CC & NJ Guy
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CC & NJ Guy
Disconnecting to Reconnect: How Cell Phones Hijacked Our Lives
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Have you ever caught yourself mindlessly scrolling through your phone for hours, suddenly jolting to awareness with the thought, "I need to put this thing down"? That moment of clarity about our relationship with technology is exactly what sparked our conversation in this episode.
We dive deep into our collective dependency on smartphones and how these devices have evolved from simple communication tools into extensions of ourselves. From watching sports on a cruise ship balcony at 3 AM to seeing people glued to screens at historical sites, we explore how phones have infiltrated every corner of our lives. The conversation moves beyond simple complaints about screen time to examine how fundamentally our behavior, relationships, and even our cognitive processes have changed because of these devices.
The discussion takes fascinating turns as we contemplate the evolution of technology—remembering when computers were our primary digital interfaces and how quickly smartphones supplanted them. We share personal strategies for creating boundaries, from vacation "phone-in-safe" approaches to setting firm cutoff times in the evening. What emerges is a nuanced look at both the incredible benefits of having instant information access and the psychological toll of constant connectivity.
Perhaps most compelling is our exploration of where technology might lead us next. We reference science fiction films like WALL-E, Terminator, and Idiocracy, noting how many past sci-fi concepts are already reality. From augmented reality glasses to neural interfaces, we question whether humanity is prepared for what comes after smartphones—and whether we'll have any say in the matter.
Ready to examine your own relationship with technology? Listen now, then try putting your phone down for a while. Your brain might thank you for the break.
Hosted by: Cottman, Crawford & The Jersey Guy
Contact us: CCandNJGuy@gmail.com
Links & socials: https://linktr.ee/ccandnjguy
Introduction and Topic Setup
Speaker 1Welcome to.
Speaker 2Cotman, crawford and the Jersey Guy podcast.
Speaker 1I know it's funny.
Speaker 3No, it's good.
Speaker 1All right, all right. How's everybody doing today?
Speaker 4Good, good, we're doing pretty good Doing all, right man Doing all right, excellent, you go ahead, brother, yours today, your topic. Oh, it's everybody's topic really, because we talked about it between one another, right?
Speaker 1right right.
Speaker 4I brought it up already as far as cell phones are going. And people are starting to pay attention now more than they did before, that how much time they're spending on their phone, right, right, yeah, and I'm Steve there you go, let me get to it.
Speaker 1No, we're just busting on Lou today. Oh man, we're messing with Lou today.
Speaker 4Anyway, yeah, no, love it, steve, I was getting All right, my bad.
Speaker 2No, we've been messing with you, bro.
Speaker 1It was funny, that was a good one.
Speaker 4Uh-oh, oh man, too funny, too funny, so yes, so today's topic how people just well, I don't know, it's cell phones, right, it's on a cell phone. How much time do you spend on your cell phone? Think about it? Do you ever say to yourself I got to put this fucking thing down, I want this thing forever. Right now, right, scrolling through shit and sharing and whatever, like you just get consumed with it almost. You know it's crazy, but at least if you have the, you know the right thought to say to yourself the wealth for all. Is that the right thing to say? To say to yourself okay, I'm gonna put this down and walk away for oh yeah, I was, and not fucking touch my phone.
Speaker 4You know I do that, I'll go. All right, I'm done, I'll come downstairs, I'll do something different. You know, just so I'm. You know, because you, you, actually, if you're paying attention to it, I think you, you're at least that's a good thing. I think, more so than most people think, about people who are really on it?
Speaker 2You don't even pay attention to how often they use their phone.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's true, but don't they have a thing on their phones now where you can see how much time you spend, they do, it'll give you that reading.
Speaker 2You can actually go on your phone now and it'll tell you how much you used or whatever, really, but you can actually have it, give you alerts, gotcha or caps.
Speaker 4That's right yeah, I've had. I think it was Instagram at one point. Still does it where they tell you, hey, it's time for downtime or something like that.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's what it was, and then to like to put it down.
Speaker 4Put your phone down and walk away and give yourself a little, you know rest.
Speaker 1Oh shit, I didn't even know they had it on Instagram.
Speaker 4Which is actually a good thing to do when you know if a company's doing that, they should probably be doing it a little bit more often.
Speaker 1But you know. So, like for me, I have my cell phone, so I have a work cell phone and I need it I'm not talking about the work cell phone.
Speaker 3I'm talking about process, like, like I was telling you before, we were you know, we're on vacation we were in, we were walking in the, the roman forum and which is, you know, thousands a year old stuff that needs to be watched and protected and they have employees there to make sure that people don't go in certain places. And we're walking up one thing and there's a worker sitting there like this Wow, sitting there on the phone Just not paying attention to anybody.
Speaker 1No, that shouldn't be allowed, you know stuff like that.
Speaker 3Or yeah, I've seen, I've seen cops on their cell phones.
Speaker 1Yeah, so the funny. I'm sorry, go ahead, bro, no that's just the whole thing.
Speaker 4Everybody is preoccupied with this thing Because the funny I had asked a cop.
Speaker 1Matter of fact, remember, we had Officer Hightower here. Yes, we talked to him and he turned around and he was saying he had said to me before, not on that particular show, right, police officers on their phones, right, you ready, you ready. It's because they're networking with the other police. Oh yeah, sure, exactly, because everybody's got a scanner. Well, not everybody, but you know, some bad guys have the scanner so they can hear they're talking on the walk on the radios and stuff.
Speaker 3So then that's how you do it.
Speaker 1Well, it's believable to busted for something you're not supposed to do.
