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I Have Read And Agree To The Terms And Conditions · Freshwater Yankee

• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Freshwater Yankee Podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: As always, my name is Wendell O'Reilly, and today I want to talk to you about something that impacts us no matter what country, city, town, or village you live in or we live in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: We are going to talk about something that is quite literally or has quite literally taken over our lives, and I am talking, of course, about technology, particularly the tech that we use every day to enhance our day-to-day activities, whether at home or at work or at play.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: But before we dive in, if you haven't already done so, please take a moment to like, subscribe, and give our podcast a five-star rating on whatever platform you use, because it helps us reach more listeners across the globe.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I am happy to report that since January, this podcast has been downloaded in over 350 cities in 45 countries.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so we would love to keep that momentum going.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And rating, subscribing, and sharing is an easy way for you to help us grow.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, on to our topic for the week.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um the first thing I want to get out of the way is why I am doing this episode.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: There are a few reasons.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: One is that be it's because um it is top of mind for me.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: As I just recently finished teaching a social media marketing course at uh Centenary College, Louisiana.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is a course I've taught for a few years, and I will tell you that my curriculum changes significantly and with increasing rapidity as time goes by.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of what is true and relevant today is likely to be obsolete when I crack open my syllabus and textbook a year from now.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, technology is reshaping the globe as we speak, how we communicate, how we work, how we live, how we play, how we eat, um, how we exercise and how we shop.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is now enmeshed in our identities.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And this is true whether you live in a first world or developing country.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this podcast and the way you are listening to it now would be the stuff of dreams even at the beginning of the century.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: The proverbial worm has turned and there's no going back for better or worse.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the second reason.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this podcast at its core is about the human condition.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I humbly believe that we need to pause and really think about how we use technology in our daily lives.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, for the sake of simplicity, when I say tech in this context, I mean the smart devices that we use in our daily lives, particularly cell phones, smart speakers, computers, smart TVs, etc.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is not a rant about companies and corporations taking over the world.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Although if you grew up in the 80s watching movies like Terminator, Robocop, and Blade Runner, none of this would be shocking to you.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: But it's not that, neither is it a scientific deep dive into tech, and it is definitely not a professional deconstruction of the impact on tech on our psychological health.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is merely a series of observations, sometimes informed observations, that I hope will spark internal and external dialogue, hopefully not online, uh, about where we are today and where we are possibly heading.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I am old enough where I come from a time when things were dumb.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Most devices had a single use and they were damn good at just one thing.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And at least that's what the advertisers told us, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, I'll I'll date myself by saying that telco was our telephone company back then.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we had rotary phones, then cordless phones.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And when you were out and about, you had to use payphones.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, fast forward to 2000 when I got my first job out of college, and I bought my first cell phone.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was a Samsung flip phone with a little plastic antenna that you could uh that you had to pull out, and uh it was terrible.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like the reception was bad, uh, the navigation was clunky, and back then, even something as ubiquitous as texting was a luxury, not the way it is today, where it's the standard for electronic person-to-person communication.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: But even then, you know, we were already underway in this very rapid advancement in phone technology and and uh that would ultimately lead to smart devices.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, which was released in 1994, is credited as the very first smartphone.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: But for most of us, the very public battle between Apple and Blackberry represented this major inflection point, not only in the industry, but also societally.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, and the first Android phone was released in 2008.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I don't know about you all, but I was uh to coin a Trinidadian phrase already a hardback man in 2007.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: So the idea that we have come so far, so fast, is mind-blowing.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, it's a little terrifying to me.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, according to the the textbook that I use to teach my students, uh, it's by a company called Stukant.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um out of a global population of 8.25 billion people in 2025, 5.78 billion people own a mobile phone.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now these are unique owners, and that equates to just over 70% of the global population.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: 6.04 billion, or just over 73% of the population, use the internet, and 5.66 billion people, or over 68% of the population, are active on social media.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, you can count me in every one of those categories, and I will hazard a guess that you, fateful listener, can be counted as well.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, these devices contain a level of technological complexity and processing power that would make anybody who has ever used a floppy disk that it would make their head explode, right?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's not hyperbolic to say that most of us on this planet are now basically walking around with a tiny computer companion uh that is with us most of our lives.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: In preparation for this episode, I did a little self-assessment.