight
hours or something. And I I'm

237
00:12:06,740 --> 00:12:09,140
trying to parse why that is. Why
it would

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00:12:09,140 --> 00:12:12,420
Mike Rugnetta: be low? Back in
the weeks, is it roughly that

239
00:12:12,420 --> 00:12:13,300
amount every week?

240
00:12:13,825 --> 00:12:16,305
Georgia Hampton: A couple weeks
ago, we're at more like six and

241
00:12:16,305 --> 00:12:21,025
a half hours. So there's there's
a range. But I think this is

242
00:12:21,025 --> 00:12:25,825
probably because I use my phone
really just for social media.

243
00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:29,660
Like, social media, maybe
responding to stuff in Slack if

244
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I'm not at my computer. But as
I've said before, usually, I

245
00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:36,540
even, like, text from my
computer.

246
00:12:37,180 --> 00:12:40,540
So I'd be very I mean, if we
added the computer time to this,

247
00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:44,245
I'm sure it would be truly
horrific. But, like, I don't

248
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read on a screen. I like that
has been, like, a huge rule for

249
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myself is I I don't like reading
books that aren't tangible

250
00:12:52,325 --> 00:12:52,965
books.

251
00:12:53,285 --> 00:12:56,870
Mike Rugnetta: I think I spend
almost the entirety of the three

252
00:12:56,870 --> 00:13:00,550
hours on my phone reading the
news.

253
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Georgia Hampton: Interesting.

254
00:13:01,830 --> 00:13:04,310
Mike Rugnetta: I don't open my
phone right when I wake up. I've

255
00:13:04,310 --> 00:13:08,790
learned to not do that. But
like, I wake up, have my

256
00:13:08,790 --> 00:13:10,470
morning, you know, like get
climb out of bed, we eat

257
00:13:10,470 --> 00:13:12,425
breakfast like she goes to
school. Then I sit down and I

258
00:13:12,425 --> 00:13:17,225
drink a coffee and read the
news. And that's usually, like,

259
00:13:17,225 --> 00:13:18,745
half an hour, maybe.

260
00:13:19,065 --> 00:13:21,065
Hans Buetow: And when you say
that, Mike, read the news,

261
00:13:21,225 --> 00:13:26,105
you're going to individual
publications and reading the

262
00:13:26,105 --> 00:13:26,345
paper?

263
00:13:27,570 --> 00:13:29,330
Mike Rugnetta: It's a
combination of I'll probably

264
00:13:29,330 --> 00:13:31,810
spend five minutes scrolling
through Blue Sky just to see

265
00:13:31,810 --> 00:13:35,650
what's up because that's the
best place to get an immediate

266
00:13:35,650 --> 00:13:38,210
idea of, like, what's going on.
Yeah. It's like I woke up this

267
00:13:38,210 --> 00:13:41,010
morning and read about the power
outage in Spain and Portugal.

268
00:13:41,010 --> 00:13:44,475
Mhmm. Then I go I use Feedly.

269
00:13:44,875 --> 00:13:48,635
It's like a RSS aggregator. And
just go literally, often, I will

270
00:13:48,635 --> 00:13:51,275
just look at headlines. Mhmm. On
a Monday, it's bad because it

271
00:13:51,275 --> 00:13:54,395
means I probably haven't looked
at it maybe since Thursday, so

272
00:13:54,395 --> 00:13:57,890
there's gonna be like a thousand
things in the list. But I'll

273
00:13:57,890 --> 00:13:59,650
just scroll through and see if
there's anything interesting to

274
00:13:59,650 --> 00:14:00,130
see.

275
00:14:00,290 --> 00:14:02,690
I'll go to work. I'll probably
spend some portion of the day

276
00:14:02,690 --> 00:14:06,530
looking at my phone while I'm
away from my desk. So it's like

277
00:14:06,530 --> 00:14:09,170
while I'm going to get lunch,
I'll, like, keep up on Slack and

278
00:14:09,170 --> 00:14:14,575
stuff. And then at night, it's
probably an additional half an

279
00:14:14,575 --> 00:14:17,855
hour of seeing what has happened
during the day, and then another

280
00:14:17,855 --> 00:14:22,335
hour of probably just looking at
social media in the cracks in

281
00:14:22,335 --> 00:14:24,790
other things. I'm curious.

282
00:14:24,790 --> 00:14:30,230
So I'm curious. Do any of you
take proactive measures to limit

283
00:14:30,230 --> 00:14:34,870
the amount of time that you look
at any screen, whether it's, you

284
00:14:34,870 --> 00:14:38,275
know, the one that's in your
pocket or the one that's on your

285
00:14:38,275 --> 00:14:42,435
desk that you, you know, use for
work, I assume. Is there any

286
00:14:42,435 --> 00:14:47,955
sort of strategy that you have
or even a desire to limit your

287
00:14:47,955 --> 00:14:48,915
interaction with those things?

288
00:14:50,020 --> 00:14:54,340
Jason Oberholtzer: So I don't
currently have any stop points

289
00:14:54,340 --> 00:14:58,100
in place. And if I look at my
phone also has my old devices.

290
00:14:58,100 --> 00:15:01,540
It connects to all of my Apple
things. So that includes an iPad

291
00:15:01,540 --> 00:15:05,185
I use for, you know, like
putting up a recipe while I'm

292
00:15:05,185 --> 00:15:08,305
cooking and various other, like,
watching a video of something,

293
00:15:08,305 --> 00:15:12,785
and this laptop that I do my
work on. And that tends to clock

294
00:15:12,785 --> 00:15:17,310
in between all devices at, like,
ten hours a day, it looks like

295
00:15:17,310 --> 00:15:18,830
across the various weeks.

296
00:15:19,230 --> 00:15:22,830
So that's, like, the full
workday plus some time around

297
00:15:22,830 --> 00:15:23,550
the edges

298
00:15:23,870 --> 00:15:24,110
Mike Rugnetta: Yeah.

299
00:15:24,350 --> 00:15:27,390
Jason Oberholtzer: Of staring at
one screen or another. So this

300
00:15:27,390 --> 00:15:30,750
both seems to me like too much
time to be staring at screens

301
00:15:31,135 --> 00:15:34,255
and less time than I would
expect considering that almost

302
00:15:34,255 --> 00:15:37,855
everything I do interacts with a
screen in some way.

303
00:15:37,855 --> 00:15:40,575
Mike Rugnetta: I had basically
the exact same reaction. I was

304
00:15:40,575 --> 00:15:45,130
like, this is like Yeah. That's
too much, but also, I'm doing

305
00:15:45,130 --> 00:15:48,890
pretty good. Yeah. Because
there's really

306
00:15:48,890 --> 00:15:50,570
Jason Oberholtzer: not an
activity that it doesn't work

307
00:15:50,570 --> 00:15:53,610
its way into. Like, I Yeah. Go
out and I will garden, and I'll

308
00:15:53,610 --> 00:15:56,330
bring out picture of this and
try to, like, figure out what a

309
00:15:56,330 --> 00:15:59,345
plant is or if this plant looks
healthy, or I'll look up how I'm

310
00:15:59,345 --> 00:16:02,785
supposed to prune this thing, or
I'm, like, changing the song

311
00:16:02,785 --> 00:16:06,225
that's playing, you know, like,
working on a shed. I'm looking

312
00:16:06,225 --> 00:16:09,825
up, like, how do you use this
tool? Like, whatever the thing

313
00:16:09,825 --> 00:16:12,465
is that I'm doing, like, I'm
always referencing this thing.

314
00:16:12,390 --> 00:16:14,630
I'm always using it. When I'm
driving, I'm using it for

315
00:16:14,630 --> 00:16:17,510
navigation. Like, there is no
activity that I have really set

316
00:16:17,510 --> 00:16:21,750
aside to be like, the phone does
not touch this. Even like

317
00:16:21,750 --> 00:16:25,030
reading. When I'm reading a
book, I like to like look up

318
00:16:25,030 --> 00:16:28,095
definitions or, like, look up
people or, like, things like

319
00:16:28,095 --> 00:16:28,335
that.

320
00:16:28,335 --> 00:16:30,975
It's always, like, possibly
there to do some further

321
00:16:31,295 --> 00:16:34,575
research while I'm reading
something. So I really have no

322
00:16:34,575 --> 00:16:38,415
checkpoints built in. Absolutely
nothing between me and using

323
00:16:38,415 --> 00:16:42,460
this whenever I want to, however
I want to. And that feels bad.

324
00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:45,100
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. I mean,
in preparation for this

325
00:16:45,100 --> 00:16:47,340
conversation, I was kind of
paying attention to the way I

326
00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:49,900
interact, especially with my
social feeds. Because like I

327
00:16:49,900 --> 00:16:53,495
said, I I use my phone largely
just for that, for, like,

328
00:16:53,495 --> 00:16:56,695
Instagram, TikTok. When I was
going through the breakdown of

329
00:16:56,695 --> 00:17:01,255
where I'm looking most, it is
overwhelmingly Instagram and

330
00:17:01,255 --> 00:17:07,910
TikTok. And I'm kind of like
Jason in that I feel like I am

331
00:17:07,910 --> 00:17:12,710
desperate to have more of a
structure around the way and the

332
00:17:12,710 --> 00:17:15,830
degree to which I'm engaging
with my phone.

333
00:17:16,310 --> 00:17:21,110
Because so much, especially of
news that I receive, apart from

334
00:17:21,375 --> 00:17:25,375
if I intentionally go and read
articles, go to the New York

335
00:17:25,375 --> 00:17:30,415
Times app, what have you, is,
like, on TikTok being just

336
00:17:30,415 --> 00:17:35,535
catapulted at me at random. And
half of it isn't even really

337
00:17:36,410 --> 00:17:40,410
news per se. It's someone seeing
a headline and assuming that,

338
00:17:40,410 --> 00:17:43,770
you know, a law being proposed
means that it is into effect

339
00:17:43,770 --> 00:17:48,250
right now and, like, scaring
everybody off. This is a time.

340
00:17:48,250 --> 00:17:50,495
Mike Rugnetta: This is another
segment for another time. I

341
00:17:50,495 --> 00:17:54,895
think we have to reckon with how
everyone on TikTok is an idiot.