Speaker 3You're not supposed to do it. I was a fireman for a volunteer farm for a while and you know you had scanners, everybody had scanners.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 3Police and fire and ambulance.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know everything that's going on, Right, right and that's so.
Speaker 2Then but I guess what we're saying for that too.
Speaker 4You can even get like, and then you're back to being stuck on your phone.
Speaker 1Right Again it's another thing to be honest, Because you can get an app for your remote control for your TV, for the Roku. I have the Roku remote on my phone.
Speaker 2Yeah, because it comes in utility too.
Speaker 4Right yeah, Remember how you used to use a computer before the cell phone was really the way it is now.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, because the cell phone is literally a computer.
Speaker 4That's what it is right. Think about information. Yep, we used to be on the computer more than we were on the phone, and then it just gradually went the other way. How often do you go on your computer, unless it's for work? That's different, but I'm saying personally.
Speaker 3I do my billing on my computer. Other than that, most stuff I do on my phone.
Speaker 4Right you.
Speaker 3Point right. So you point point mate, yeah right what were you saying?
Speaker 4no, I was saying, like, certain videos I like to watch on the computer, right, yeah, gotcha, we won't make fun of that.
Speaker 2There's always something right there's always something that is like the next thing. It's like oh, social media has you on your phone all the time.
Speaker 1Right and now it's like oh, now it's like ai like chat gpt and stuff like that now you're like using that a lot you know, but now when you speak though to chat gpt or you're looking that stuff up is it really you being quote unquote on your phone for like social media, or is it you, you know, getting?
Speaker 2information, but you can use chat gpt for different things.
Speaker 1Some people that's what I'm saying I say I use it for story writing.
Speaker 2Right, you know I like write stories or like read stories. Right you can have it make stories if you want to do like fan fiction, right, okay, so I use it for that until I use it as a reader app. Yeah, so you know.
Speaker 1Wow, so that's what I'm saying. So being on your phone, like you're saying, or like when you speak to chat GBT, I'm saying Right, right, would that be considered you being on your?
Speaker 3phone. Well, the phone is the object, the object the phone is the computer Right?
Speaker 1Well, the phone is not. Where else are you getting it to?
Speaker 3work. The phone is the center of everything. Right, we're using it so much more. So, in order to use chat, gbbt, whether you're you're looking at pictures, whether you're texting somebody, like like, everything revolves around right, yeah, around the phone, because it's your mobile computer so there's no more like you don't have to set the desktop.
Speaker 1You know I'm saying you're not using desktop microphone to turn them on and speak to chat right to turn around and do all those things that you would have to do or be able to do on your phone. Does that make sense?
Phone Usage and Screen Time Awareness
Speaker 2yeah, but what the crazy part is is, like now, like more than ever, we're like bombarded with, like advertisements oh yeah because everything's got ads in them, right, why so? Like, and that was never like that before it's for control man tv, you know like a billboard or a magazine always had right in it. But it's just like everything you use now has like ads in it, right.
Speaker 1But because we're not watching TV regular TV as much. So now they have to pay to do their advertising on social media.
Speaker 4So then you're looking at your phone, so you're looking at the games that you play.
Speaker 1You're looking at the social media that there's ads in there. People on social media are also now I'm going to say it nicely entrepreneurs, so they're trying to sell and push their stuff.
Speaker 4That's what everybody's doing now.
Speaker 1Right. So that then. That's why all the ads you know what I mean. I mean that's where I would go with it. I do say in the middle of some of the games that it's you know too much you know. But at least on the social media you could just kind of scroll through. What is it that would then make it too?
Speaker 4much the time that you spend on it, regardless of what you're looking at and what you're doing, because you're still using that device to watch whatever or listen to or use for whatever reason.
Speaker 4So it's the fact that, okay, yeah, that's not a bad thing because what you were doing was pretty productive, and all that other stuff, the way I look at it. But what about all the other shit you just got done, doing while you were on the fucking phone, and now you're doing that? So I'm saying it's the time necessarily, not necessarily the work that you're doing. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3It makes us too accessible. Right Is what it is. We're too accessible. We don't have. You know it's not the old oh, don't answer the phone, or don't? You know I'm going out? You know you go out. Used to be, you went out and you'd come back home and there'd be voicemails or something like that. But now you know, depending on what you do with your phone, if you leave it on.
Speaker 3You don't put on, do not disturb. You are accessible 24, 7, 365 days a year, and not just to the important people. Like you know, I shut my phone off at night but and the only ones now who can get through to me are my or my wife and kids. You know, up until the other day, before my kids went back to school, nobody called me at night, because we were all in the same house right, yeah, exactly about it now now I use it there, but huh.
Speaker 3But if you don't put your phone under, not disturb, anybody can call you. Anybody from work can call you. Anybody from a social group can call you. Telemarketers can call you. Your doctor's office can call you at any point in time.
Speaker 4Spam Telemarketers right, okay.
Speaker 1So then now here's my question for you. I don't answer the phone, so then I would just turn around, like let's just say if it's, you know, if it's work, and it's after eight o'clock at night, I'm just, you know, hitting the the thing off, but you're still picking it up.
Speaker 3It's still, it's still, you're still accessible.
Speaker 1Well, because I look at social media stuff on my phone.
Speaker 4So some things you probably have to make, don't spend as much time on those things that you're like, your entertainment stuff, like. In other words, instead of being on there for two hours straight, you know, and I'm just using an example, you know, cut it down to an hour and a half, or you know, it's the same thing, it's just a big yeah of of connecting the tablets, just you're connecting usually of your phone anyway
Speaker 4right just a bigger screen or a chromebook they're all yeah, but everything everything's synced now, so yeah okay and I get what you're saying, because the stuff you're saying is is stuff that you need to get done and you're able to do it and has the accessibility to be able to do it because it's easy and quick and that's great, but then when you have all the other stuff that you've been doing before that or whatever, it's like you don't have a break. You're constantly, it's part of you. It's like oh wait, yeah, I didn't miss it. Two minutes later you're like I don't some people anyway.