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was an exercise that I did uh from memory and then using actual data, uh, and then I compared the two.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So basically, I just quickly jotted down all of the apps that I use on a regular basis, and this is what I came up with.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: In no particular order, uh, for perusing my interests, uh, everything from Chelsea Football Club to Cannes Sardines, I use Reddit uh as someone who runs a nonprofit with a social media presence.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And also the fact that I'm a middle-aged man who uses socials to promote my personal and professional brand, I spend a lot of time on Facebook.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: I also spend time uh on shopping sites such as eBay and Amazon.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: I use Safari, which is a native browsing app on the iPhone, uh quite a bit, uh, mostly to check sports scores from across the globe.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, whether it's Premier League, La Liga, to MLS, uh, NFL, WNB, and so on.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also use it to um browse generally for information when I'm not on my laptop, including uh checking the stats for this very podcast multiple times a day.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I use my cell phone to listen to music, uh podcasts, the BBCs, talk sports, and um then of course there's WhatsApp, which keeps me connected to friends and family all over the globe.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And like most people, I now do my banking on my phone, I fill prescriptions, I get updates from my daughter's school, and I use my phone to even track the number of steps that I take uh every day, and more on that later.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in comparison, here is the data-driven assessment.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So using the screen time tracker on my phone, I determined that my most used apps are indeed Reddit, Facebook, uh, messages, WhatsApp, Spotify, a step tracking app, Safari, and TalkSpot.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I wasn't too far off.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I actually left out some key ones that I didn't really even think about.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So others that I didn't list on my own were Slack, which I used to communicate with my work team and mail.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and this week, based on the screen time tracker, I am averaging about four hours a day on my device, which is actually down from last week.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if I'm spending an average of 16 waking hours a day, and I spend a quarter of that time staring at a tiny screen, and then there are the five or so hours on top of that that I spend using my laptop, and many of uh the same apps or comparable apps are on my laptop as well.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: So over half of my day is spent staring at a screen, and then of course, because my job and my life is so enmeshed with film and television, you can see how quickly it gets out of control.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let's cut to the chase.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is this a healthy relationship?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever I teach social media marketing, I spend the first couple lectures and exercises giving students the opportunity for self-assessment, including how technology use makes them feel.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: In my opinion, if you are someone who's interested in becoming a social media marketer, you should understand your own technology and social media use and learn to pay attention to how, when, and why you use social media.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: And for the purposes of this episode, I will challenge you to take a step back and examine your use of technology in general.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's a growing body of research about this, but I will go out on a limb and say that the average person generally ignores most of this research as, you know, and and we certainly don't have enough productive conversations around these subjects.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there are three major factors at play here.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: The the first is that the subject, like so many things in our lives, feels so overwhelming to a lot of us that we choose to ignore it and just live our lives with this ever-increasing interconnectivity with technology.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: The second is that I think there are genuinely a ton of benefits to using technology.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the third and most concerning factor, though, is that we are all addicted to our devices personally and professionally.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: But before we jump into that, let's talk about the benefits of technology through the lens of this podcast, right?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So as a foreigner living in America, my devices are a window not only to the world, but also to my home.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: From my phone alone, I could visit most countries, explore most cultures, and nibble on new ideas and topics one three-minute video at a time.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can work on multiple projects across borders and oceans simultaneously.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I can talk to my mom in real time and have a conversation with multiple people in different time zones in the same chat.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when I when I first came to the United States in 1996, my mom and I would communicate via letters, actual handwritten letters that would take weeks to get um to land in the in our respective mailboxes, right?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And now today we are just a tap away from each other.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we can talk face to face if we want to.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: It allows my my mom and my daughter to have a relationship, even though they see each other about once a year.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so technology has really, really opened the door to us being a closer family.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: My brother sends me his newest art.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my younger brother sends us pics of his kids, and I could banter with my friends about who the best team in London is, or have a real-time competition with my boys to see who can get the most steps in a day.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't tell you how meaningful this is for me, as it keeps me connected to my friends and my family, but more importantly, my culture.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: I can let my proverbial hair down at home and use my dialect with my wife and daughter.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: But outside of that, I don't have many opportunities to speak in my native tongue in Shreveport.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: At least not if I want to be understood.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: But through technology, I can send voice notes and write in with TriniSlang in real time.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I have groups where we share updates on our health, career, uh interests, and and in that way, my international network is as vibrant as my local network in Northwest Louisiana.