342
00:17:55,055 --> 00:17:55,935
Oh, well,

343
00:17:57,535 --> 00:17:59,455
Georgia Hampton: it's everyone
on TikTok wants to be like a

344
00:17:59,455 --> 00:18:03,055
breaking news journalist, but
without, you know, all the pesky

345
00:18:04,230 --> 00:18:07,830
Standards. Principles. Yeah.
Breaks. Codes of conduct.

346
00:18:07,830 --> 00:18:12,550
Like, you know, fact checking.
Yeah. And and it is something

347
00:18:12,550 --> 00:18:20,815
that is just so mentally
destructive to me. Because

348
00:18:21,295 --> 00:18:25,135
TikTok, I obviously use just for
fun. I use it for work

349
00:18:25,135 --> 00:18:26,015
sometimes.

350
00:18:26,175 --> 00:18:30,335
Like, it's a thing that I can
share stuff with friends. You

351
00:18:30,335 --> 00:18:35,740
know, it's a social platform.
But I've had to, like, grab my

352
00:18:35,740 --> 00:18:39,980
algorithm by the nape of the
neck and be like, no. Yeah.

353
00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:41,340
Absolutely not.

354
00:18:41,340 --> 00:18:44,380
And, like, flick it on its nose
and be like, stop it. We're

355
00:18:44,380 --> 00:18:48,545
going to watch these ten minute
long videos about art history,

356
00:18:48,945 --> 00:18:51,025
and you will know that is what I
want.

357
00:18:51,025 --> 00:18:53,265
Mike Rugnetta: I only wanna see
clips of the blacklist, and

358
00:18:53,265 --> 00:18:53,985
that's it.

359
00:18:56,145 --> 00:18:58,625
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. Like,
I've had to very intentionally

360
00:18:59,780 --> 00:19:04,740
wrangle my algorithm to be like,
stop it, unless it's, you know,

361
00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:10,340
CNN, PBS have TikTok accounts.
So, like, okay. Sure. Yes.

362
00:19:10,340 --> 00:19:14,405
I will I will consume that. But,
like, otherwise, I'm like, no.

363
00:19:14,405 --> 00:19:16,725
Show me this, you know,
experimental animation. Like,

364
00:19:16,725 --> 00:19:20,965
we're going to use this app as,
like, the fun art and funny app.

365
00:19:20,965 --> 00:19:22,405
Like, stop it.

366
00:19:22,725 --> 00:19:26,085
Hans Buetow: This whole
experience is, to me, revealing

367
00:19:26,085 --> 00:19:30,920
this interesting tension between
how we use our screens and that

368
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,800
not all screen time is equal
screen time. Because, Jason,

369
00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,520
when you're saying, like, oh,
oh, I use it to look something

370
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,920
up, or I use it to, like, fact
check something to myself, or,

371
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,400
like, wait. What is this plan?
Or how do I do this thing? That

372
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,975
to me feels like one corner of
the Internet or usage of a

373
00:19:44,975 --> 00:19:45,535
screen.

374
00:19:45,775 --> 00:19:48,655
Then there's the entertainment
corner of this of the usage.

375
00:19:48,655 --> 00:19:53,055
Then there's the algorithmic
usage, which could kinda swerve

376
00:19:53,055 --> 00:19:56,015
into any of those, but you're
just like, the point of that is

377
00:19:56,015 --> 00:19:59,720
just to sit in the stream and be
like tubing on a river. Mhmm. It

378
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:01,800
just takes you where you're
going. Mhmm.

379
00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:04,920
And so, like, I don't know that
all of those are are equal, or

380
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,040
me spending all this time with
this, like, my my phone is on,

381
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,535
and I technically have three
screens up all the time, but I'm

382
00:20:11,535 --> 00:20:13,295
not using them in that way.

383
00:20:13,935 --> 00:20:16,175
Mike Rugnetta: It strikes me
that there is a difference

384
00:20:16,175 --> 00:20:19,695
between something like going out
into the garden with your iPad

385
00:20:19,695 --> 00:20:24,095
to problem solve and having to
train the algorithm to show you

386
00:20:24,095 --> 00:20:27,270
the things that you want. Or in
my case, like, I have a lot of

387
00:20:27,270 --> 00:20:29,910
systems where it's like, my
phone reminds me every fifteen

388
00:20:29,910 --> 00:20:32,870
minutes that I've been looking
for fifteen minutes. And so I

389
00:20:32,870 --> 00:20:36,870
actively choose every fifteen
minutes to continue, like,

390
00:20:36,870 --> 00:20:40,025
opting in. And, you know,
sometimes that works better than

391
00:20:40,025 --> 00:20:43,145
others, but I found it to be a
really effective way to measure

392
00:20:43,145 --> 00:20:47,225
my usage of the phone. But it
feels like there's this

393
00:20:47,225 --> 00:20:51,785
difference between going into
the world with the Internet and

394
00:20:51,510 --> 00:20:53,830
the Internet bringing the world
to you.

395
00:20:53,830 --> 00:20:57,750
Mhmm. And the problem with the
second one is that it's very

396
00:20:57,750 --> 00:21:03,430
hard to tell technology what to
bring you, especially now

397
00:21:03,430 --> 00:21:07,385
because it is not designed to
listen. Mhmm. It just sort of

398
00:21:07,385 --> 00:21:10,505
brings you whatever you interact
with the most, and that might be

399
00:21:10,505 --> 00:21:12,425
the things that you also hate
the most.

400
00:21:12,745 --> 00:21:15,865
Georgia Hampton: Oh my god.
Constantly, I'm having this,

401
00:21:15,865 --> 00:21:18,025
like, fight with TikTok
specifically.

402
00:21:18,025 --> 00:21:19,385
Mike Rugnetta: Because you're
also fighting with yourself.

403
00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:21,100
Right? I know. And same thing.

404
00:21:21,100 --> 00:21:22,620
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. That is
around the time

405
00:21:22,860 --> 00:21:23,900
Mike Rugnetta: Segment again.

406
00:21:24,140 --> 00:21:26,700
Georgia Hampton: That is also
around the time where I'm like,

407
00:21:27,020 --> 00:21:30,300
maybe we're done right now.
Maybe we maybe we're done. Maybe

408
00:21:30,300 --> 00:21:33,260
we're gonna walk. Maybe we do
something else. But I wanna I

409
00:21:33,260 --> 00:21:37,425
wanna come back, Mike, to this
the the widgets and things that

410
00:21:37,425 --> 00:21:40,705
you can add to your phone that
tell you, like you said, hey,

411
00:21:40,705 --> 00:21:42,945
you've been looking at your
screen for fifteen minutes.

412
00:21:43,025 --> 00:21:48,385
I have never used those, and I
have a weird gun shyness around

413
00:21:48,385 --> 00:21:53,350
them. Like, I feel like I don't
want to have to use it, but I

414
00:21:53,350 --> 00:21:55,030
feel like it would be helpful.

415
00:21:55,350 --> 00:21:56,630
Mike Rugnetta: It rules. It's
great.

416
00:21:56,630 --> 00:21:58,790
Jason Oberholtzer: So, Georgia,
why do you think that you have

417
00:21:58,790 --> 00:22:02,070
this reticence to embrace
something you're interested in?

418
00:22:02,710 --> 00:22:05,510
Georgia Hampton: I don't know. I
feel like maybe it's because I

419
00:22:05,510 --> 00:22:09,245
want to force myself to do that
myself.

420
00:22:09,565 --> 00:22:12,845
Jason Oberholtzer: As in, like,
part of the way that you imagine

421
00:22:12,925 --> 00:22:16,925
Georgia is as somebody who can
say no to this, or that you

422
00:22:16,925 --> 00:22:19,565
think that being able to make
yourself do it will actually

423
00:22:19,565 --> 00:22:22,285
give you the skill to resist it
in a way that depending on a

424
00:22:22,285 --> 00:22:22,925
timer won't.

425
00:22:23,270 --> 00:22:25,350
Georgia Hampton: I feel like a
little bit of both. I also

426
00:22:25,590 --> 00:22:28,470
sometimes I can this is maybe a
personal problem. I feel like

427
00:22:28,470 --> 00:22:37,295
sometimes I I get a little weird
with mandated boundaries like

428
00:22:37,295 --> 00:22:41,855
that, where I'm like, I wanna do
it, but I I wanna do it, like,

429
00:22:41,855 --> 00:22:44,255
in my own way at at my own
interval.

430
00:22:44,335 --> 00:22:46,015
Mike Rugnetta: Georgia, I think
an important thing to remember

431
00:22:46,015 --> 00:22:49,630
is that you are doing it. Right?
Like Mhmm. If you are using the

432
00:22:49,630 --> 00:22:53,150
screen time rules to remind you
every fifteen minutes that it's

433
00:22:53,150 --> 00:22:56,350
been fifteen minutes, that's
past Georgia talking to present

434
00:22:56,350 --> 00:23:00,830
Georgia. And like all rules,
they are made by man.

435
00:23:01,395 --> 00:23:07,795
Wow. You know? They're made by
man. So I wanna ask, with the

436
00:23:07,795 --> 00:23:12,195
world the way that it is, which
is to say varying degrees of,

437
00:23:12,195 --> 00:23:21,330
like, absurd, scary, dangerous,
chaotic, What do you all go and

438
00:23:21,330 --> 00:23:24,050
I think we've answered this to
certain degrees, but I wanna

439
00:23:24,050 --> 00:23:28,210
talk about it really explicitly.
What do you all go to the feed

440
00:23:28,625 --> 00:23:29,265
for?

441
00:23:30,385 --> 00:23:33,105
Jason Oberholtzer: I very
specifically go to the feed,

442
00:23:33,585 --> 00:23:38,225
broadly speaking, and the only
thing that is called the feed

443
00:23:38,225 --> 00:23:41,745
that I take out of the equation
here is blue sky. To me, the

444
00:23:41,745 --> 00:23:42,625
feed is everything else.

445
00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:45,900
Mike Rugnetta: Interesting.
Interesting. Okay. Okay.