Speaker 2But it is just wild what you were saying, steve. You were saying that whole you're accessible. The only way you're not accessible is literally by turning a device on.
Speaker 3do not disturb, otherwise anybody can reach you at any time you can't even watch a movie on your phone or play games on your phone, because if your phone is on, I can get you yeah, right, and I'll interrupt. You may ignore it, but I still, I have interrupted your zen right, yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, okay right I could see that it's wild though, but then all because our devices make us that way.
Speaker 2So what would be the solution?
Speaker 4just being aware of it, think and working on it.
Speaker 3Blowing up the internet.
Phones in Public Spaces and Work
Speaker 1Well, no, because even us, at our age, we've all become dependent on, you know, being able to find that stuff For us. You know well, even to you, we, you know, it was like encyclopedia I love the accessibility to all that stuff For the information.
Speaker 4It's great. The information is amazing.
Speaker 3Like from following. You know sports scores no matter where you are or even just like I don't know if it ever happens to you guys, but I get like these random things pop in my head like oh, who was in that movie? Oh yeah, let me look it up, and I can't think of it absolutely and so I just yeah, I just look it up and oh okay, it was that person right because like go to Blockbuster and then find the person and then no, but I used to call my mom, oh, I used to call my mom about hilarious bro, hey mom
Speaker 4who was in this movie, oh yeah she knew all that stuff.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 4I could do that with my parents as well.
Speaker 3They my mom knew all that stuff right, because that's all that they watched.
Speaker 1like there's things. Now that I know that the wife would turn around who was in da-da-da-da, I'm like, oh yeah, it was da-da-da-da. She's like how do you know this Music? You and I always talk about that with music, with the vibes, even with the movies I do it with.
Speaker 4I'm like how, yeah, if I see a movie, come on and I get to it and it'll say it's Gladiator and it's before, and I, just before he says it, she's like what the hell?
Speaker 1it's pathetic, but you know what's funny I?
Speaker 2love it. I watched Groundhog's Day the other day. Oh, there you go. I watched Groundhog's.
Speaker 4Day. So I was like, alright, let's watch it, but now you can go on the internet with your phone and find that and watch it songs.
Speaker 3Yeah, dude, do you know how many?
Speaker 1times like Lou and I will sit or whatever, and we'll say something, and joey at work, and we'll just turn around and well, even with you you actually do this shit a lot too that will say a song, that will say something and you oh, that's the song. And then you'll go to the song or to the movie.
Speaker 4Quote, right where it came from. Yeah, I get.
Speaker 3I get random people, pictures of people that pop in my head like people like went to like elementary school right so we're talking. We're talking like 50 years ago.
Speaker 4Right.
Speaker 3Who I wasn't friends with. Right Like, had nothing to do with him after after that Right right, but like it'll pop in my head and I remember their name and I go on Facebook and say, you know, put Dude and look them up. George Foreman, you know, like Bro.
Speaker 1And it's yeah, it's just yeah. No, it's just like things just fly out.
Speaker 3Yeah, you know, like just random events.
Speaker 1Yeah, over the course of your lifetime just and I only have, I guess we'll say those kind of thoughts for maybe movies you know. Songs not so much you know because the song, I don't know who sings it, only because you know I'm music. But just sometimes like, oh, I know that guy from the other movie All day baby there you go you see, yeah, exactly. So you know that's where I'm at. You know movies are questioned. I'm like shit. I know that guy from something. I forget the person's name.
Speaker 4I did that. The other there was the woman who was playing a lawyer Excuse me, it was taking oversuits and she was from like the like, the, some place where she was legal Right. And she was from? Yeah, she was from Star Trek Next generation. Oh, she was.
Speaker 3Oh seven and.
Speaker 4I figured it out. No, it was a different woman, okay.
Speaker 3Excuse me, I apologize. She was on something that I saw of the movie recently too. I was like it's seven yeah exactly, and that's what it said.
Speaker 1Then, like you said, these are the things that we get off of our phone, right, right.
Speaker 2Yeah, now. Well, that's what I do. I go right to IMDb.
Speaker 1I go to IMDb. Go to the app, I go. Who's this actor, who's that? So now it's. You know, right now it's still the end of summer for us. Kids are getting ready to get back to school. Whatever Do you find yourself putting your phones down more over the summer than you do in the winter. Now you're locked up in the house. You know what I'm saying and it's all. You know. It's cold outside. You're not going to go out. You know what do you do now? You're either stuck in front of the boot tube or you're on your phone, yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1Or on your tablet. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4Like you don't go while the TV's on and you're on your phone, right, right, yeah, see, I found myself putting it down.
Speaker 1I've done that too, and then I'd be like, okay, I gotta do one or the other. I can't do both only because I'm playing games, because I got the gaming stuff, so I'm on my tablet usually.
Speaker 4Right, yeah, because you're going blind and you have to grab an inspector. But then.
Speaker 1So I put that down and I try to. You know like I'm watching TV. You know when we're having dinner we'll turn around and you know, turn everything off and it's just us sitting there, you know having a conversation or whatever. You know yelling at each other because we did some dumb shit during the day. You know, whatever it was, you know what I mean. But and I said I've tried to make it my business to you know, make it a thing. No, we're putting the phones down, or I'm putting my phone down. At least you know what I'm saying and you know that's not going to happen.
Speaker 4Do you do that in your house?