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And even after living abroad for the past 30 years, I'm still learning about my country through historical and cultural information shared, to be honest, on multiple social media platforms.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we all, through technology, have the ability to broaden our global horizons without leaving our home, and that's massive.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you might be in Kazakhstan right now listening to a podcast by a Trinidadian living in Shreveport, Louisiana, and all of this happens as quickly as we can upload and download information.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can track markers of my own health, physical, mental, emotional, and physical, all in apps on my phone.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: I can shop at any hour of the day, and I can literally discover a new restaurant, order food from them, use Google Maps to get me there, listen to music on the way, pay for my food, and then leave a Facebook review all from one device.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can watch movies and TV virtually anywhere, which helps when Chelsea is playing at 2 p.m.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Central Time on a Friday afternoon.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I can share new music of bands that I discovered without having to make a mixed CD or tape.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I can find reviews on products that are vetted through user experiences rather than having to rely on the company with the biggest advertising budget to tell me why their product is the best thing out there.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can visit libraries and government offices without setting foot in them.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I can write, record, and upload podcast episodes on a single device.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: And as users, we want all of these features without having to pay a lot or anything for said use.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, think about it.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Google doesn't charge you to use its navigation or search functionality.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Facebook accounts are free.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it it costs me nothing extra to have my debit card on my phone.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I only pay for Spotify because I don't want to listen to ads.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: But how free is free?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because the market system, any market system is built on supply and demand.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the prevailing wisdom is that if you want something of value, it won't be provided to you unless you give something back in return.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the essential building blocks of commerce.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that begs the question: what is the cost?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think in order to answer that question, we need to take a step slightly to the side and reframe the question.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think what we should ask is, what is the product?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's a very good documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma that deep dives this.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: But um, this is the part that most people miss.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: The devices and the apps are not the primary products at play.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: We are in certain technology spaces, particularly when it comes to smart devices, the purchase and use of said devices have multiple transactions embedded in them.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the first is of course the cost of the device.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: You pay a company for your smartphone, great.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Second is if you decide to do paid versions of uh apps or services.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: But the third and most important one is the providing of data back to these companies.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we do this every single time we interact with our devices, even when the devices are in our pockets.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because yes, your phone is listening to you.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Tech companies don't get into business because they want to lead us to utopia, despite what any of their marketing says.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: They do it to make money.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, they can make money on device sales and subscriptions, but the real currency is data, and the real product is us.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: These companies spend billions and billions of dollars each year creating more and more personalized content and experiences for us based on the most scientifically accurate information they can get their hands on and our daily behavior to the second, which is tracked by our connected devices.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you are using privacy settings, that is relevant and useful information to these companies.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you are someone who has enough willpower to say put down your phone for a couple hours at a time, that provides valuable information.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you refuse to use devices, technology companies can build an accurate profile of who you are by tracking the data of the people that interact with you on a regular basis.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Is this ethical?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, honestly, I'm not here to debate that.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: How does this happen?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, every time you scroll down and sign an agreement, so you can start using the app immediately, right?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: You you give consent.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I've of course I know every one of you reads all of those agreements because I know I certainly do, right?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that is data that's collected with your consent, right?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's data that's also collected without your consent.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so everything you scroll past and look at for even a second or two, uh, even if you don't click on it, gives information back to these corporations.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is shared between them.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, companies buy and sell this information all the time.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And many of the most popular apps owned by the same organization.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, for example, Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: So if you use one, they are happy.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you use all three, well, now you get kind of see why these companies know us better than we know ourselves.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we are constantly giving license to companies.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: To take every single thing we do on our devices and make it available to create these accurate digital versions of ourselves that they can use to allow other companies to come advertise with them.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So think back to that exercise that I described at the top of the episode.