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Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios.

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. He there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and I love all things tech and

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Speaker 1: today is Friday. That means it's time for a classic

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Speaker 1: episode of tech Stuff. This episode originally published on January

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Speaker 1: twenty nine, two thousand thirteen. It is titled Social Media

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Speaker 1: and You, and it features Lauren Vogelbaum as my co host.

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Speaker 1: Lauren had done a couple of episodes before this one

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Speaker 1: that you're about to hear. I did not include those

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Speaker 1: because they were particularly early ones. You can go back

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Speaker 1: into the archive at tech stuff podcast dot com and

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Speaker 1: find them. But I found that this one I think

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Speaker 1: was a good starting point for the Lauren era of

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Speaker 1: tech Stuff and hope you guys. And really there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of fear out there, I think in a lot

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Speaker 1: of a lot of news stories that are kind of

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Speaker 1: amping up that fear. And there's been several studies that

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Speaker 1: that talk with this doom and gloom about like about like, oh, no,

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Speaker 1: social media is so big that we're not going to

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Speaker 1: talk to each other in person anymore. Um, total communication breakdown,

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Speaker 1: Captain Dogg's looking together that that kind of thing. Um,

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Speaker 1: and uh, it's this is not pop stuff, but I

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Speaker 1: like to just yes anyway, Yeah, no, no no, no, we

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Speaker 1: quote documentaries all the time here on tech stuff. It's

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Speaker 1: perfectly fine. And I agree entirely, Lauren. I mean, from

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Speaker 1: an armchair psychology perspective, if I were to just look

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Speaker 1: at the whole idea of social media and human interaction

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Speaker 1: in general, uh, part of me would think, hey, social

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Speaker 1: media is replacing that face to face human interaction that

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Speaker 1: we tend to think of as being really important as

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Speaker 1: part of our development as a person, right, or that

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Speaker 1: seems to be really important for a very long time. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's part of socialization. And the worry

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Speaker 1: is that without that face to face interaction with something

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Speaker 1: else replacing it, we would be less capable of dealing

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Speaker 1: with those interactions when they come up. And a lot

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Speaker 1: of the information about this tends to be anecdotal, which

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Speaker 1: anyone who has done any science knows is not reliable

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Speaker 1: when it comes to actually measuring it's not actually science. Um.

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Speaker 1: There have been a few studies. There's a one one

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Speaker 1: that you will here quoted all the time was from

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Speaker 1: MD Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society. UM

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Speaker 1: and uh, this one said, this one is was in

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Speaker 1: two thousand five to be fair, so this was a

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Speaker 1: few years ago and before Twitter and Facebook were really huge.

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Speaker 1: But um, but it found that um, compared to people

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Speaker 1: who do not use the internet frequently, those who do,

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Speaker 1: um uh, spend seventy minutes less per day interacting with

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Speaker 1: their family, twenty five minutes less per day sleeping, and

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Speaker 1: thirty is less watching television. Although I'm not sure why

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Speaker 1: that's necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, they could go the

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Speaker 1: other way, but but that but that family thing, that's

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Speaker 1: seventy minutes less a day talking to your family, that

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Speaker 1: sounds that sounds awful, right until of course you're interacting

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Speaker 1: with your family online exactly, and that's and that's what

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Speaker 1: we're I think it turns out that that is what

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Speaker 1: we are doing, right right. Yeah. Again, it's one of

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Speaker 1: those things where I think the stereotype, the thing that

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Speaker 1: we all imagine is the person sequestered in his or

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Speaker 1: her room. Uh, you know, it's dark, Yeah, it's depressing

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Speaker 1: and probably yeah, the only interaction they get is whomever

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Speaker 1: is online is through a keyboard and never a microphone, right,

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Speaker 1: and that's it. And it can be a synchronous communication,

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Speaker 1: meaning that you know, you leave a message, then later

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Speaker 1: on the person reads it and then they leave a message.