Speaker 1I do you do so like the funny. You mean yes, okay, for me I have to, because it's that's what I'm saying, I do the same thing.
Speaker 4I'll actually literally say, hey, I got it, I'm done.
Speaker 1Yeah, because there's just so much info that's coming in. You know what I'm saying and it's like, well, I got to take a break from this because I found myself getting freaking. I had Ajna. Like this is like are these people that you just have an anxiety? Yeah, because it was just so many things that were going on and everything. You know, all this info that I'm getting, I'm like I can't believe this shit?
Speaker 2Well, especially social media, like if you're doom scrolling like, that's just like. So now, okay.
Speaker 1So now when I go on social media, I'm all about the funnies, funnies, cars and motorcycles in the context of participating it.
Speaker 3I will. I will look at pictures, I will look at funny stuff and and that. So I don't get. I don't get caught up in the social media, but I'm always on my phone checking scores or buying something. Oh, I could use this. I could use that stuff like that.
Speaker 3Or you know, if I'm playing, even if I'm playing golf, I have an app that that keeps my score and measures distance. What? Yeah, yeah, it's a GPS, so it tells you how far you are to the hole and all that stuff. So it's like I'm always on it, but just mindless stuff. So it doesn't like the new thing. I don't know if you've seen them like the babies, it's like the AI. Oh, the AI babies, the AI babies where they ask questions about their mom or their dad.
Speaker 1I'm stuck on AI.
Speaker 2Bigfoot. I'm stuck on AI Bigfoot. I saw AI Bigfoot.
Speaker 3I'm loving that motherfucker. Oh, I got to try that.
Speaker 2Yo you got to see it. It's fucking great. I do the AI Stormtrooper stories.
Speaker 1Oh, those are great too. I love those Two.
Speaker 2Stormtroopers always getting into trouble and stuff like that. Did you see the?
Speaker 1Bigfoot go with the. That Bigfoot was in the woods and Darth Vader comes down. He's like yo, this freaking. You saw that one, yeah, yeah, yeah. Darth Vader lands in the middle of the woods and Bigfoot is there and Bigfoot's like yo. I hope it's not Darth Vader coming to get me, like dude. Darth Vader just gave me this lightsaber and we're going to go fuck up this little green guy and Yoda. And when they go out there to go find Yoda, he's like running away from Yoda with his lightsaber. Bigfoot is running away. Yeah, it's freaking hilarious. But again, I limit myself to those, you know, to like certain, to just the funnies. You know what I'm saying. I stay on there for a little while. Like I'll scroll for a little bit. Yes, it's the. There's no more reading in the on the phone.
Speaker 4You have the phone on the toilet and I'll just freaking deep dive I used
Speaker 3to have a magazine rack in the bathroom.
Speaker 4You still do? Yeah, he still does. I still do, but I don't. Sometimes I'll look at the magazines. That was the only time I read the paper.
Speaker 1It was in the can. Are you serious? Oh yeah, dude.
Speaker 3I used to read the paper. Oh see, okay, it's funny though.
Speaker 2Before phones. I used to never do anything in the bathroom except go to the bathroom Right.
Speaker 1Really what the?
Speaker 2hell is wrong with you. No, no no.
Speaker 1That's quiet time. Dude, You're funny.
Speaker 2Twisting your thoughts. Yeah, you're really concentrating.
Speaker 1No, bro, I hear too many voices.
Speaker 2I can't do that shit.
Speaker 3Yeah you're focused, man. It's just a phone.
Speaker 1When I was a kid. So the funny right, when I was a kid, right, I would take the TV. So we had a little like freaking 12 inch black and white TV and I would run the extension cord, put it into the bathroom and close the door and when I was taking a dump I would watch TV because it would be Knight Rider. You know what I'm saying? I had to get Miss Knight Rider, bro. I've done that. Bj and the Bear.
Speaker 4I was little, it was all those super old school stuff.
Speaker 1For those that don't know, it's the old school stuff and you know that was what I did, man. That was what I did in the bathroom. I read the paper on the train, on the train.
Speaker 4Okay.
Speaker 3I slept on the train when get much to work. Oh dude, I was just drunk.
Speaker 1No, in Brooklyn I would go from. So I went to New York High School, got to go to Manhattan and I would have to go to Manhattan to go to work after school.
Speaker 4Now, everybody's on their cell phone. They take your subway now.
Speaker 1Well, now they're on their cell phones and you know what I'm going to say this I think what's really internet service now on the subway?
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I don't know if that's a good idea. The last time I was on the subway, yeah, people want to work on the subway too, like it's because-.
Speaker 4Sure, they're on there. That makes sense too.
Speaker 2I guess for safety too. Why would it be safety? I want one. For what Something?
Speaker 1happened? Why? On a train?
Speaker 4Yeah, he could call in anything, then they would be able to call in.
Speaker 3That's why the conductor's there. The radios work Unless they take the conductor out.
Speaker 4Oh, that's true.
Speaker 1Apollo. Yeah, what was that movie? I don't know.
Speaker 3Patagonia, palomonza 3? Yes, thank you. Patagonia, palomonza 3.
Speaker 1The good one.
Speaker 2The original one, or I mean what happens if, like it's a situation where, like, the train crashes and everybody's out and you're all scattered on the tracks. Oh help, you know you need your phone. Yeah.
Speaker 3So, and what's messed you know, but what would you?
Speaker 4have done if you didn't have your phone when it was a time when you didn't have phones, you would have died in the tunnel, you would have never known you would have died in the tunnel.
Speaker 4Trying to find way out Right, so you would have did the same shit if the phone didn't, but then you could risk getting in trouble. You can risk getting hurt or Mr Green would have shouted because he was a crazy one. All right. So how long does this Bluetooth go? Does it go the whole ride that you're on the train? Or does it only go to the station? It's just it.