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: My phone can give me a more accurate assessment of how I use it, unvanished by opinions or blind spots or just, you know, lack of memory.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it is a feedback loop that allows companies, whether directly or as marketers, to tailor specific products and services to us without us even understanding why they are being served to us.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it is not perfect yet, but don't worry, all we have to do is keep giving our devices information by just using them, and we are basically teaching them how to sell us more stuff.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And in doing so, creating a pathway for other companies to sell us more stuff through these very sophisticated and ever-evolving engines.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Less than 10 years ago, I remember I was in a business meeting and there was this debate on whether or not online advertising would ever replace traditional models such as TV, radio, print, um, and out-of-home, out-of-home being like billboards and stuff like that.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: And even again, this is not that long ago, many marketers would say that they didn't really know how effective it was.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And compared to say tried and true methods like TV and radio ratings, or magazine or newspaper distribution, or the dreaded physical jump junk mail.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and looking back and now comparing that to the granularity of data that can be gleaned from our device usage alone, that thinking seems dangerously archaic and short-sighted.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take uh a marketing term.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's AIDA, right?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a funnel, and the funnel starts with the first A, which is awareness, and then it shrinks to interest, desire, and action.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the idea behind AIDA is that you start with a wide, the widest possible cross-section of people, and then you move a subset of each of those groups into the next phase.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you move people from awareness to interest, desire and action, knowing that you will get a smaller and smaller group as you go, but that action group are the ones who make purchasing decisions, right?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's look at how tech companies move us through that funnel.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: And when you do that, the effectiveness of these models become readily apparent.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, let's say you're on your laptop and you're reading the news, and on the on the news website, there's an ad for a handbag that comes up.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: You see the ad, but you don't click on it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that is awareness.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's low-level awareness, but it is awareness, right?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's say you come back to the same site tomorrow at at 7 a.m.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: like you always do to check the news, and that same ad pops up on the website.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: And this time you click on it.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: That is clear interest.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: But but you back off of it, you quickly close the ad because you know exactly what is going to happen next.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: At 10 a.m., you are on your cell phone, on Facebook, and all of a sudden, through a process called retargeting, you see this, you see the same ad pop up in your Facebook feed.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you open Instagram a day later and you see another ad for the same handbag.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then after a week, you relent and you actually click on the ad this time, and then you end up browsing the entire selection of handbags on their website, toggling back and forth between options, comparing features and prices.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now you are in the desire phase.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, at 11 p.m.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: on a Friday night when you're tired and you probably had a couple glasses of wine, and you're back home and just looking to reward yourself for being generally awesome, you make the choice to buy the bag.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that is action.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you just went through the entire funnel from awareness to action, and you didn't even see a single TV ad or billboard or magazine spread about it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that funnel probably started when your device overheard you offhandedly saying to your friend that you needed a new handbag a day before the first ad popped up in the website that you were reading the news on.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now compare this to the old model where a company would spend months putting together a campaign, buying ads on all the traditional platforms, hopefully, hopefully, you know, or hoping that you will see uh a billboard and then be reminded of an ad you saw on TV, and then maybe you would drive to the store hoping that they would have that item in stock and then buy it and then drive back home.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now, even if you went through that same AIDA process, could a company really track the efficacy of that campaign?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, did you ever call a company after buying something and tell them that, hey, I saw your ad on a billboard and that's why I bought the pair of sneakers.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Nike, for putting that billboard on the corner of uh, you know, Line Avenue and Pairmont, right?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like nobody does that.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: But now technology allows you to get that data in a nice, neat report literally anytime you want to run it.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you, some of the um more savvy people out there would be saying, Well, I don't click on ads and I I ignore them until they stop following me around.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And and I am one of those folks because I know what is happening because I can see behind the curtain.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I also know that that is just one of the many ways that they can and do get me.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, my smartphone has in effect gamified my life.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as I said before, I track steps and I've been doing that for the past several years.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't own a smartwatch because I like watches that just tell time, right?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, call me crazy, right?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: But but that also means that if I'm tracking my steps, I have to keep my phone on me whenever I move around.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And having my device close to me means that there are times when I will grab it and open it up, not even realizing that I'm doing it.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the f the this these companies have figured out, well, this idiot needs to track his steps, and he is using his cell phone to do it, and because of that, he has the temptation of opening up some of these apps, and then we can sell him more stuff.