446
00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:49,820
Jason Oberholtzer: Everything
else is the feed. The internet

447
00:23:49,820 --> 00:23:53,340
math problem working out what it
wants to give me when I walk

448
00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:56,300
into its sites. That to me is
the feed.

449
00:23:56,300 --> 00:23:56,540
Mike Rugnetta: K.

450
00:23:56,540 --> 00:23:59,755
Jason Oberholtzer: I go there to
have fun and I'd never do.

451
00:23:59,995 --> 00:24:03,755
Georgia Hampton: Yes. Jason, you
and I are the same. Relatable.

452
00:24:04,235 --> 00:24:06,075
Yeah. Yeah.

453
00:24:06,075 --> 00:24:10,555
I I think of it kind of as I go
to put my brain on autopilot for

454
00:24:10,555 --> 00:24:16,260
a little bit, like, to just kind
of float around. But that also

455
00:24:16,340 --> 00:24:19,700
kind of isn't what happens
because, as I said, I am

456
00:24:19,700 --> 00:24:25,460
fighting with TikTok constantly.
So it's like, I will have fun by

457
00:24:25,460 --> 00:24:26,985
the grace of God. Like

458
00:24:27,465 --> 00:24:29,705
Mike Rugnetta: But, Georgia, you
also did say that it's like, you

459
00:24:29,705 --> 00:24:34,025
know, if the algorithm wants to
show you CNN or PBS, like,

460
00:24:34,025 --> 00:24:34,985
that's fine.

461
00:24:35,465 --> 00:24:38,265
Georgia Hampton: Yes. It it I
will say sometimes it depends on

462
00:24:38,265 --> 00:24:40,745
what time of day it is.
Interesting. If I'm trying to go

463
00:24:40,745 --> 00:24:43,160
to sleep and I'm just on TikTok

464
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:44,680
Mike Rugnetta: No Anderson
Cooper.

465
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,520
Georgia Hampton: No. I'm
Anderson, it's Betty Bye time.

466
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:49,480
Mike Rugnetta: Stay out of my
house.

467
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:50,520
Georgia Hampton: Get out of
here.

468
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,040
Jason Oberholtzer: Boop him on
the nose.

469
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:53,080
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. Bop.

470
00:24:53,575 --> 00:24:55,255
Hans Buetow: Jason, it's so
interesting to hear you say that

471
00:24:55,255 --> 00:24:57,495
blue sky is not the feed,
because to me, sky is the only

472
00:24:57,495 --> 00:25:01,495
feed. No. That's not true.
That's not true. It's one of the

473
00:25:01,495 --> 00:25:05,815
only feeds that I regularly look
at and use, and I very much

474
00:25:05,815 --> 00:25:07,975
consider that a feed and use it
for that feediness.

475
00:25:08,310 --> 00:25:10,310
Kinda like what Mike is saying,
where it's like it's a

476
00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:16,950
bellwether, albeit I'm realizing
very incomplete, very partial of

477
00:25:16,950 --> 00:25:20,310
what is happening, so that I can
quickly because the only other

478
00:25:20,310 --> 00:25:23,195
way that I can really get a
sense of things is push

479
00:25:23,195 --> 00:25:27,595
notifications from various
newspapers that come to my phone

480
00:25:27,595 --> 00:25:29,115
when something happens, and
that's

481
00:25:29,195 --> 00:25:29,355
Mike Rugnetta: Yeah.

482
00:25:29,435 --> 00:25:32,075
Hans Buetow: Generally how I
stay abreast of, like, oh, these

483
00:25:32,075 --> 00:25:34,635
are the three things that are
happening in the conversation

484
00:25:34,635 --> 00:25:35,275
today.

485
00:25:35,435 --> 00:25:38,850
Mike Rugnetta: Pause. Everybody
pick up your phone again. K.

486
00:25:38,930 --> 00:25:41,730
Open the same page.

487
00:25:41,730 --> 00:25:43,810
Jason Oberholtzer: This always
goes well. Yeah.

488
00:25:44,370 --> 00:25:46,050
Mike Rugnetta: How many daily
notifications?

489
00:25:46,130 --> 00:25:49,010
Hans Buetow: Holy sharks. Well,
it's fewer than I remember.

490
00:25:49,010 --> 00:25:50,770
Jason Oberholtzer: Around 250 a
day.

491
00:25:51,385 --> 00:25:54,425
Hans Buetow: It looks like
weekdays, I tend to get it looks

492
00:25:54,425 --> 00:25:58,105
like from the few days that I
can get data on, 50 to 60 a day.

493
00:25:58,505 --> 00:26:00,825
Mike Rugnetta: Hans, that's very
reasonable. Yeah.

494
00:26:01,545 --> 00:26:04,905
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. Mine's
I'm looking at yesterday's since

495
00:26:04,905 --> 00:26:08,560
today wouldn't really be enough.
93?

496
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,600
Mike Rugnetta: Mine's an average
of a 70. So it seems like we've

497
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,480
maintained our rough order here.
Yeah.

498
00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:17,120
Hans Buetow: Mike, how many
pickups do you have

499
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:17,600
Jason Oberholtzer: per day?

500
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:19,120
Mike Rugnetta: That's actually a
good question. Let me look.

501
00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:20,720
Hans Buetow: I'm pretty
consistent hovering between

502
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:21,440
seventy and eighty.

503
00:26:21,805 --> 00:26:23,085
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. I'm at
84.

504
00:26:23,325 --> 00:26:24,205
Mike Rugnetta: 80 eight.

505
00:26:24,285 --> 00:26:26,525
Hans Buetow: Okay. That's
interesting. So that means that

506
00:26:26,525 --> 00:26:29,325
you're spending more time on
each of the individual pickups.

507
00:26:29,485 --> 00:26:34,125
Mike Rugnetta: I also my most
the thing that I pick up my

508
00:26:34,125 --> 00:26:38,150
phone to use the most often
because it says it's like you

509
00:26:38,150 --> 00:26:41,910
picked up your phone and here's
the app that you opened. The

510
00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:45,270
most used is Clem's baby camera.

511
00:26:45,430 --> 00:26:46,710
Hans Buetow: Oh, this makes a

512
00:26:46,710 --> 00:26:47,190
Georgia Hampton: ton of sense.

513
00:26:47,190 --> 00:26:47,750
Mike Rugnetta: To check on

514
00:26:47,750 --> 00:26:49,725
Hans Buetow: her during sleep.
It's a utility thing, though.

515
00:26:49,725 --> 00:26:51,965
It's just like Jason's
gardening. You know? It's like

516
00:26:51,965 --> 00:26:52,925
using a tool.

517
00:26:52,925 --> 00:26:53,325
Right?

518
00:26:53,325 --> 00:26:58,925
Georgia Hampton: I feel like I'm
I'm the problem. So I'm going

519
00:26:58,925 --> 00:27:03,210
through days, and it's it's more
than 84, actually. It's like a

520
00:27:03,210 --> 00:27:05,530
41 or a hundred five.

521
00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:07,530
Jason Oberholtzer: And the first
thing you do every time you pick

522
00:27:07,530 --> 00:27:11,050
up your phone is hop on signal
and chat with Marc Andreessen?

523
00:27:12,410 --> 00:27:12,730
Course.

524
00:27:12,730 --> 00:27:13,450
Hans Buetow: Oh, man.

525
00:27:14,730 --> 00:27:17,695
Georgia Hampton: No. It's always
Instagram. Always Instagram or

526
00:27:17,695 --> 00:27:19,455
messages, but usually Instagram.

527
00:27:19,455 --> 00:27:22,255
Mike Rugnetta: Okay. Unpause. I
just wanted to know that in the

528
00:27:22,255 --> 00:27:25,775
context of Hans's point about
the phone being the thing that

529
00:27:25,775 --> 00:27:29,135
alerts you to things happening.
Yeah. And I don't get any of

530
00:27:29,135 --> 00:27:29,615
those alerts.

531
00:27:30,580 --> 00:27:35,700
Molly works her job is such that
she has to stay abreast of,

532
00:27:35,700 --> 00:27:38,500
like, current events. It's very
important for what she does

533
00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:40,740
that, like, when there's
breaking news, she knows what it

534
00:27:40,740 --> 00:27:45,875
is. Yep. And her phone is just
like, constant. I learn more

535
00:27:45,875 --> 00:27:50,035
about the news from being near
Molly's phone than anything

536
00:27:50,035 --> 00:27:50,675
else.

537
00:27:50,675 --> 00:27:54,035
Yeah. So, anyways, I just wanted
to I wanted to contextualize

538
00:27:54,035 --> 00:27:56,595
that. So, Hans, keep making your
point that you were making about

539
00:27:56,850 --> 00:28:00,770
blue sky being the place that
you go to learn about what

540
00:28:00,770 --> 00:28:02,690
happens in the world, but it's
incomplete.

541
00:28:02,690 --> 00:28:04,850
Hans Buetow: It's very
incomplete. You know, Ryan

542
00:28:04,850 --> 00:28:10,210
Broderick probably in in April
had a reaction to the hands off,

543
00:28:10,210 --> 00:28:14,425
the big first hands off protest
that was happening. He came back

544
00:28:14,425 --> 00:28:17,225
on Monday for garbage day and
had this whole thing being like,

545
00:28:17,705 --> 00:28:20,425
did you all know that a protest
was happening over the weekend?

546
00:28:20,425 --> 00:28:24,745
Mhmm. He's like, I am wildly
online both professionally and

547
00:28:24,745 --> 00:28:27,785
personally, and I didn't know it
was happening.

548
00:28:28,050 --> 00:28:30,370
And he got a lot of people
writing in to him. He's like,

549
00:28:30,370 --> 00:28:33,730
tell me if you knew. And people
were like, it was mixed bag. It

550
00:28:33,730 --> 00:28:35,490
was a total mixed bag.

551
00:28:35,730 --> 00:28:39,650
Mike Rugnetta: This exact
phenomenon is why I wanted to

552
00:28:39,650 --> 00:28:44,925
have this conversation. Yeah.
This exact thing. It's real.

553
00:28:44,925 --> 00:28:45,405
Right?