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Speaker 1: This is essentially the way email works. It's a synchronous

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Speaker 1: as opposed to a face to face conversation, which is

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Speaker 1: generally synchronous unless you're talking to me, in which case

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Speaker 1: it is just a monologue. But uh, that's the way

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Speaker 1: I work. But anyway, that's generally speaking, that tends to

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Speaker 1: be The view is that it's a person who is

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Speaker 1: withdrawing more and more. And it's this this idea that

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Speaker 1: social media could ultimately be dehumanizing us, at least in

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Speaker 1: the sense of how we define what a human is

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Speaker 1: right now, right, And to be fair, isolation is a

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Speaker 1: very scary thing. Um. There's all kinds of studies about

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Speaker 1: about how it can be as bad for you as

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Speaker 1: smoking and obesity, how it increases cancerus tumors in mice. Um.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's developmentally, it's a very big problem. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there's there are actual cases of tragic cases of children

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Speaker 1: who are deprived the ability to interact with other people

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Speaker 1: and how that has impacted their ability to develop as

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Speaker 1: a human, like, like, you know, they never really develop

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Speaker 1: beyond a certain what would be equivalent to a certain age,

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Speaker 1: like a younger age. That there are stories about kids

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Speaker 1: who were in terrible conditions and you know, grow up

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Speaker 1: and never really develop beyond say a seven or eight

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Speaker 1: year old mensial level. Lonely subjects have been found to

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Speaker 1: have less brain activity than than people with a a

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Speaker 1: healthy and diverse social network. Yes, whenever I get lonely,

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Speaker 1: I'm not thinking of anything. It's just me and Supernatural,

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Speaker 1: Natural Marathon. You had it, man, before I could even

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Speaker 1: say it. Yes, it's just me and the next episode

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Speaker 1: of Supernatural. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Brothers

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Speaker 1: are dreaming. I wouldn't know. I don't want to they

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Speaker 1: are dreaming. I'm like, I believe you know. Okay, cool,

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Speaker 1: So anyway, Yes, these are these are all perceptions. Now,

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Speaker 1: when it comes down to science, there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of different stays that look at this, and there's some

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Speaker 1: conflicting results. And part of that is because the nature

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Speaker 1: of the studies. Part of it is that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the studies are not necessarily looking at the exact same criteria, right,

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Speaker 1: So it could be that one seems to contradict another,

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Speaker 1: but it maybe that in a broader perspective, they're not

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Speaker 1: really contradictory. It's just they're looking at they're looking at

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Speaker 1: different aspects. Because when people are talking about social isolation, um,

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Speaker 1: they're they're talking about the size, the intimacy, the diversity,

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Speaker 1: and the location of your social network. Right. Yes, there's

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Speaker 1: lots of different terms for this as well, about whether

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Speaker 1: or not you have a certain number of confidence like

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Speaker 1: people that you really connect with. These are the people

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Speaker 1: with whom you share those deep personal things that are

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Speaker 1: not something you would talk about to just your your neighbor,

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Speaker 1: unless they're your confidence or or someone on the street

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Speaker 1: or your coworker. Necessarily it's it's it's who you go

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Speaker 1: to when you're upset or when you're happy. It's the

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Speaker 1: first person that, if you're me, you text message when

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Speaker 1: when something terrific happens to you, any text messages. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so awkward, Uh, moving on, I'm dealing with a little

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Speaker 1: heartbreak here, but it's okay. I I don't don't have

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Speaker 1: to be everyone's best friend. Well, the thing is that

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Speaker 1: people that people really um the average person has has

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Speaker 1: one point eight ish and and that's that's you know,

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Speaker 1: one one point eight close contexts like that, depending upon

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Speaker 1: depending on which survey looking at, because some of these

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Speaker 1: one of the one of the surveys I really looked at,

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Speaker 1: which is one that you you sent me the information to,

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Speaker 1: So I thank you, Lauren, because without it I would

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Speaker 1: have nothing to talk about. But it was a Pew Internet,

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Speaker 1: Personal Networks and Community survey. Now, before I even get

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Speaker 1: into the data here, I should stress they surveyed two thousand,

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Speaker 1: five twelve adults. Now that's a pretty small sample, and

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Speaker 1: that's not so any results we get you have to

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Speaker 1: keep in mind this is this is a very small sample.