Speaker 2they have cell towers in the. So now they gave you something more for you to focus in on right, right oh but, like what.
Speaker 3Steve said, but the work thing I think is, but also it's also not being like a conspiracy theorist I'm a big one like that but like it's just. It's just a way to just keep everybody shut up, right here's your little here's your little thing. Get in your, if everyone's like this everyone's like this.
Speaker 2And they can control what you see if you want to go down that same route.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, that's what we're talking about with the algorithms. Yeah, you're a million percent, right, well?
Speaker 2the algorithms are. You know, they control everything.
Speaker 1Yeah. So, like I said, what would be the difference, did you now switch phones? So, like I said, what would be the difference Did?
Speaker 4you now switch phones Because something you said before Well.
Speaker 1I have my work phone. No, no, no, no. Do you do flip phone? You go back to flip phone.
Speaker 4People are doing that, people are going back to flip phones.
Speaker 1Right, but are they going back to flip phones? Because it's?
Speaker 4cheaper. No, no, because they want to get away from all that. But the flip phones.
Speaker 3They're not the Razors that we had or the Nokias where you have to hit 1, 2, 3 to get a C. No, I think they're more internet ready phones.
Speaker 4Yeah, but it's just more of a simpler phone, is the?
Speaker 1internet ready as far as the communication.
Speaker 3So it's not easy to get the phone full, easy to do whatever. Whatever, I think they just close up.
Speaker 1I don't know, I'm gonna have to look at that.
Speaker 2I don't know if they yeah my father had one my father had one.
Speaker 4I could go on it, but it was complicated. It was a pain in the ass to go where you needed to go, because you had to manually go and type it over.
Speaker 1Are getting away from that. See, I haven't seen anybody with a flip phone, like you're saying, except for no, I'm just saying I've seen people go with a flip phone Really.
Speaker 4Some people are starting to get away from it.
Speaker 2I remember, I knew someone that had a flip phone.
Speaker 3I've seen Verizon have a flip phone but it just flips and it opens up to a regular smartphone.
Speaker 4Right that I see it folds.
Speaker 1It opens the screen, pixel, pixel.
Speaker 3But also Samsung has one.
Speaker 1Oh, Samsung. Okay, it opens up like a book. Yeah, right.
Speaker 3And then it's just a bigger screen.
Speaker 1Right, it's like having a tablet. It's like having a tablet, right, yeah?
Speaker 2So you fold it and you got your phone and then, when you open it up, you got a tablet. You got a tablet, that's insane.
Speaker 4Then that phone to me that's going to break soon. Yeah, I don't want that. Yeah, I wouldn't want it. What do you?
Speaker 1mean break.
Speaker 4Break how? Because that kind of machinery alone is not going to last the wear and tear.
Speaker 3If you open it and close it and do whatever you do, it'll last long enough until you have to buy a new one. Exactly that's paid off.
Speaker 1So there's a show. I forgot what channel it's on, so dig it. So there's a show oh, I forgot what channel it's on, what streaming service, but it's called Upload. And they have on their hand is the phone. So you do this, you hold the L and the phone is right there.
Speaker 2That's the beginning of that phone that we're just talking about, that you open it up and flip it Because it's in your fingers now, but they can do that with a watch and they do it with a watch, and they had a watch with a projector that was motion detected.
Speaker 4Right so you could type into it. It's like a 3D hologram almost.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's what it was, Wasn't that in Tom Cruise movie?
Speaker 4No, it was in Star Trek. It was in Minority Report.
Speaker 1Yeah, he had that on the watch.
Speaker 3Yeah, but also I bet you, this is the l yeah. What is that?
Speaker 1I don't know.
Speaker 3Oh gee, loser, loser loser guys are funny on our phone. Yo, that's funny.
Speaker 1I wasn't going, I didn't even think about that shit, bro. Well, I don't know. I don't know, man, I just think that so many things that we have now are things that when we were kids, we were like like, oh, I wish we had that, I wish it was something that you know we should have. This, it should be.
Speaker 2Now we have it.
Speaker 1And now we're like jeez, bro, that's like too much, like it's too much information, it's too much, you know, access to whatever internet service you can use.
Speaker 4No, I think it's too much. They're definitely throwing it at you for sure, and they want you to be locked in. I'm sure. But you have the power, though, right, don't? We have the power to be the ones to say okay, I'm going to limit it, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, and if you, stick with it like it's kind of like going on a diet maybe, or a workout plan, or when you realize that it's too much, because how long.
Speaker 1but then we were on it for like we were all in it. Everything was the phone, the phone, the phone. And now we both out of the four of us here we said that we've kind of backed off from it and put the phone down. Right, you know what I'm saying? How many people out of a billion are actually putting the phone down?
Speaker 4Well, that's what I'm saying. It sounds like it's a trend that's starting now. People are starting to notice it.
Speaker 2I've toned down some social media, but I still use my phone for other things.
Speaker 1Yeah, but you use a chat, gpt, social media definitely. I haven't put down my phone.
Speaker 3I just don't do certain things Right.
Speaker 4Matter of fact, I feel like it pie chart it's like oh social media you know it's a little too much. I'm about 5% over this. I got to do that.
Speaker 1I got a good one for you now. You were on your cruise. I was on my cruise in May. Yes, I had internet. See, I didn't. My wife did. As the emergency for the children's, I took my shit, turned it off and I threw it into the safe turned it off and I threw it into the safe done. I didn't touch. I would have did the same thing. The only time I touched my phone is when we got to Puerto Rico. I have to be accessible for my job see.