554
00:28:45,405 --> 00:28:48,045
It's real. It's real. And I
don't think we need to talk

555
00:28:48,045 --> 00:28:50,365
about it directly because Ryan
did a really good job with it,

556
00:28:50,365 --> 00:28:54,525
but I think the disconnect is
significant. Because the the

557
00:28:54,525 --> 00:28:59,560
next thing I wanna ask is, ever
since I'm gonna say 2014, there

558
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:06,920
has been a broad societal
anxiety in in our shared society

559
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,240
about using the Internet and
social media and whatever

560
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,315
whatever, you know, using
current information

561
00:29:14,315 --> 00:29:17,835
technologies, contemporary
information technologies to stay

562
00:29:17,835 --> 00:29:23,435
informed. I don't wanna ask,
because I feel like it's we've

563
00:29:23,515 --> 00:29:27,915
spilled an ocean of ink on it,
how you stay informed.

564
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:34,760
But I wanna know from each of
you, what even is staying

565
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:40,200
informed? What the fuck does
that mean? Yeah. Hans, you used

566
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:41,880
to work at The Daily. Yeah.

567
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:42,680
Hans Buetow: Hans, you

568
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:48,615
Georgia Hampton: wanna take the
floor? Hans. Please. You

569
00:29:48,615 --> 00:29:51,095
Mike Rugnetta: call Mike real
quick? Can you get my moral Get

570
00:29:51,575 --> 00:29:53,015
Georgia Hampton: Mike on this
one.

571
00:29:53,095 --> 00:29:53,495
Hans Buetow: Okay. So

572
00:29:53,495 --> 00:29:55,335
Mike Rugnetta: first, just tell
him to post his location. I only

573
00:29:55,335 --> 00:29:55,815
wanna talk. So

574
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,040
Hans Buetow: I think this is a
very interesting like, you can

575
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,680
take that as an analogy. Right?
Like, there's this fire hose of

576
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,280
things that are happening. But
if we so if we look at the

577
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:04,840
daily. Right?

578
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,840
And anyone who actually is
currently working on the daily

579
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,480
and listening to this, I love
you. I'm sorry if I get this

580
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,560
wrong, and you have a totally
different impression of how this

581
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,605
works. But some of the lessons I
think we can

582
00:30:13,765 --> 00:30:14,725
Mike Rugnetta: since you've a
changed.

583
00:30:14,725 --> 00:30:16,085
Hans Buetow: Things have
absolutely changed since I've

584
00:30:16,085 --> 00:30:18,725
been a part of it. But one of
the things that I think are

585
00:30:18,725 --> 00:30:22,405
notable about The Daily is The
Daily is 45 people working on

586
00:30:22,405 --> 00:30:27,920
it. Cool. And they have a daily
meeting where everybody comes in

587
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,680
and pitches. So no one has the
responsibility of understanding

588
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:32,800
what the news is.

589
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,640
Everybody has limited
understanding of their corner of

590
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,255
the news, and then there has a
system of triaging up what news

591
00:30:40,255 --> 00:30:42,895
is most important. They go to
the 09:00 meeting in the

592
00:30:42,895 --> 00:30:45,455
morning, and all of the editors
of all of the desks all sit

593
00:30:45,455 --> 00:30:49,295
together, and your your news
editor, your top top person,

594
00:30:49,650 --> 00:30:52,050
calls around. Alright. National
desk. What's the most important

595
00:30:52,050 --> 00:30:52,290
stuff?

596
00:30:52,290 --> 00:30:54,450
And then the national editor
says, alright. Today, we're

597
00:30:54,450 --> 00:30:56,690
following this, and this, and
this. Okay. Next. And that

598
00:30:56,690 --> 00:30:58,850
happens every day at 09:00 and
every day at 04:15.

599
00:30:59,090 --> 00:31:01,810
It happens every single day.
Every single day. Every single

600
00:31:01,810 --> 00:31:04,405
day. And you go to that to find
out what's the coverage. And

601
00:31:04,405 --> 00:31:07,045
that meeting, because it's New
York Times, actually sets the

602
00:31:07,045 --> 00:31:10,085
coverage for a lot of other
publications around the world.

603
00:31:10,805 --> 00:31:14,325
So you already have somebody
who's making these decisions,

604
00:31:14,325 --> 00:31:17,520
these editorial decisions. And
then you have people who are

605
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,600
assigned to different desks who
are working on The Daily, and

606
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,840
they're grabbing, you know,
they're I'm I work with the

607
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,680
international desk. That's
mostly so they're going to the

608
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,680
international desk meeting, and
you have different people who

609
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,040
are going to the culture desk
meeting, you have different

610
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:31,025
people who are going to the
metro meeting. And everybody's

611
00:31:31,025 --> 00:31:33,345
specializing down so that when
you aggregate the knowledge of

612
00:31:33,345 --> 00:31:37,425
45 people and then present it
through one person or two

613
00:31:37,425 --> 00:31:40,785
people, suddenly it looks like
that person knows everything,

614
00:31:40,785 --> 00:31:44,320
but that's actually not
accurate. And I think that sort

615
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,840
of specialization that no one
can know any one thing is a

616
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:52,320
really powerful thing that gets
masked.

617
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,840
Mike Rugnetta: And it's all it's
also like it feels like it

618
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,655
should be a funnel, but it's
not. It's actually like

619
00:32:00,055 --> 00:32:05,735
decreasingly, like tubes of
decreasing size. Yeah. So that

620
00:32:05,735 --> 00:32:10,580
as things are pushed through,
the edges get shaved off. Like,

621
00:32:10,580 --> 00:32:13,860
at every successive step, you
just lose a little bit off the

622
00:32:13,860 --> 00:32:14,420
side.

623
00:32:14,420 --> 00:32:16,100
Georgia Hampton: Well, the
Internet is a series of tubes.

624
00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:19,540
Mike Rugnetta: Oh, there it is.
We did. Yeah. Just shaving off

625
00:32:19,540 --> 00:32:21,300
the edges of every story that
goes through.

626
00:32:21,875 --> 00:32:24,035
Georgia Hampton: But, I mean,
this is such a perfect example

627
00:32:24,035 --> 00:32:27,395
of something that, again, has
been written about endlessly

628
00:32:27,395 --> 00:32:29,955
from so many different
perspectives, which is the hyper

629
00:32:29,955 --> 00:32:33,795
isolation, the hyper
individualization of your

630
00:32:33,795 --> 00:32:39,770
experience online, which, of
course, involves the perceived

631
00:32:39,770 --> 00:32:44,730
responsibility of understanding
the news, of consuming the news,

632
00:32:44,730 --> 00:32:48,090
of interacting with the news,
which I think can easily lead to

633
00:32:48,090 --> 00:32:53,375
a paralysis and a lack of
engagement with news in a

634
00:32:53,375 --> 00:32:56,655
meaningful way to the point
where you are a lot of people

635
00:32:56,655 --> 00:33:00,975
are just kind of on TikTok and
having things, like, lobbed at

636
00:33:00,975 --> 00:33:04,655
them, which some of which might
be reputable and some of which

637
00:33:04,655 --> 00:33:08,210
might not, but you're not doing
anything.

638
00:33:08,210 --> 00:33:11,090
Mike Rugnetta: So I think, like,
that's maybe the heart of my

639
00:33:11,090 --> 00:33:16,850
question is, like, is that
imagined person informed? Mhmm.

640
00:33:16,850 --> 00:33:19,410
Jason Oberholtzer: So I think,
like, in some ways, we are the

641
00:33:19,410 --> 00:33:21,170
Michael Barbaros of our own
lives.

642
00:33:21,545 --> 00:33:25,705
Georgia Hampton: Wow. Each of us
has a Michael Barbaro within us.

643
00:33:25,705 --> 00:33:26,345
Jason?

644
00:33:26,345 --> 00:33:27,865
Mike Rugnetta: That hurts.

645
00:33:29,145 --> 00:33:31,145
Georgia Hampton: He's in there,
and he's trying to get out.

646
00:33:32,025 --> 00:33:36,310
Jason Oberholtzer: We all have
45 people, more or less, trying

647
00:33:36,310 --> 00:33:38,790
to tell us what the most
important thing from their part

648
00:33:38,790 --> 00:33:42,310
of the world is. And at some
point, we are asked by somebody

649
00:33:42,550 --> 00:33:46,805
what's going on, and we open our
mouth and just say, tariffs are

650
00:33:46,805 --> 00:33:47,445
wild,

651
00:33:49,285 --> 00:33:50,565
Mike Rugnetta: Literally. We

652
00:33:50,565 --> 00:33:53,045
Jason Oberholtzer: just do our
best to rise to the occasion and

653
00:33:53,045 --> 00:33:56,405
say, I'm informed. Here's what I
know.

654
00:33:56,405 --> 00:33:59,620
Mike Rugnetta: I open my mouth
and like the mother xenomorph

655
00:33:59,620 --> 00:34:02,980
from alien Oh my god. A Michael
Barbaro head comes at us.

656
00:34:02,980 --> 00:34:04,420
Georgia Hampton: Tiny little
mouth.

657
00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:08,660
Jason Oberholtzer: I think the
more we've been asked to care

658
00:34:08,660 --> 00:34:11,140
about the veracity of
information, the more obvious it

659
00:34:11,140 --> 00:34:15,715
is that there is no veracity of
information. We are all just a

660
00:34:15,715 --> 00:34:20,275
part of a moving set of conduits
doing our best to push forward

661
00:34:20,275 --> 00:34:23,555
the things that we think are
most true at any given moment

662
00:34:23,795 --> 00:34:27,155
and constructing the worldviews
of others by being some of their

663
00:34:27,155 --> 00:34:29,475
producers for their personal
Michael Barbaros.

664
00:34:30,250 --> 00:34:32,970
Georgia Hampton: Well, this is
also a part of the problem, at

665
00:34:32,970 --> 00:34:39,610
least from my experience, which
is that if you don't have the

666
00:34:39,610 --> 00:34:43,715
preexisting understanding that
you cannot engage with every

667
00:34:43,715 --> 00:34:47,555
single kind of news at the same
level of intensity all the time

668
00:34:47,555 --> 00:34:52,275
forever. If you don't have that
understanding, like, of course,

669
00:34:52,275 --> 00:34:54,035
you're going to get online and
be like,

670
00:34:54,515 --> 00:34:57,235
Mike Rugnetta: ah. Hearing
hearing you say that that way is

671
00:34:57,235 --> 00:35:01,350
both just completely exhausting
and, like, staring into a

672
00:35:01,350 --> 00:35:01,830
mirror.