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Speaker 1: But within that sample they drew some pretty big conclusions.

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Speaker 1: One of those was that of American adults said they

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Speaker 1: used the Internet. So wow, didn't but anyway said they

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Speaker 1: used the Internet. And nearly half of adults, or of

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Speaker 1: those who said they use the Internet, say they use

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Speaker 1: at least on social networking service. So this is stuff

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Speaker 1: like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, that kind of thing, and this

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Speaker 1: is sort of tangential to our community. Are our our

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Speaker 1: conversation here. But I found it really interesting out of

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Speaker 1: the ones they surveyed of those who used social networking

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Speaker 1: services said they used Facebook. Them on Facebook is one

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Speaker 1: of the ones I use, used my Space, LinkedIn, and

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Speaker 1: used Twitter. So that means more people are using my

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Speaker 1: Space than Twitter, which to me says the twenty of

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Speaker 1: people who said that are all in the band. I mean, really,

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Speaker 1: when was the last time you use my Space? I

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Speaker 1: deleted my my Space account about a year ago. It's

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Speaker 1: it's coming back because timber Lakes brought sexy and my Spacebook.

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Speaker 1: Those are the two things he brought back. I don't

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Speaker 1: know where he went to find them, but he brought

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Speaker 1: them back. Um. But yeah, I don't use my Space either.

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Speaker 1: It just blows my mom that more people are using

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Speaker 1: my Space that in the survey anyway, than LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Speaker 1: But um but but but that's I mean, that is

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Speaker 1: indicative of the of the overall usage. I mean, Facebook

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Speaker 1: as of October had um one billion monthly active users. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a huge, huge number. And h and five four

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Speaker 1: million daily active users. That's a whole bunch of people.

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Speaker 1: That's that's that's more people than there are even user

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Speaker 1: accounts on Twitter. Um. As as of December, Twitter had

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Speaker 1: had more than two million December twelve people with the

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Speaker 1: Far Future are listening to Back in Future? Where's my

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Speaker 1: jet pack? Is it on the way the time machine?

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Speaker 1: Just bring it back to me right? There's no way

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Speaker 1: they can tell me. This is the sad thing, Like

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Speaker 1: you've been using it for three years. Time travel stinks

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Speaker 1: because I only get to go one direction and it's

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Speaker 1: really slow, second by second. As it turns out, hey

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Speaker 1: there it's job from twenty nineteen here to say. We're

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Speaker 1: going to a quick break to thank our sponsor. The

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Speaker 1: interesting thing about this this survey, I mean we've been

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Speaker 1: kind of talking about the things they found, but one

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Speaker 1: of the things they were specifically looking for was this

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Speaker 1: idea of social isolation and does the use of social

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Speaker 1: media contribute to social isolation? Is it true that we

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Speaker 1: are actually withdrawing from society in favor of the interactions

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Speaker 1: that we have on social networking services? And according to

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Speaker 1: the service spoiler alert, no, no it's not having Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they said that according to the surveying that social isolation

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Speaker 1: has not really changed since which this is just for

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Speaker 1: people who aren't paying really close attention. Not really a

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Speaker 1: big year for the internet. Um, if you were using

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Speaker 1: the Internet, you were in a research facility or a university. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you are not the average person. Because, of course, the

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Speaker 1: Worldwide Web the main way we tend to think about

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Speaker 1: interacting with the Internet, apart from apps and stuff. That's

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Speaker 1: starting to really take control. But wed Web it wasn't

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Speaker 1: a thing until ninety two, so obviously is before social

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Speaker 1: networking services are a thing. Like three people on Prodigy

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Speaker 1: as of eight and that's not it. So if you're

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Speaker 1: on a bulletin board system, maybe, but it's before social

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Speaker 1: networking services obviously. Uh. But these the extent of social

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Speaker 1: isolation hasn't really changed the sense. So that tells us

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Speaker 1: that it's very possible social networking services don't have a

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Speaker 1: big impact. Now we can't say that for sure because

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of different facts. Yeah, it could

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Speaker 1: be that we are reducing social isolation at an exponential rate,

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Speaker 1: but the social networking services are pulling that back. So

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Speaker 1: it could be that there is an impact on social isolation.