Speaker 3I have to be right okay even if I can't see people that makes sense right, right right so I have to be accessible
Accessibility and Disconnecting
Speaker 3to at least direct people if they get interested yeah, see also there was limited stuff were going to do, so I wanted my kids to be able to have contact with their friends and stuff like that. You know, because there's time difference and all that stuff Right. That makes sense, my wife also needed to have contact to be able to have her mother contact her Right. So, like, so, like we, we kind of needed it and and.
Speaker 3So you used it and yeah, and you know and I watched, and it was 3 o'clock in the morning. I'm on a ship in Greece Watching a mech game.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, see Nice no.
Speaker 4Yeah no, which to?
Speaker 3me I think Was cool that I'm like Right, I'm sitting down on a balcony At 3 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 4Watching this game, because that's what time it's on in there.
Speaker 3Yeah, because it was like it was like a nine hour time difference. So, yeah, so I'm watching the game.
Speaker 1Yeah, see, no, for me, I feel like if you're on vacation, that then that's where you need to have your disconnect. You know what I'm saying. So, like I said, so, mother-in-law had to be in touch with so, since your phone needed to be on for your, you know, because of your job that then?
Speaker 1No, I don't want her her, I didn't want her getting in touch with me like that that was no, that that's not part of the plan right exactly, and that, even with the kids, the kids around, they know enjoy where you are but they did, but they still had, but they had at night they had yeah yeah, and you screen it like because we weren't going out, we weren't staying out in the clubs until two, three in the morning, right?
Speaker 3just that's not our scene, right weren't staying out in the clubs until 2 or 3 in the morning. That's not our scene, right? So if we're in the room and they're just chilling, they can chill on their phone and have and text with their friends or play a game.
Speaker 2I was just gonna say the same thing. I do like a hybrid style, like if we're out and we're doing stuff we don't have our phones unless we're taking pictures we're still on our phone. Right and I said listen, because the phone is the hub, the phone is the hub of our connectivity.
Speaker 2It's what we use for everything, but I won't be using it to like doom scroll the whole time or anything like that. No, but you still want it, it's still in your hand and you're still using it. I guess not Like what we were saying how much we use it?
Speaker 3Yeah, because it's so much. It's like it's like we were in school and you gotta know your math, right, because you're not gonna always have a calculator, right, right, fuck you? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I have a calculator.
Speaker 4I have a camera. I have a camera.
Speaker 2Flashlight like bring all our tea and Tom be like yeah, here we go and there's no permanent record you're fucking great. Yeah, exactly, yeah that was like.
Speaker 1I just I think for me personally and how I do. I just know for me, and what I'm gonna say is my sanity sanity or lack thereof is just to disconnect. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4Like we don't even have cable at home anymore. Some people need that, and if that's what you need, that's not a bad thing. Yeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker 1We don't have cable. All we have are the streaming services and we know we talk to friends or whatever. So we know which TV shows we're going to watch, because those are the ones that we've been watching. But you, we used to, man, we don't watch the news the way that we used to. We don't do anything the way that we used to. In my house, wife stays on her phone. You know what I'm saying. She goes through and she does the social media stuff or whatever. I cut it off, I stop.
Speaker 2I think, it's a mix of both of me.
Speaker 4The TV is just a miniature hub of what you have have on your phone, you can actually go on your TV and use it, because you can connect to all that shit, right, like Netflix is on your phone, netflix is on the TV, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3You got to log on from your phone.
Speaker 1YouTube is on your phone. Youtube is on your phone. Youtube is on your TV Do you use banking on your phone?
Speaker 3No, but again, I do it until 7 o'clock.
Speaker 1You know what I mean. And then, after that I'm done, I'll try to put the phone down or I'll make it a conscious decision Put the phone down. You know like right now we all play like the family, we're playing Monopoly Go.
Speaker 4Okay.
Speaker 1So then I have it on my tablet, so my phone is down down I do whatever I got to do until all my dice rolls are done.
Speaker 3You keep saying tablet like it's different.
Speaker 1No, no, no no, no, no, I'm saying it's the same thing. My point is that I'm saying that I go from the phone, I put the phone down. I'll just play that one game on the tablet. So let's say it's 20 minutes and then I put the phone down. I mean, I put the tablet down and then I'm sitting there and talking. You know what I'm saying, but I try to limit what my screen time is, if that makes any sense, you know like. So let's say, if I'm doing, You're still jumping from one to the other.
Speaker 1No, no no, I'm saying so. If I say to myself I'm only going to have 10 hours because I use it for work, then 10 hours of screen time, whether it's the phone or the tablet it's just that 10 hours and I drop it.
Speaker 4But and I got your work, I understand what you're saying. I'm on my work phone, which is another device. So it's you're right, and in order for you to get connected to whatever you need to use that phone right and that's why I don't think it's far-fetched when people are talking about things like neural link or whatever like well, you were talking about the glasses.
Speaker 2Wait, you want to sync it like to like. Which is't you mention?
Speaker 4to me about this, yeah.
Speaker 2But it's not far-fetched that people would want to do that because they're on their devices all day long, all day long, and they're just cooked to it and they can't stop.
Speaker 4And you were mentioning to me, when you and I spoke about this, you said what about the glasses? You said now I'll have the glasses, it'll change, the cell phone will go away, it'll be something else, and now it'll be a different device, or some kind of a?
Speaker 2So this person who talks about predictable futures and saying that with technology, that everything kind of isn't permanent, these phones aren't going to be permanent, just like pagers weren't permanent. Analog foam wasn't permanent. You know, that's kind of there's always the next thing.