673
00:35:01,830 --> 00:35:06,070
Georgia Hampton: Yes. Yes.
Because and I think what can be

674
00:35:06,070 --> 00:35:12,465
so treacherous about existing on
the social Internet is that you

675
00:35:12,465 --> 00:35:17,505
are constantly having to reset
that awareness and being like,

676
00:35:17,505 --> 00:35:18,305
right. Right. Right.

677
00:35:18,305 --> 00:35:24,225
Right. Cannot juggle 300
chainsaws at the same time. I

678
00:35:24,225 --> 00:35:29,150
can't. And also, have to, while
I'm engaging with all of this,

679
00:35:29,950 --> 00:35:33,150
kind of do some extra work if I
wanna really understand what's

680
00:35:33,150 --> 00:35:36,110
going on to be, like, cool. So
is that actually happening?

681
00:35:36,510 --> 00:35:38,590
Where is this information from?
Like, you have to do some

682
00:35:38,590 --> 00:35:42,495
background research, journalism
y stuff. And the social Internet

683
00:35:42,495 --> 00:35:45,935
is constantly telling you, like,
don't you just wanna just not do

684
00:35:45,935 --> 00:35:47,935
that and just think this is
what's happening?

685
00:35:48,415 --> 00:35:50,415
Mike Rugnetta: Well, or the
opposite. And TikTok is just

686
00:35:50,415 --> 00:35:52,255
like, hey. Don't you want
another chainsaw?

687
00:35:52,895 --> 00:35:55,375
Georgia Hampton: Yes. It's like
both of those that get this damn

688
00:35:55,375 --> 00:35:55,695
time.

689
00:35:56,140 --> 00:35:57,900
Jason Oberholtzer: Or the other
option is to sort of, like, give

690
00:35:57,900 --> 00:36:01,900
over to idolatry and, like, pick
your favorite talking icon and

691
00:36:01,900 --> 00:36:04,620
just be like, I'm gonna let them
handle it. I'm gonna throw on

692
00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:07,660
Hassan, and everything Hassan
says is true. I'm just gonna

693
00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:11,395
accept it. Or I'm gonna throw on
Tucker. Or, like, whatever your

694
00:36:11,395 --> 00:36:14,755
deal is, you're just you're just
gonna you're going to outsource

695
00:36:14,755 --> 00:36:18,115
that responsibility to someone
else and then just decide that's

696
00:36:18,115 --> 00:36:21,635
the reality because they look a
little more put together when

697
00:36:21,635 --> 00:36:23,555
they're doing the exact same
shit you're doing.

698
00:36:23,875 --> 00:36:24,275
Georgia Hampton: Hans.

699
00:36:25,340 --> 00:36:28,780
Hans Buetow: Even though they
have 45 people working making

700
00:36:28,780 --> 00:36:32,940
them sound smart, in direct
answer to your question, Mike, I

701
00:36:32,940 --> 00:36:38,460
think are they informed is maybe
not the right question. Because

702
00:36:38,460 --> 00:36:41,785
there's a difference between
having the info and using the

703
00:36:41,785 --> 00:36:45,065
info, understanding the info,
assimilating the info, making

704
00:36:45,065 --> 00:36:48,745
making meaning out of that info.
I think a lot about the example

705
00:36:48,745 --> 00:36:52,985
of working with a bunch of
different musicians. Guitarists

706
00:36:52,985 --> 00:36:55,065
are really quintessential for
this, I think.

707
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,240
Mike Rugnetta: Jason and I are
both very excited to hear what

708
00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:00,160
comes next. Talk about us.

709
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,360
Hans Buetow: This is a it's a
classic distinction amongst

710
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,560
guitarists, that there are the
technical guitarists and the

711
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,360
field guitarists. Right? So you
have the technical guitarists

712
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,265
who can play literally anything
under the sun, and it's

713
00:37:13,265 --> 00:37:16,865
stunning. And the adeptness that
they have over the fingerboard

714
00:37:16,945 --> 00:37:19,585
and the the the level of finger
picking or whatever their

715
00:37:19,585 --> 00:37:22,785
specialty is, or maybe they can
do all specialties, it's just

716
00:37:22,785 --> 00:37:25,825
astonishing. And they tend to
make the most boring records,

717
00:37:25,910 --> 00:37:30,630
but my god, they can they do
whatever you ask them to do and

718
00:37:30,630 --> 00:37:32,950
do it really, really, like,
competently.

719
00:37:33,510 --> 00:37:35,990
And then there's the people who
don't know how to read, are

720
00:37:35,990 --> 00:37:39,670
super self conscious, only know
how to do a couple of things,

721
00:37:39,670 --> 00:37:42,935
but the things that they know
how to do are like speaking

722
00:37:42,935 --> 00:37:46,935
directly into their soul. And
there's, like, there's a

723
00:37:46,935 --> 00:37:50,775
communication that happens that
is not necessarily happening

724
00:37:50,855 --> 00:37:52,775
happening in a technical way.
And I think the same thing

725
00:37:52,775 --> 00:37:56,780
applies to information. So you
have you can have access to all

726
00:37:56,780 --> 00:38:00,540
of the facts. But if you don't
know why those facts are

727
00:38:00,540 --> 00:38:03,980
important, not just important,
but important to your life, or

728
00:38:03,980 --> 00:38:06,780
you haven't made this
distinction of how you can use

729
00:38:06,780 --> 00:38:10,055
them, what they do for you, how
to employ them, how to share

730
00:38:10,055 --> 00:38:12,215
them, how to make meaning out of
them.

731
00:38:13,735 --> 00:38:16,295
And I think this is a big change
from the first Trump

732
00:38:16,295 --> 00:38:19,415
administration to this Trump
administration is that the first

733
00:38:19,415 --> 00:38:26,700
one, we all stared wide eyed and
agog and thought that just by

734
00:38:26,700 --> 00:38:32,540
knowing and bearing witness
Mhmm. Mhmm. Somehow that would

735
00:38:32,540 --> 00:38:37,755
make a difference. And I don't
know. It did, because then Biden

736
00:38:37,755 --> 00:38:41,675
got elected and we, you know,
solved it and wandered off into

737
00:38:41,675 --> 00:38:42,475
the sunset.

738
00:38:43,515 --> 00:38:45,195
Mike Rugnetta: And everything
was fine.

739
00:38:45,515 --> 00:38:45,835
Hans Buetow: Mean, I

740
00:38:45,835 --> 00:38:48,510
Mike Rugnetta: think it's I
think you have hit the nail on

741
00:38:48,510 --> 00:38:51,150
the head as far as both the
successes and the shortcomings

742
00:38:51,150 --> 00:38:55,550
of that approach. Right? Like,
bearing witness does something,

743
00:38:55,550 --> 00:38:58,350
but it certainly doesn't do
everything. Yeah.

744
00:38:58,350 --> 00:38:59,790
Jason Oberholtzer: And and I
think the other thing that it

745
00:38:59,790 --> 00:39:03,065
did is it kept off this decade
of existing online where it

746
00:39:03,065 --> 00:39:06,265
seemed like the project was to
see more things, get more

747
00:39:06,265 --> 00:39:09,385
perspectives, and therefore,
know more things. And then what

748
00:39:09,385 --> 00:39:13,225
would logically, obviously,
follow is that we would act on

749
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,960
more information to make better
choices. And that in some sense,

750
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,920
if we were able to be more
correct about something, if you

751
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:25,720
knew more and you could be more
right, then that would have an

752
00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:28,360
outcome that would affect a
positive change. That would do

753
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:30,155
something. And I think In this

754
00:39:30,155 --> 00:39:31,275
Mike Rugnetta: house, we believe
in science.

755
00:39:31,275 --> 00:39:34,155
Jason Oberholtzer: Exactly. And
I think that that moment of

756
00:39:34,155 --> 00:39:38,875
Trump won put the lie to that,
where you are able to say

757
00:39:38,875 --> 00:39:42,750
objectively even, like, this is
true. This is false. This is

758
00:39:42,750 --> 00:39:45,470
good. This is bad, and that
should be worth something.

759
00:39:46,030 --> 00:39:52,270
And the concept of power does
not care about that. Now it was

760
00:39:52,270 --> 00:39:55,230
never more plainly true. And so
I think in Trump won, we spent a

761
00:39:55,230 --> 00:39:59,345
lot of time still kind of
clinging to that hope. Like,

762
00:39:59,345 --> 00:40:02,065
well, if I learn enough about
the things that are happening in

763
00:40:02,065 --> 00:40:04,465
there and I can, like,
articulate them and I get more

764
00:40:04,465 --> 00:40:07,905
knowledge, surely I will be
rewarded for being more right

765
00:40:07,905 --> 00:40:11,905
with a just universe. And it
does not matter.

766
00:40:12,410 --> 00:40:17,290
Georgia Hampton: No. And I think
there is a very tantalizing

767
00:40:18,090 --> 00:40:21,850
sense of comfort that can come
from information gathering. The

768
00:40:21,850 --> 00:40:25,835
sort of, you know, pointing at
what this administration is

769
00:40:25,835 --> 00:40:29,035
doing going, that's illegal.
Like

770
00:40:30,635 --> 00:40:31,595
Mike Rugnetta: I can't help but
notice

771
00:40:31,595 --> 00:40:31,995
Georgia Hampton: that you're

772
00:40:31,995 --> 00:40:33,595
Mike Rugnetta: being
hypocritical.

773
00:40:33,595 --> 00:40:35,355
Georgia Hampton: That's actually
in violation of the

774
00:40:35,355 --> 00:40:39,700
constitution. Like, which like,
the yes. There is there is a

775
00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:47,140
very shallow sense of control
and ownership and agency that

776
00:40:47,140 --> 00:40:50,180
you can gather from something
like that. But I think what's

777
00:40:50,180 --> 00:40:55,535
happening a lot, at least right
now, in the second iteration of

778
00:40:55,535 --> 00:41:03,055
this administration, is this,
like, rending of the comfort

779
00:41:03,055 --> 00:41:06,895
that that kind of information
gathering and sharing of

780
00:41:06,895 --> 00:41:11,300
information can offer, and it's
very obvious limitation.