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Speaker 1: It's just that other factors are pushing it forward, so

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Speaker 1: it ends up balanced. Yeah. This is the complex thing

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Speaker 1: about science. This is why drawing conclusions is difficult. You

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Speaker 1: have to do a lot of studies and really look

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Speaker 1: at all the different factors and try and control for

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Speaker 1: as many variables as possible, because otherwise whatever you say

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Speaker 1: could turn out to be not so true in the

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Speaker 1: grand scheme of things. But based upon what this survey found,

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Speaker 1: it looks like social networking services are not turning us

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Speaker 1: all into hermits. This isn't from the same Pew Internet study.

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Speaker 1: I think it's from a different one. I didn't write

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Speaker 1: down which study it's from in my notes, but um,

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Speaker 1: it's been found that mobile phone use has actually made

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Speaker 1: our contact lists smaller but more intense. That makes sense.

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Speaker 1: So for instance, you know, it's not that it's not

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Speaker 1: that the relationships are less meaningful. It just means that

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Speaker 1: the ones that we contact were really depending upon them,

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Speaker 1: and that we might be using a phone in order

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Speaker 1: to make that connection as opposed to necessary you know,

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Speaker 1: walking across the street or or driving to a friend's hell,

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Speaker 1: are meeting up at a coffee shop or whatever. To me,

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Speaker 1: you know, that just means that we're transferring that same

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Speaker 1: need for interaction to a different medium. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: that we're losing that interaction. It just means that it's

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Speaker 1: a you know, we're taking advantage of technology in ways

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Speaker 1: that we couldn't before, which is awesome because I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you've known people who have moved away. You

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Speaker 1: you yourself have moved a few times. Absolutely. I I

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Speaker 1: play Halo every Wednesday night so that I get to

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Speaker 1: hang out with my friends who don't live here anymore. Right,

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Speaker 1: So this is technology giving us those social interactions that

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Speaker 1: otherwise we might lose if if we were to relocate

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Speaker 1: or our friends relocate. And in my view, that's a

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Speaker 1: huge positive. It means that those those those relationships that

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Speaker 1: have been formed over years sometimes decades of uh knowing

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Speaker 1: one another don't fade away. They still remain relevant because

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Speaker 1: technology allows us to continue to build those relationships. Now,

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Speaker 1: those interactions, the nature of them might change it, but

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Speaker 1: it's still a very important part of who we are

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Speaker 1: and how we interact. And for some people, UM, you

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Speaker 1: know there there are mentally and physically disabled people, the elderly, um,

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Speaker 1: new new mothers who can't get out of the house, um,

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Speaker 1: all kinds of people who they've been doing medical studies

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Speaker 1: with to see if use of the internet can actually

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Speaker 1: give them better social interaction. Sure it's it's it's been

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Speaker 1: found to reduce depression in lots of those groups, UM

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Speaker 1: and and has really helped people out. So yeah, I've

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Speaker 1: even seen that there have been studies done with people

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Speaker 1: who have various mental health conditions who otherwise would find

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Speaker 1: it very difficult to socialize. They they either not just

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Speaker 1: awkward like me and Jonathan. Right, No, no, no, the

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Speaker 1: people who really find it difficult to form any kind

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Speaker 1: of social contact. It's just one of those things that

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Speaker 1: it's a block for them and it can be very frustrating,

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Speaker 1: especially if they observe that other people are capable of

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Speaker 1: doing this. And there are so many factors involved here.