Speaker 2So they think that the next thing thing will be everything will be in like your like glasses or like you'll have like a device that like that's not a phone anymore, like and it's all ai powered, where you just have your ai agents ask you, just ask them whatever you want and it comes back to you in like social medias that you'll have like the same thing.
Speaker 4So you're always connected, almost You're physically connected in a way of doing speaking, but you won't have to screen anymore.
Speaker 3It's the same thing. I'm not on my phone, but I'm on my tablet.
Speaker 4I'm not on my phone, but I'm on my glasses.
Speaker 1Because I know that the glasses they were doing that. That was the thing that, now the glasses that you can see the readout. Oh yeah, it's crazy. Well, that's the thing too.
Speaker 2They're going to make augmented reality now, and that's going to just be crazy too. Yeah, where like you, can have heads-'s great, but the thing that would be cool, though, for that is navigation, because think about when you're driving.
Speaker 3I don't know if I would have wanted that when I'm driving, because I think it would have fucked me up.
Speaker 1Oh Lord See, I don't. Navigations and the speakers.
Speaker 4I'm saying that Right. Oh, my God.
Speaker 3I've had have it, but I've driven a car that had it.
Speaker 4Did it take you by surprise? You didn't know it was happening.
Speaker 3No, I knew it was there but I was like I didn't know how to shut it off and that was bothering me, it was annoying, the shit out of you right, so yeah.
Speaker 2That's funny.
Speaker 1Back to what you said about the reality. So there's an anime, because I watch anime that's called Sword Art Online and what it is is that these kids, people, whatever they put on the whole you know the goggles and they lay down in their room or they sit in their chair, and now they're there because they're totally immersed in the game, but they have like a VR god, yeah, like an Oculus.
Speaker 2So they have like a Like the Oculus VR God yeah, like the Oculus, so they have that whole thing hooked up in there.
Speaker 1So it's 3D, so it's like they're it's like reality type stuff, because of the future that they're in. When they hook up the Oculus, it's hooking up and syncing up into their neural system, into their own body Right okay, their own body, right Okay Now, almost like the matrix. So now people are in there for weeks at a time. You know what I'm saying. So then here, mr Therapist, this is where it would be. This is now where they're living what they believe, feel want to be. So they're not the same person.
Speaker 4So they're living through the video.
Speaker 1So they're, or whatever it is, how they dress, how they want to dress A recreation of some sort.
Technology Evolution and Future Trends
Speaker 2They're recreating themselves in this AI Like an avatar Right. Like an avatar Right, a fantasy reality.
Speaker 1Right, so now they're stuck in this whole thing. So this particular one was them being they made a movie.
Speaker 4Bruce Willis was in a movie like that, where they can go into this pod.
Speaker 2Willis was. I remember that there was like a robot version of themselves.
Speaker 4Right, they were always young, but they were living in that. They were just mentally connected to it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I forget what it was called, but they were like, yeah, they, yeah, that was a good movie. I remember that yes.
Speaker 4But now it actually was a movie, believe it or not, into reality.
Speaker 1What is that taking away from the people? If that makes any sense? You know what I'm saying. Like now, nobody was going to. Right now we're having a hard time people communicating with one another in person because of all the you know, the social media and all that other stuff. What's it going to look like when you actually have or be able to sink in People?
Speaker 4now they just dive into maybe as soon as you're born, they'll just, they'll tear you and they'll tag you, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2But the other thing is going back to what I'm saying now, that's crazy you have like all this super connectivity right and now you're having advertisements, but probably bombarded all day long, then you know what I mean. It's like it could be really intrusive.
Speaker 1So then now, movies are becoming reality. Because I was telling you guys before that movie WALL-E, that Pixar movie WALL-E, it was that it was post-apocalyptic kind of thing. I don't say post-apocalyptic, it was that the world that we had ran out of resources or whatever, so they put everybody up in the spaceships and they were all in space.
Speaker 2So now they're all fat and they're all in like chairs and they're all in these hover chairs and whatnot.
Speaker 1They can't move and they can't move, they can't do anything on their own. You know what I'm saying? So that then now it's like, bro, like, is that what our future is going to be? Is that what our great-grandkids are going to look like? Or the movie Idiocracy. Idiocracy is another one, bro, we're on our way. Yeah, well, yeah. I think, that that would be more the reality than WALL-E or any of the other ones.
Speaker 3Listen, we're living in like the Terminator too, and that's the other. Terminator we're starting to have robots, yeah, it's just the Sky, because it wasn't in Terminator, it was Skynet right and isn't that what they call the defense system now Is. Was Skynet right, and isn't that what they?
Speaker 1call the defense system. Now is it Skynet, what Musk calls it that uh, if it is.
Speaker 4That's fucking creepy.
Speaker 3I thought it was called Skynet.
Speaker 4I think you might be right, bro, just to be, you know well yeah, edgy, you know.
Speaker 1Yeah, because he is an edgelord right, yeah, and there you go, son, you feel me.
Speaker 3We have a lot of science fiction comes to fruition, it comes real, yeah.
Speaker 1Because something that Lou has said to us a long time ago and it didn't even register, was that how a lot of this stuff from Star Trek? So if you look at it, the communicator, that was the flip phone back in the day. You know what I'm saying. That was what it was, you know. Now, not as small, you know, but you have the when McCoy would check everybody out.
Speaker 4The tricorder Right and you can see it's all those things.
Speaker 1You know MRI machine, x-ray machine, you know what I'm saying, like that's how much recce.
Speaker 3The Princeton Institute or whatever Right when they do that full body scan.
Speaker 4Yeah, you can lay on a table now and it'll take your whole scan. And that's exactly what was at Star Trek when you get on a plane.
Speaker 1Bro, you're standing in front of a big ass machine with your hands up and it's scanning you.