781
00:41:11,540 --> 00:41:14,180
Jason Oberholtzer: Mhmm. I no
longer see or I less frequently

782
00:41:14,180 --> 00:41:17,540
see that behavior on display
now. I see a lot less of the,

783
00:41:17,780 --> 00:41:20,820
well, I looked at this thing
that they proposed, and I got to

784
00:41:20,820 --> 00:41:22,900
the bottom of it, and here's the
hypocritical points of it.

785
00:41:22,995 --> 00:41:25,795
Here's where it's illegal, and
here's where it's wrong. And I'm

786
00:41:25,795 --> 00:41:28,035
gonna put this here, and surely,
it will find its way to the

787
00:41:28,035 --> 00:41:29,875
right hands who can do something
about this.

788
00:41:29,875 --> 00:41:31,475
I see a lot less of that.

789
00:41:31,475 --> 00:41:32,675
Hans Buetow: Yeah. It's Yeah.

790
00:41:32,755 --> 00:41:34,995
Mike Rugnetta: I will say it's
all over blue sky, but it's

791
00:41:34,995 --> 00:41:40,290
definitely not the level of it
doesn't attain the level of

792
00:41:40,290 --> 00:41:44,130
cultural cache that it did on
Twitter, you know Sure. Five or

793
00:41:44,130 --> 00:41:44,770
six years ago.

794
00:41:44,770 --> 00:41:46,850
Jason Oberholtzer: Yeah. Or it's
even presented in sort of this

795
00:41:46,850 --> 00:41:49,890
wilting way of, like, hey,
someone had to do it. So here's

796
00:41:49,890 --> 00:41:50,370
why this is

797
00:41:50,370 --> 00:41:51,810
Georgia Hampton: wrong. Guys.
But

798
00:41:51,970 --> 00:41:53,090
Jason Oberholtzer: I'm just
gonna stick it here in the

799
00:41:53,090 --> 00:41:53,890
timeline for fun.

800
00:41:54,135 --> 00:41:56,695
Mike Rugnetta: Or it's presented
earnestly by, like, you know, a

801
00:41:56,695 --> 00:41:59,895
blue wave bot account. So
probably some a Russian

802
00:41:59,895 --> 00:42:02,935
somewhere. Yeah. Okay. Let's
take a quick break.

803
00:42:04,055 --> 00:42:07,015
Alright. So there's two things I
wanna say. The first is it feels

804
00:42:07,015 --> 00:42:14,210
like there is this kind of,
like, parallel set of skills or

805
00:42:14,210 --> 00:42:18,770
this parallel relationship
between the time we spend on our

806
00:42:18,770 --> 00:42:24,365
devices and the time that we
spend on those devices building

807
00:42:24,685 --> 00:42:30,765
and reinforcing skills that are
only useful on those devices.

808
00:42:31,725 --> 00:42:36,045
Interesting. It is a it is like
a compounding problem.

809
00:42:36,285 --> 00:42:40,820
It's hard to do the first thing,
so it's extra hard to do the

810
00:42:40,820 --> 00:42:48,340
second thing. And it feels like
a level of both critical

811
00:42:48,340 --> 00:42:53,855
technological engagement and
critical self engagement that

812
00:42:53,855 --> 00:42:57,695
every piece of techno almost
every piece of technology and of

813
00:42:57,855 --> 00:43:01,215
and as we're discussing right
now, a fair amount of the user

814
00:43:01,215 --> 00:43:05,455
base of those technologies
disincentivize you from engaging

815
00:43:05,455 --> 00:43:05,855
in.

816
00:43:05,855 --> 00:43:12,390
Georgia Hampton: Yeah. Oh my
god. Yes. Oh my god. Because, I

817
00:43:12,390 --> 00:43:16,070
mean, truly, there there are
times when I am just scrolling

818
00:43:16,150 --> 00:43:18,310
on Instagram or TikTok or
whatever.

819
00:43:18,310 --> 00:43:23,085
It's usually just those two. And
it's like I sort of emerge from

820
00:43:23,085 --> 00:43:26,445
the ether, and I'm like, what am
I looking for right now?

821
00:43:26,605 --> 00:43:29,965
Mike Rugnetta: Like I was just
talking to I make a show with

822
00:43:29,965 --> 00:43:31,885
some friends where we play a
game, but we have a chat show

823
00:43:31,885 --> 00:43:33,885
related to it. And one of the
players in the game, my friend

824
00:43:33,885 --> 00:43:37,500
Taylor Moore, was like, I hate
waking up an hour later learning

825
00:43:37,500 --> 00:43:41,580
I've been pwned by Instagram.
Yeah. Just how it feels.

826
00:43:41,580 --> 00:43:43,980
Georgia Hampton: Right? Yeah.
Where it's like, it's so

827
00:43:44,860 --> 00:43:49,420
abundantly easy to waste an hour
Yeah. On TikTok or Instagram or

828
00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:53,515
wherever. And it is
exponentially harder the longer

829
00:43:53,515 --> 00:43:57,195
you do that to kind of pull
yourself out of the drift and be

830
00:43:57,195 --> 00:43:58,235
like, wait a second.

831
00:43:58,875 --> 00:44:01,355
Hello? Where am I?

832
00:44:03,150 --> 00:44:05,310
Hans Buetow: I think we're
seeing a real disconnect. I

833
00:44:05,310 --> 00:44:07,630
wrote down Mike, this is part
like, I wrote down the thing I

834
00:44:07,630 --> 00:44:09,870
wanna say is the fire hose
versus the tools. Like, those

835
00:44:09,870 --> 00:44:12,670
two things don't match each
other anymore, and I think we

836
00:44:12,910 --> 00:44:14,750
really don't. We are we have,
like, the beginning of an

837
00:44:14,750 --> 00:44:18,270
awareness that they don't match,
but we're not sure what else to

838
00:44:17,985 --> 00:44:22,145
do because these are the tools
that we have, which seem

839
00:44:22,145 --> 00:44:24,625
insufficient for the moment,
they seem insufficient for the

840
00:44:24,625 --> 00:44:27,905
content, they seem information
for insufficient for the format.

841
00:44:27,905 --> 00:44:29,425
Like, I want to

842
00:44:29,505 --> 00:44:30,065
Mike Rugnetta: hurt you.

843
00:44:30,065 --> 00:44:33,300
Hans Buetow: They're built to
hurt you. And and I say I mean,

844
00:44:33,300 --> 00:44:36,100
I did a story last March with
doctor Steven Lewandowski

845
00:44:36,100 --> 00:44:39,780
talking about critical ignoring,
this idea that you can't absorb

846
00:44:39,780 --> 00:44:42,740
everything, and it's actually
harmful to try to absorb

847
00:44:42,740 --> 00:44:45,985
everything. Since that time,
then I did this and went deep

848
00:44:45,985 --> 00:44:49,105
with him on it and really lived
this stuff. Have I been able to

849
00:44:49,105 --> 00:44:50,465
incorporate that? I have not.

850
00:44:50,465 --> 00:44:54,225
I say things like, oh, I want to
do to do that, but I don't. And

851
00:44:54,225 --> 00:44:57,425
in some ways, I'm like, oh, I
want to do that, but I can't?

852
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,760
Maybe that's more of what it is?
Like, I want to be able to be

853
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:04,920
more specific. I want to be able
to be more localized.

854
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,720
But if I can't find the things
that are happening around me,

855
00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:10,680
the the information that
actually has value or that I can

856
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,715
actually make meaning out of, if
those are getting more and more

857
00:45:13,715 --> 00:45:17,475
difficult for me to find because
the tools don't allow them to

858
00:45:17,475 --> 00:45:20,435
surface This is exactly

859
00:45:20,915 --> 00:45:23,475
Mike Rugnetta: the thing that
Ryan talked about, not knowing

860
00:45:23,475 --> 00:45:24,675
what's going on around you.

861
00:45:24,675 --> 00:45:25,315
Hans Buetow: Ryan Roderick.

862
00:45:25,315 --> 00:45:27,680
Mike Rugnetta: Yeah. Yeah. And
also the thing, Jason, that you

863
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,880
just mentioned. I wanna, like,
tie this all together. Jason,

864
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:33,920
you were talking about a few
minutes ago this idea that,

865
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:38,320
like, we're using the Internet
in a way that was its original

866
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,255
promise and that we think that
it's for, or at least a certain

867
00:45:42,255 --> 00:45:43,135
portion of us.

868
00:45:43,135 --> 00:45:46,895
Like, I think millennials
especially maybe cling to this

869
00:45:46,895 --> 00:45:50,495
more than than other groups,
which is like, the Internet is a

870
00:45:50,655 --> 00:45:56,040
global network. It is made for
you to be able to communicate

871
00:45:56,040 --> 00:46:01,160
with people and acquire media
and familiarize yourself with

872
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:04,920
perspectives that are
fundamentally different from the

873
00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:08,535
ones that are available to you
in a necessarily bounded

874
00:46:08,535 --> 00:46:11,495
geographical location with your
local community. And I think

875
00:46:11,495 --> 00:46:16,855
that, like, all of these things
add up to, like, kinda what Hans

876
00:46:16,855 --> 00:46:21,590
is saying, like, the big
struggle right now is, I think,

877
00:46:21,590 --> 00:46:26,230
in in part, the impulse to use
the Internet as it's always been

878
00:46:26,230 --> 00:46:31,270
used by at least our cohort, a
thing to socialize and connect

879
00:46:31,270 --> 00:46:34,150
globally, which, you know,
that's powerful and that's

880
00:46:34,150 --> 00:46:38,805
important, but we can't act
globally. And that's becoming

881
00:46:38,805 --> 00:46:43,045
increasingly clear, and I think
increasingly true. It may have

882
00:46:43,045 --> 00:46:47,205
been less true twenty or thirty
years ago, but it's more true

883
00:46:47,205 --> 00:46:51,430
now that, like, it's even hard
to act locally given the state

884
00:46:51,430 --> 00:46:53,430
of especially American politics.