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Speaker 1: There's a there's an entire taboo about mental health in

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Speaker 1: our culture that is that's problematic and so awful. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it feeds on itself, right, it defends this thing

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Speaker 1: where it just mounts on the person who's experiencing this.

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Speaker 1: And some of the studies had people using social networks

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Speaker 1: and and they were finding it much easier to interact

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Speaker 1: with people and making suggestions on how to create a

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Speaker 1: social network with tools that would allow them to have

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Speaker 1: a greater interaction. Which, yeah, you think about that, like,

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Speaker 1: this is this is what technology should do. Technology should

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Speaker 1: help people so that they can interact any way they want.

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Speaker 1: In the you know in a way that brings them

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Speaker 1: the satisfaction that people can have, you know, people who

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Speaker 1: don't have these conditions tend to find naturally. Um, I

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Speaker 1: like this to me, it's to me, it's a great thing.

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Speaker 1: And anything that decreases that sense of isolation and that

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Speaker 1: since that taboo is a good thing to and it's

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Speaker 1: it's an added dimension. It doesn't have to be it

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to be replacement. It can be and things change,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I mean Socrates was terrified that writing was

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Speaker 1: going to ruin people's brains. Oh, I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about this, but we're gonna get into that all right. Now,

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Speaker 1: hang on one second. Now, let's take a quick break

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Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor, and now back to the show.

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Speaker 1: So you were talking about Socrates and writing, right, the

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Speaker 1: idea that writing things down means that you're taking stuff

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Speaker 1: out of your brain and putting it on paper or

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Speaker 1: stone or clay or whatever. Right a tree, your buddy Bill,

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Speaker 1: who stands still for really long periods of time, whatever,

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Speaker 1: you're taking it out of your brain, you're putting it

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Speaker 1: on something else, and therefore you are no longer relying

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Speaker 1: on your brain to process that information because you've offloaded

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Speaker 1: it soccers. You thought this was a terrible idea. The

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Speaker 1: interesting thing is that attitude has continued up to present day,

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Speaker 1: which is, you know, I assume why you brought it up,

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Speaker 1: because today we have computers and and uh smartphones and calculators. Calculators. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I could not do complex equations anymore without the use

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Speaker 1: of a calculator because frankly, I just don't use those

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Speaker 1: skills as frequently as I as I used to. Well,

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Speaker 1: you're a writer, you're not a mathematician. I'm not a

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Speaker 1: good one either, um, and then mathematician that is, I'm

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Speaker 1: an excellent writer. You should read some of my articles

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Speaker 1: that how stufforce dot com. You know what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 1: So anyway, yeah, yeah, I know. That's the exactly I

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Speaker 1: mean the Nicholas Carr wrote the famous article for The

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Speaker 1: Atlantic is Google making us stupid? This whole idea that

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Speaker 1: because we've got so much information on the internet and

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Speaker 1: we have access to information, and therefore we're less intelligent,

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Speaker 1: right right, we don't. We don't have to remember stuff,

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Speaker 1: we don't have to know stuff. We just because I'm

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Speaker 1: d knows it, right, Yeah, yeah, why do we Why

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Speaker 1: do I need to even process this information. All I

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Speaker 1: have to do is type in search query and Google

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Speaker 1: pull up the first answer, and then and then repeat

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Speaker 1: it back. It doesn't even mean that I even process

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Speaker 1: it on a level where I understand it social media

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Speaker 1: or social networking services. Some people were worried a similar

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Speaker 1: thing is going on with the social aspect. As we're

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Speaker 1: talking with the memory and processing of information on the Internet.

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Speaker 1: This idea that social networking services are creating a less

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Speaker 1: meaningful way of connecting with people. But things like this

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Speaker 1: Pew research survey suggest otherwise. It's suggests that we're getting

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Speaker 1: just as much meaningful interaction online and through technology as

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Speaker 1: we would face to face. Now, the the actual nature

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Speaker 1: of that interaction may change somewhat somewhat, but it's still

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Speaker 1: important and it's still helpful. Yeah, and and that's I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know that kind of fear of technology. To be fair,

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Speaker 1: we hear tech stuff are probably biased towards technology and

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Speaker 1: just maybe maybe a little bit. Please listen to all

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Speaker 1: our episodes on your computers contacts at Discovery dot com.