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Even if I keep my phone in my pocket, whenever I hit a step goal for the day, you know, I feel like I'm winning the game of life.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I will get a confetti burst and a soothing sound to remind me of how awesome I'm doing.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, if I if I post something on social media and 10 people like it, that makes me feel good.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: That makes me feel like I'm winning the game of life.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, whenever my podcast reaches another milestone, I'm given a virtual pat on the back and the ability to share that achievement with my friends and family.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh emojis and gifs help us communicate with each other now in convenient and fun shorthand.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, even in my pursuit of of using my smart devices less, I feel like I'm winning when I don't hit my app limits that I put on my phone.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: So even when I'm not hitting my app limits, I still feel like I'm in a video game and I'm getting points for for not doing a bad thing.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just me.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there are so many examples that each of you will have on what you use technology to help you track, right?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whether it's the amount of water you drink, uh reaching a milestone and learning a new language, um, staying under your monthly budget or getting laughs from your team because you posted something funny in a group chat.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: And if you really want to get on the nose with it, perhaps there's even a video game on your phone that you mindlessly play, like Candy Crush or whatever the latest version of that is.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um shopping has become gamified with online auctions.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can gamble on your phone with real money on real things without having to go to a CD, smoky betting parlor, or you can gamble on the stock market without even brushing your teeth.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hardware and software is made to be fun and addictive to use.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Apple devices look cool because they want brand loyalty.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and, you know, even this idea of customization allows us to what we think is uh, you know, asserting our individuality through buying more cases and accessories, and all the while we are enticed to stay glued to our screens with more and more effectiveness through seduction in the guise of branding and improved features.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's a philosophy in the casino world uh where they they block out all natural light.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: So most casinos have no windows.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason for that is that they want you to lose track of time while you are on the casino floor.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: So a casino floor looks the same at 5 a.m.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: as it does at 5 p.m.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're not worrying about what time of day it is, you are less likely to stop gambling and go back to doing normal stuff in your life.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And in that way, our devices are always there for us, always ready to receive, no matter the time of day.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to um a restaurant with my wife on Saturday, and while we were having dinner, I just kind of I was looking around and I counted five other groups in there at the time.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: And within every single one of the groups, there was at least one person who was on a cell phone at any given time, even while they and others at the table were eating their dinner.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: There was a couple next to us that uh that was eating pizza, and the husband was just like sitting quietly staring at the wall while his wife sitting across from him scrolled on her phone.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: And listen, I'm not being judgmental.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: I do it.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: We all do it.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: We do it to each other and we do it to ourselves.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: And there are massive social implications to this, particularly among younger people.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll dive into that more in our next episode when I talk about social media.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: But for today, I just wanted to pause and examine this to bring it out into the light and hopefully offer you an opportunity to think about how you use technology and how you use your devices.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: In the final analysis, is this integration with technology good or bad?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: But more importantly, is it good or bad for you?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, I believe that the tale is now wagging the dog, and we are being led around by our devices.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: We are conditioned to become more dependable consumers who will pay for products with money, but more importantly, attention and continuous engagement.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: And perhaps this is just a rung on the ladder of evolution as we are on the verge of integrating with technology in a way that will forever alter the human race.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I purposely left AI out of this discussion because that, first of all, is a whole other topic.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: And to be quite honest, it's all intertwined in here anyway, even if I didn't mention it.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: For me, I'm trying to be more present in my life, in the real world, taking advantage of all of the wonderful things that we often miss when we are staring at screens.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: But also, you know, again, being open and honest about the amazing and wonderful benefits of technology, but trying to be aware of how I use it and ultimately how technology uses me.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening this week.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope you, after listening to this, take some time to think about your own life and your own technology use.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I'm not here to judge, I'm not here to tell you what to do.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have answers, but I think it's worth asking some questions and really, really deep dive in this personally and then hopefully in real discourse with each other.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, as we say in Trinidad, I gone there because I had to go I had to go get more steps before it gets dark.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let uswater Yankee was produced by Jesse Stevenson Riley.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Our contributing producers are David McMillan and Lauren Leon McMillan.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Music was provided by Peter Sandy of Home Based Productions, and I am your host, Wendell Riley.