885
00:46:53,430 --> 00:47:00,230
Mhmm. And, you know, I feel like
even my ability to even know how

886
00:47:00,230 --> 00:47:05,315
to act locally has perhaps
atrophied a bit because of my

887
00:47:05,315 --> 00:47:10,675
focus on the importance of
familiarizing myself with

888
00:47:11,075 --> 00:47:12,915
national and global events.

889
00:47:12,915 --> 00:47:13,235
Jason Oberholtzer: So

890
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:18,160
Mike Rugnetta: I think this
isn't really a question so much

891
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:23,440
as like, I don't know, a
hypothesis or like a charge, but

892
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:30,305
it's like, I think that we have
to figure out how to have a

893
00:47:30,305 --> 00:47:34,705
healthy time and information
based relationship with our

894
00:47:34,705 --> 00:47:40,510
devices that leads to more local
action, and I just don't know

895
00:47:40,510 --> 00:47:41,470
where to start.

896
00:47:41,870 --> 00:47:44,270
Hans Buetow: I just wanna enter
that, like, I actually find this

897
00:47:44,270 --> 00:47:47,790
time really exciting. I mean,
amongst all of the, like,

898
00:47:48,510 --> 00:47:50,990
awfulness that it represents
because we're untethered, we're

899
00:47:50,990 --> 00:47:54,315
unmoored, we don't have the
right tools for the situation,

900
00:47:54,315 --> 00:47:59,115
we know it, that feels terrible.
But boy does it feel exciting.

901
00:47:59,115 --> 00:48:02,475
There are tools out there that
you like, I'm I'm going back to

902
00:48:02,475 --> 00:48:06,260
RSS feeds in a really big way,
and I'm changing the way that I

903
00:48:06,260 --> 00:48:09,220
regard them, which is, like, I
read through them, rather than

904
00:48:09,220 --> 00:48:13,380
just, like, the scrolling of of
that kind of the opposite of

905
00:48:13,380 --> 00:48:14,900
what you're saying, which is,
like, headline, headline,

906
00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:16,820
headline, Mike. I'm like, no.

907
00:48:17,385 --> 00:48:20,825
Pause. Read the thing. Read the
thing. And I'm following things

908
00:48:20,825 --> 00:48:22,985
like Investigate Midwest, who
does, like, investigative

909
00:48:22,985 --> 00:48:26,665
reporting on, like, who owns
land in Nebraska, and, like,

910
00:48:26,665 --> 00:48:29,750
what's the stuff in my part of
the world that actually makes

911
00:48:29,750 --> 00:48:32,710
some degree of sense, and then
talking to the people. I mean, I

912
00:48:32,710 --> 00:48:35,350
think this is the other thing
from the from the daily that is

913
00:48:35,350 --> 00:48:35,990
a good example.

914
00:48:35,990 --> 00:48:37,750
It's, like, it's about asking
questions to the people who do

915
00:48:37,750 --> 00:48:42,515
know. It's not about pretending
like you know. And I find it

916
00:48:42,515 --> 00:48:45,395
really helpful. I just feel like
there there are new tools five

917
00:48:45,395 --> 00:48:49,315
years from now. Could we have
new tools and new ways that we

918
00:48:49,315 --> 00:48:49,955
interact?

919
00:48:49,955 --> 00:48:51,555
Could we retrain ourselves?

920
00:48:52,435 --> 00:48:54,435
Mike Rugnetta: I really wanna
believe the answer to that is

921
00:48:54,435 --> 00:48:58,620
yes. But like, if you look at if
you look at, like, the Neighbors

922
00:48:58,620 --> 00:49:03,180
app or, like, Nextdoor or Patch,
it's it's all just poison.

923
00:49:03,180 --> 00:49:03,580
Hans Buetow: Yeah.

924
00:49:03,820 --> 00:49:07,660
Mike Rugnetta: You when you
connect local people via Yeah.

925
00:49:07,660 --> 00:49:12,515
These, like, global media
technologies, they turn into

926
00:49:12,515 --> 00:49:13,235
monsters.

927
00:49:13,235 --> 00:49:15,075
Jason Oberholtzer: Well, this
is, like, the ironic thing that

928
00:49:15,075 --> 00:49:19,235
then you notice is I'm trying to
do a lot more intentional

929
00:49:20,195 --> 00:49:24,220
interaction with my content. The
the reason I say Blue Sky is not

930
00:49:24,220 --> 00:49:26,460
a feed, it's because it's
something that I go to to

931
00:49:26,460 --> 00:49:29,180
intentionally click through to
articles and read them, to get

932
00:49:29,180 --> 00:49:32,380
out of the feed and into the
source material. I'm only

933
00:49:32,380 --> 00:49:35,020
listening to music on Bandcamp
this year, where I can select

934
00:49:35,020 --> 00:49:37,985
something, listen to it until I
don't want to, and then do the

935
00:49:37,985 --> 00:49:40,865
little bit of work to find
something else for some reason

936
00:49:40,865 --> 00:49:46,785
to listen to. And in doing these
things more, I am noticing more

937
00:49:47,025 --> 00:49:52,880
how terrible most content is,
the more I'm allowing myself to

938
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:56,880
choose my way around it, that it
is awful, and it is getting

939
00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:01,680
worse, and it is roundly
celebrated. The things that are

940
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,105
put up for awards, the things
that have the most eyeballs, the

941
00:50:05,105 --> 00:50:08,145
things that are most embraced by
all of these content industries

942
00:50:08,145 --> 00:50:09,345
are worse.

943
00:50:09,985 --> 00:50:14,465
This is not just the bias of
age. This is not just, like, my

944
00:50:14,465 --> 00:50:17,745
genre of something is better.
These are just empirically bad

945
00:50:17,745 --> 00:50:22,000
things, And they're getting
rewarded constantly. And there

946
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,680
is something that feels
inevitable about it in a very,

947
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:27,520
very deeply dispiriting way.

948
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,280
Georgia Hampton: Well, I mean,
the Internet is not a

949
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,975
meritocracy, and I think we are
seeing that in so many very

950
00:50:32,975 --> 00:50:33,935
miserable ways.

951
00:50:34,415 --> 00:50:37,135
Jason Oberholtzer: Who misses me
in an astronaut suit behind you

952
00:50:37,135 --> 00:50:37,935
with a gun?

953
00:50:39,135 --> 00:50:41,855
Mike Rugnetta: Well, yeah.
Exactly. Like You're telling me

954
00:50:42,735 --> 00:50:47,200
thing with biggest number is
most popular Yeah. Is maybe

955
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:48,880
rigged? Well,

956
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:52,320
Georgia Hampton: I'm gonna blow
your mind. But but, no, I mean,

957
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:58,800
I wanna I wanna really drill
down on this overarching issue

958
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:01,555
of the hyper individualization
of our online experience.

959
00:51:01,555 --> 00:51:03,955
Because I think it's something
where the Internet is both too

960
00:51:03,955 --> 00:51:06,915
much and not enough in many
ways, and that I think is

961
00:51:06,915 --> 00:51:10,915
exacerbated by the fact that we
are reliably and stubbornly

962
00:51:10,915 --> 00:51:14,780
siloed into these individual
experiences. We're sure there

963
00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:17,660
are a lot of people online, and
you can engage with them. And in

964
00:51:17,660 --> 00:51:19,660
some ways, that's beautiful and
incredible.

965
00:51:19,660 --> 00:51:24,540
But it also is a space that
heavily incentivizes you to

966
00:51:24,540 --> 00:51:30,845
exist as one agent that is not
encouraged to kind of reach out

967
00:51:30,845 --> 00:51:33,805
your hand. It's the whole idea
of everyone wants a village, but

968
00:51:33,805 --> 00:51:38,845
no one wants to be a villager.
And I think in addition to us

969
00:51:38,845 --> 00:51:42,525
engaging with news content
online in a way that is

970
00:51:42,525 --> 00:51:46,850
hopefully more intentional, that
is sort of removing yourself

971
00:51:46,930 --> 00:51:52,210
from the lazy river of the feed
to be, like, I don't wanna look

972
00:51:52,210 --> 00:51:54,610
at this, and I wanna look at
this other thing. I can turn

973
00:51:54,610 --> 00:51:56,450
this off. I can put my phone
away.

974
00:51:56,450 --> 00:51:59,490
I can change the app. I can text
my friend. I think in addition

975
00:51:59,490 --> 00:52:04,825
to all of that, this is such a
simple thing. But, like, talk to

976
00:52:04,825 --> 00:52:06,185
your friends. Talk to your
friends.

977
00:52:06,185 --> 00:52:06,905
Talk to your friends.

978
00:52:06,905 --> 00:52:08,185
Mike Rugnetta: Talk to your Talk

979
00:52:08,185 --> 00:52:09,705
Georgia Hampton: to your
neighbors. Go to the park with

980
00:52:09,705 --> 00:52:13,145
your friends. Like, go to a bar
with your friends. Call them on

981
00:52:13,145 --> 00:52:14,505
the phone. Like, honestly

982
00:52:14,825 --> 00:52:16,425
Hans Buetow: Go to a city
council meeting.

983
00:52:16,425 --> 00:52:20,320
Georgia Hampton: Yes. Oh my god.
Absolutely. Like, it it's that

984
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:24,720
is the thing that is going to
save us always, is having this

985
00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:28,400
real community of hands reaching
out for each other and holding

986
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:29,040
each other.

987
00:52:29,200 --> 00:52:32,160
Mike Rugnetta: I think that
that's right. And I think that

988
00:52:33,645 --> 00:52:37,565
so I've in the last couple
years, I moved and I moved into

989
00:52:37,565 --> 00:52:39,645
a studio, which is in a
different neighborhood from

990
00:52:39,645 --> 00:52:42,685
where my studio from where my
house is. So it's like I've kind

991
00:52:42,685 --> 00:52:46,605
of joined two new neighborhoods
or two new communities in the

992
00:52:46,605 --> 00:52:50,300
last couple years. And I noticed
something in both of them that I

993
00:52:50,300 --> 00:52:54,620
have been wondering idly if it's
just generally true and not true

994
00:52:54,620 --> 00:52:58,380
in just these specific
locations, which is in both of

995
00:52:58,380 --> 00:53:03,755
those places, I showed up and
one person was like, hey, we

996
00:53:03,755 --> 00:53:07,835
have a group chat. We have a
place that we all hang out in,

997
00:53:07,835 --> 00:53:09,275
and here it is, you join it.