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Speaker 1: But um, but but no, I mean, I mean, fear

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Speaker 1: of fear of technology isn't going to change the fact

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Speaker 1: that technology is out there, and it's not going to

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Speaker 1: change the fact that things are changing. Change happens, society changes,

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Speaker 1: everything changes, you know, and and fe people were also worried, um,

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Speaker 1: in the Industrial Revolution that because um, because these these

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Speaker 1: machines were starting to automate human processes, that that the

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Speaker 1: the equality of workspace interaction was going to go down,

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Speaker 1: and and all kinds of other ripple effects out from that.

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Speaker 1: And sure, that's where we get the whole sabotage thing,

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Speaker 1: because people, you know, the whole idea throwing the wooden

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Speaker 1: shoe into the automated loom to destroy it. So are

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Speaker 1: old old listeners to not not old listeners, but people

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Speaker 1: listen to old episodes of tech stuff. I know that

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Speaker 1: We've talked about that many many times, and and it's

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Speaker 1: not it's you know, the answer is, yes, things are changing,

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Speaker 1: but no, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, in

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Speaker 1: fact that that Again, going back to that Pew survey,

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Speaker 1: one of the other things I thought was really interesting

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Speaker 1: was that they found that people who use the web

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Speaker 1: a lot. Again, another one of those those uh perceptions

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Speaker 1: is that these are people who don't get out as much.

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Speaker 1: They don't you know, they don't interact in other ways

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Speaker 1: other than online, but that doesn't seem to be the

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Speaker 1: case according to the people that they surveyed. According to

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Speaker 1: the survey, the folks who used the web were actually

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Speaker 1: more likely to interact with people in their immediate physical environment.

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Speaker 1: They were more likely to do things like speak to

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Speaker 1: a neighbor on a on a regular basis or uh yes,

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Speaker 1: it's six of respondent said that they talked to a

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Speaker 1: neighbor at least once per month. And they found that

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Speaker 1: bloggers are seventy two percent more likely to belong to

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Speaker 1: a local voluntary association than those who do not blog.

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Speaker 1: So there you've got people who are very much invested

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Speaker 1: in the online world, but not at the expense of

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Speaker 1: a physical one, so directly contradicting that armchair psychology approach,

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Speaker 1: which is why we always say, like, yeah, there's that

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Speaker 1: whole idea of common sense dictates, which often means I

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Speaker 1: am wrong, but it seems like I'm right. I do

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Speaker 1: this all the time. I'm like, well, common sense talking

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Speaker 1: out of my butt because I don't have any data

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Speaker 1: in front of me. But yeah, they also found out

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Speaker 1: they said web users are more likely to visit a cafe.

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Speaker 1: I did not say if it was an internet cafe,

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Speaker 1: which obviously would increase the odds, but fifty two percent

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Speaker 1: more likely to visit a library. Didn't say if that

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Speaker 1: was because that's how they access the internet, But hey,

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Speaker 1: thirty four percent more likely to visit a fast food

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Speaker 1: restaurant that I don't necessarily think it's a good thing.

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Speaker 1: You know what, I haven't visit a fast food restaurant

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Speaker 1: in a very long time. I'm not a fast food fan.

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Speaker 1: More likely to visit other restaurants now I'm in that category.

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Speaker 1: We might like food and oh gosh, I love food,

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Speaker 1: And then more likely to visit a public park, which

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Speaker 1: is awesome. That is awesome. So we're talking about people

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Speaker 1: who have a real investment in their community and an

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Speaker 1: interest in the world outside the realm of the computer.