Speaker 2I haven't done that. I haven't. I've done that. You haven't done that. I've done that.
Speaker 1That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4So now they say can you get an MRI?
Speaker 3All right, it's basically it's an MRI machine. They're just checking you out and they scan for heat too. I got stopped one time. It was funny because it was the first time I was using my TSA pre-check right. I got stopped for an extra check when I went scanned because there was heat coming from my crotch. So wow, and it was.
Speaker 1I was down in Florida, it was fucking 100 degrees and my balls were sweating right and I was down in Florida.
Speaker 3It was fucking 100 degrees and my balls were sweating and I asked like why are you pulling me over? And she goes, you're showing something down there. And they scanned me. I was like, yeah, it's fucking hot, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They showed me the scan where it was like red down there, like where they thought like maybe I had a donor or a knife or something like that, and it's just.
Speaker 4Mr.
Speaker 3Happy Shweaty, shweaty balls, shweaty balls.
Speaker 4Awesome, that's awesome man, great man.
Speaker 2That's funny. I just think that my son wait I got to go.
Speaker 4Sorry, not to interrupt my son. He was at a barbecue and he went to get on a plane and they scanned him and because he was doing the charcoal and everything, they pulled him aside but, they figured it out once, he you know.
Speaker 1I just came from a bar, because he had he had like a a residue.
Speaker 2A residue like a gunpowder right, stuff like that. You know what that makes me feel safe, that the ex picked that shit up.
Speaker 4He's like dad. I couldn't fuck, I gotta say, when he told it's an inconvenience, but I'm happy that it picks that up. But they figured it out, because you say, hey, listen, what did you do? I guess he had to tell them I did a barbecue, I was charcoal and then they figured it out. But it does work.
Speaker 2So if they, found that that would make me feel safe.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, no, there's a lot of things that we have out there that do make us feel safe, because with technology, with all the good that a lot of this stuff can do, there's just as much bad Right.
Speaker 4You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1So then I understand, I get it. I, you know, I appreciate it. There's still the but, yeah, what happens if and when it takes over, when it is that it's too much?
Speaker 3When it is that people just sit back and let go. It's that.
Speaker 4AI conversation.
Speaker 3we had All the sci-fi movies is that Right, the AI, the computers become smarter than the people who build them Exactly and take over and start running themselves because we're inefficient. Skydive, skydive Right.
Speaker 1But technically they're already smarter than we are. I love when you do that shit. Technically, right now they are smarter than us because we look to chat GBT to give us those answers. We're looking to you know, google Chrome. When we type it in, we're getting those answers.
Speaker 2There's no more encyclopedia.
Speaker 1Now it's an artificial intelligence that is making people look like us.
Speaker 2It's a lot more convenient too. That is making people look like us. Well, it's a lot more convenient too. Because like if you ask ChatGPT for a question instead of doing a Google search, you're going to get like a whole breakdown and it's going to give you the information right away and you can get resources. Sometimes it does list them too.
AI, Sci-Fi Becoming Reality
Speaker 1So then now, if we do like you said, before iRobot, I think iRobot would be more the first before. No, no, I'm saying that You're right, they're already doing that stuff, you know all day long. But I think iRobot would be first and then Terminator. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4Right, but you're right, but we have to be the ones to put that programming inside of it where it does not Until they do it themselves, until they do it themselves, because then it turns into the far, far future is the Matrix. Well, the positive thing is that we won't be here when it happens.
Speaker 2Well, you know what, though? At that point we'll already be here.
Speaker 4We'll be somewhere else. Oh, I want my Rosie. We will be long gone.
Speaker 3I want Rosie in my life to clean my house for me.
Speaker 2That would be they could make a Rosie now. They could make a Rosie.
Speaker 4Oh, absolutely, they could actually make a functioning.
Speaker 2Rosie, who you know. Maybe she didn't float.
Speaker 4No, no, no, she just had wheels. She had wheels, she didn't float. They had the little cars.
Speaker 2Yeah, that was great.
Speaker 1They could make that.
Speaker 2Easily got AI.
Speaker 1They could make her, but they've already done that, bro. Think about it the bomb sniffing robots and stuff. You know they look like dogs. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, Like that's Safer. It's just all those things that they already have, man, and it's like you know.
Speaker 4Yeah, and it's just going to get better.
Speaker 1Well, better for who? For AI.
Speaker 4Well, I'm just saying as far as technology is concerned, you know it's going to hopefully, but if they don't destroy themselves, or if it gets too good that it picks you up because you smoked a cigarette.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 3And you smell like a match. Right and so therefore you're a terrorist.
Speaker 2Yeah, and therefore they're going to shoot you or they're going to caution you. That's the fifth element, and the other thing is too is you know, if someone is a good hacker, they can hack all these systems and use them against people.
Speaker 1And then that's what, that's the movie with Matt Damon, which one that he had the exoskeleton and he had the whole thing, and it's oh with Jodie Foster.
Speaker 4Yeah, I didn't see that one. You know what I'm saying, but he was dying though. Right too, yeah, right.
Speaker 1It's just, there's just so many things. But it was a Matt Damon flick and Jodie Foster, and you know there was another one with Matt Damon. It was a oh god, I can't think of the guy's name, but it's just all the things that now, the future, that the future could not it's gonna be.
Speaker 4It's gonna be basically up to humanity to decide what it's gonna be.
Closing Thoughts on Technology Control
Speaker 1Yeah and that's what we have to go and end it with bro, because that's our time bro we really got into that one, yeah, so again, thank y'all for listening. Watching follow, like all the good stuff, love peace and hair grease. Live long and prosper, stay weird thanks for having me again.
Speaker 3Yeah, alright.