998
00:53:09,355 --> 00:53:13,930
And I've since left both of them
because they're both toxic and

999
00:53:13,930 --> 00:53:20,570
horrible. Just the worst, like,
unhinged, like, people being

1000
00:53:20,570 --> 00:53:24,010
mean, people hiding behind a
screen even though they're your

1001
00:53:24,010 --> 00:53:26,570
neighbors. And it's like, people
who, like, when I see them on

1002
00:53:26,570 --> 00:53:29,985
the street, I'm like, you are
perfectly nice. Like, why are

1003
00:53:29,985 --> 00:53:30,385
you

1004
00:53:30,385 --> 00:53:30,865
Georgia Hampton: Oh, jeez.

1005
00:53:30,865 --> 00:53:33,825
Mike Rugnetta: Such a shit,
like, in the WhatsApp group.

1006
00:53:33,905 --> 00:53:37,825
Mhmm. And I wonder whether or
not it is just the, like, the

1007
00:53:37,825 --> 00:53:41,745
direction of flow of
participation, where it's like

1008
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:49,520
shoving people into the hopper
that is the feeding mechanism to

1009
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:54,000
a technologically mediated
community as opposed to

1010
00:53:54,240 --> 00:53:58,875
gathering a community and then
saying, let's also communicate

1011
00:53:58,875 --> 00:54:01,195
via distributed media.

1012
00:54:01,195 --> 00:54:04,955
Jason Oberholtzer: Yeah. It it
does feel like people, I don't

1013
00:54:04,955 --> 00:54:08,955
think consciously, fall into
archetypes of talking through

1014
00:54:08,955 --> 00:54:14,810
mediated devices. Like, there
are scores fewer types of guys

1015
00:54:14,810 --> 00:54:18,890
you can be online than there
were, I don't know, a decade ago

1016
00:54:18,890 --> 00:54:21,690
or something. People are like,
I'm I'm typing in my phone,

1017
00:54:21,850 --> 00:54:25,210
there's one of four lanes that I
type in, and unfortunately, one

1018
00:54:25,210 --> 00:54:26,170
of them is to be a dick.

1019
00:54:26,345 --> 00:54:31,385
Hans Buetow: Yeah. I think one
to many has proven itself to be

1020
00:54:31,385 --> 00:54:35,305
a dangerous thing for our
psychology, and I think a lot of

1021
00:54:35,305 --> 00:54:39,640
the Internet is set up to make
us one to many. And I think,

1022
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:41,880
Mike, what you're saying, what
we're kind of all coming to is

1023
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:46,360
one to one or one to few. One to
few. Or I think, like,

1024
00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:50,120
Mike Rugnetta: I said this on
Matt Silverman's podcast a few

1025
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:54,215
weeks ago, just like, I think
that a lot of these spaces,

1026
00:54:55,415 --> 00:55:00,615
because of just the cultural
moment that we're in, people get

1027
00:55:00,615 --> 00:55:05,015
in them and they have an
audience. And I think they think

1028
00:55:05,015 --> 00:55:07,980
of the people that they're
typing to even in the

1029
00:55:07,980 --> 00:55:11,820
neighborhood group chat as their
audience. I think that's a %

1030
00:55:11,820 --> 00:55:13,420
right. That's poisonous.

1031
00:55:13,420 --> 00:55:15,580
Georgia Hampton: Yeah.
Absolutely. I mean, I think it's

1032
00:55:15,580 --> 00:55:20,060
another way to have to untie
knots, you know, is that it's

1033
00:55:20,060 --> 00:55:25,965
it's abundantly easy to just
behave like, oh, cool. So I

1034
00:55:25,965 --> 00:55:28,045
actually just have a captive
audience, and this isn't

1035
00:55:28,045 --> 00:55:30,365
actually community. This isn't
actually a village.

1036
00:55:30,685 --> 00:55:35,805
And it it just forces you back
into that silo again and again

1037
00:55:35,805 --> 00:55:39,250
and again. And there are going
to be groups like that. And I

1038
00:55:39,250 --> 00:55:42,290
think what sucks, but is true,
is that we will have to see that

1039
00:55:42,290 --> 00:55:45,410
and be like, cool. That's not my
village. I'm going to go

1040
00:55:45,410 --> 00:55:46,050
somewhere else.

1041
00:55:46,050 --> 00:55:47,970
Mike Rugnetta: And I think to
your point, Georgia, it's

1042
00:55:47,970 --> 00:55:51,025
exactly like what we started
this conversation talking about.

1043
00:55:51,025 --> 00:55:53,585
It's really easy for those
people to pick up their phone

1044
00:55:53,585 --> 00:55:57,105
and know that that audience is
always there. There's always a

1045
00:55:57,105 --> 00:56:00,705
feed of things to do. There's,
like, there's just you know, and

1046
00:56:00,705 --> 00:56:03,210
it's hard to say no to I think
for some people, it's hard to

1047
00:56:03,210 --> 00:56:05,610
say no to. Alright.

1048
00:56:05,610 --> 00:56:08,090
I wanna wrap us up, but I wanna
leave us with one question.

1049
00:56:08,650 --> 00:56:14,170
Answer this however you see fit.
How do you know when it is time

1050
00:56:14,170 --> 00:56:14,890
to log off?

1051
00:56:17,185 --> 00:56:21,105
Hans Buetow: When my head hits
the keyboard. There

1052
00:56:22,225 --> 00:56:26,545
Mike Rugnetta: is one guy on
TikTok, and his name is Hugh,

1053
00:56:26,545 --> 00:56:31,900
and he is a Scottish man who
lives in India. And his whole

1054
00:56:31,900 --> 00:56:36,140
channel, which is great, is just
him going to, street side food

1055
00:56:36,140 --> 00:56:39,500
vendors throughout all of India,
all over the place. And he has

1056
00:56:39,500 --> 00:56:43,835
the very opposite approach from
so many other people, especially

1057
00:56:43,835 --> 00:56:48,075
westerners on TikTok who sample
Indian street food, which is

1058
00:56:48,075 --> 00:56:51,835
that he is nonjudgmental, he's
nice, he has pleasant

1059
00:56:51,835 --> 00:56:54,875
interactions with the people, he
pays them, he eats the food, and

1060
00:56:54,875 --> 00:56:59,280
then he reviews it, and most
things he enjoys. He seems

1061
00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:03,760
genuinely nice. And at the start
of every video, he goes, it's

1062
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:06,480
something like, oh, look at
this.

1063
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:10,640
What's being sold here? Oh. And
when I hear that, I think, I'm

1064
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:12,395
gonna watch this video and then
I'm gonna go to

1065
00:57:12,395 --> 00:57:13,355
Georgia Hampton: bed. Yes.

1066
00:57:14,555 --> 00:57:17,195
Mike Rugnetta: Like, he always
finds me at the right time.

1067
00:57:17,595 --> 00:57:23,035
Georgia Hampton: He knows. I
will genuinely set timers, like,

1068
00:57:23,035 --> 00:57:27,610
internally for myself be like,
cool. It's 11:30PM. I'm going to

1069
00:57:28,170 --> 00:57:33,210
be on TikTok until 11:45, and
then I'm done. But it I I will

1070
00:57:33,210 --> 00:57:36,810
usually have that kind of
question of what am I looking

1071
00:57:36,810 --> 00:57:37,690
for right now?

1072
00:57:37,930 --> 00:57:41,025
Why do I feel like I'm, like,
rummaging frantically looking

1073
00:57:41,025 --> 00:57:45,985
for something and I'm like, I
gotta go. It's time to go.

1074
00:57:45,985 --> 00:57:47,425
Mike Rugnetta: Time to hit the
old dusty trail.

1075
00:57:47,425 --> 00:57:49,905
Jason Oberholtzer: Yep. I think
I only really know through

1076
00:57:49,905 --> 00:57:55,680
fatigue markers. I will get
tired of the channel that I'm on

1077
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:58,080
and I will go to a different
channel and then realize I've

1078
00:57:58,080 --> 00:58:01,440
already been there and then
decide that I'm in aggregate

1079
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:07,485
fatigued enough to stop. And
that does not seem good like

1080
00:58:08,445 --> 00:58:09,805
Yeah. You're not supposed to
reach

1081
00:58:09,725 --> 00:58:12,205
Mike Rugnetta: end of the rope,
you know? No. Yeah.

1082
00:58:12,365 --> 00:58:14,125
Jason Oberholtzer: No. It is
that. And I think, you know, I

1083
00:58:14,205 --> 00:58:19,885
there is I think there is I have
some difficulty discerning sort

1084
00:58:19,885 --> 00:58:23,130
of the sources of my pain. And
so when you are just constantly

1085
00:58:23,130 --> 00:58:27,690
online and in pain, who knows if
it is getting worse or better or

1086
00:58:27,690 --> 00:58:31,210
if you could continue or stop.
And so all you have left is

1087
00:58:31,210 --> 00:58:33,770
fatigue and sometimes that makes
me stop.

1088
00:58:33,930 --> 00:58:35,185
And I'm gonna work on that.

1089
00:58:35,665 --> 00:58:37,585
Hans Buetow: I I don't have a
good answer. I don't have a good

1090
00:58:37,585 --> 00:58:41,265
answer. I'm not as self aware as
I need to be in this realm and I

1091
00:58:41,265 --> 00:58:43,905
appreciate the conversation
because it's helping me realize

1092
00:58:43,905 --> 00:58:46,865
I should be. I'm gonna should
all over myself which is

1093
00:58:46,865 --> 00:58:48,705
something my grandmother would
be mad at.

1094
00:58:49,105 --> 00:58:52,680
Mike Rugnetta: That's right.
That's right. Alright, friends.

1095
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:54,840
Thank you for joining. Thanks
for the conversation.

1096
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:58,840
Thanks everybody for listening.
We'll have an episode in the

1097
00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:03,975
main feed for you next week. See
you soon. Bye. Bye.