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Speaker 1: So that does contradict are they aren't going outside, they're

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Speaker 1: just taking pictures to upload when they get home. Right, Oh,

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Speaker 1: that reminds me of something I wanted to talk about

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Speaker 1: that wasn't on our on the notes, but it was.

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Speaker 1: It's this idea. It's something that's interesting. So one of

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Speaker 1: the one of the conflicts that people have with whole

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Speaker 1: social networking services and everything is that it It is

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Speaker 1: constantly interrupting our daily lives if we are connected in

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Speaker 1: various ways, so that uh verver ties where it's inappropriate

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Speaker 1: for you to stop what you're doing and respond to

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Speaker 1: someone on Facebook or Twitter, like like you're at work,

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Speaker 1: or you are in a conversation with someone, or you're

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Speaker 1: up on stage developing a keynote address to a bunch

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Speaker 1: of people. I'm sorry, but but I was gonna say

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Speaker 1: like driving, but those are so uh anyway, have you

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Speaker 1: ever been to uh dinner with someone or a meal

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Speaker 1: with someone when the very first thing that happens is

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Speaker 1: smartphone hits the table? Yes, that drives me so crazy.

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Speaker 1: Are you ever that person? Or do you leave your

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Speaker 1: smartphone away? Okay, to be fair, I'm very occasionally that person,

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Speaker 1: but usually it's revenge smartphone use. Usually it's it's after

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Speaker 1: someone else has brought out their smartphone. I I I

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Speaker 1: have on occasion gotten a little b huffy and I'll fine,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna check Facebook too. Well, Lauren, I

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Speaker 1: hate to break this to you, but you're gonna get

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Speaker 1: way worse because now you're a tech stuff co host

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Speaker 1: and uh, let me put it this way, when I

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Speaker 1: hang out with other technology podcasts hosts and we all

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Speaker 1: go out to eat, the table creaks under the weight

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Speaker 1: of the electronics that hit it. First thing, I am

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Speaker 1: not kidding. I remember meals with people like and I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna be dropping some names here, folks, because my back hurt,

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Speaker 1: get ready, so I gotta drop some weight. Get Ready.

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Speaker 1: But people like Sarah Lane, i Azactar and tom Merritt

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Speaker 1: uh this Week in Tech or or Molly Wood of

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Speaker 1: c net or um oh, justin Robert Young and Brian

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Speaker 1: Brushwood and and and Veronica Belmont. We've all I've been

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Speaker 1: to dinner with these folks in various settings, and invariably,

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Speaker 1: the first thing that happens is everyone's smartphone hits the table,

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Speaker 1: and anytime you're not looking at a menu or talking,

428
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: you're way And I include myself, I am not immune

429
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 1: to this. This is something I've done too, and some

430
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 1: people are better about it than others. But it is

431
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: one of those things that can be kind of distracting.

432
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,880
Speaker 1: And I will admit this is one of those behaviors

433
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 1: that is socially It's becoming more and more socially acceptable

434
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 1: in the sense that everyone's doing it but it's I

435
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 1: still am a little bit eaked out by it. Yeah,

436
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 1: it can be. It can be insulting if you're talking

437
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: to someone and you just see them looking because you know.

438
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 1: But the reason why I brought it up, Oh, there's

439
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 1: a restaurant in Los Angeles called EVA Restaurant E v A.

440
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: And I'm sure it's not the only restaurant that does this,

441
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 1: but EVA Restaurant has a policy which is if you

442
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: come inside the restaurant and you surrender your cell phone

443
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 1: to the waiter when you come in, you get a

444
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: five percent discount on your bill. That's a delightful. So

445
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 1: you come in. The waiter explains the policy, especially in

446
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 1: l A. Yeah, you have the choice of yeah, especially yeah,

447
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,680
Speaker 1: no kidding all those actors waiting for the breakout call

448
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: or those agents waiting for their actors to call them.

449
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: But yeah, it means that you you just you hand

450
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: it over and then you concentrate on the food and

451
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 1: the experience. And you know, the restaurant's policy is that

452
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 1: this way, you're really focusing on the meal and you're

453
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: enjoying it for what it is, as opposed to distracting

454
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,919
Speaker 1: yourself and the meal is just something you're doing in

455
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: between tweets. It also means Instagram hates it because there's

456
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 1: so few, so many fewer pick there's a food flooding

457
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,239
Speaker 1: the Internet, which which we are in dire lacking of

458
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 1: so food and cats. People need more food and cats

459
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: on the internet. Staff. I'm I'm I'm starting my my

460
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: me and my tumbler followers are starting a drive for

461
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 1: more acute hedgehogs on the Internet. I think that this

462
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: is a thing that needs to happen. Had a good run,

463
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 1: it did well. That bucket, that bucket, it was a

464
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,400
Speaker 1: bucket list. Oh no, oh dear, that one. That one

465
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 1: that was such a stretch. That wasn't that joke? Cut

466
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,959
Speaker 1: wasn't that that was just not sure? It was just words,

467
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,399
Speaker 1: That's what that was. But but but but no, but

468
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: I mean it is, it is. It can divide our attention,

469
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 1: and I do. I've seen a couple of news reports

470
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,680
Speaker 1: lately that that had this announcer being shocked shocked. Did

471
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: you know that when young people wake up they check

472
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,679
Speaker 1: their cell phone before getting out of bed. Then I'm like,

473
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: I'm like, people don't do that. First of all, my

474
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: cell phone is my alarm. Of course, my mind too. Yeah,

475
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 1: because of that by turning off my alarm, I am

476
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: checking my cell phone right, And I don't get out

477
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,719
Speaker 1: of bed to throw off my alarm because that's just ridiculous.

478
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: That would be that would help me wake up. Probably

479
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: I should do that, but no, I do not. I'm

480
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: a morning person anyway, So as soon as as soon

481
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: as those eyes pop up and I'm ready to go,

482
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: I'm not happy about it. I'm not sure full morning person.

483
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: I'll still be grouchy at you. I just I'm just alert,

484
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: that's all. But but yeah, but but but that that

485
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: in the kind of behavior where you see more people

486
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: at a concert, for example, um, taking photos at the

487
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 1: concert than you do watching the concert. Yeah. Yeah, And

488
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: that's the thing, And that's you know, Yeah, I get

489
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,680
Speaker 1: grouchy at concerts too. That's why every concert needs to

490
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: be a private show of just me and the and

491
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 1: the musician. When one of those get off my lawn

492
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 1: kind of moments. Yeah, there's only a couple of musicians

493
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: I know who would be willing to do that, oh,

494
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,879
Speaker 1: to to actually do like, okay, it's just me and you,

495
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 1: I'll play my songs for you, someone that we know together.

496
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,119
Speaker 1: Because she's nice. Yes, and it would be you know,

497
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,200
Speaker 1: she she'd essentially be doing a favor for me. Yes,

498
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 1: So I like hear anything. But yeah, no, I think

499
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: it's a good discussion. I mean it's I think ultimately

500
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: the takeaway we have to have is that we do

501
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: not have a full spectrum of data to really support

502
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: this one way or the other. But it looks like

503
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: it's not as damaging as we would first think perhaps,

504
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: and it may in fact be helpful. Uh, since it's

505
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 1: kind of a social science thing, it's what we call

506
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: one of the soft sciences, and whenever you get people involved,

507
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 1: it really messes with the variables. So because we're not

508
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 1: all the same as it turns out crazy. Yeah, funky

509
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: about that, right. So ultimately it may we may not

510
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 1: be able to come down and say definitively whether it's

511
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 1: good or bad. It just it looks like it's not. Yeah,

512
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: And that wraps up another classic episode of tech Stuff.

513
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Hope you enjoyed this

514
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: and the debut and the classics of Lauren Vogelbaum, who

515
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: was my co host for for a little while, quite

516
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 1: some time actually, And so we're gonna be hearing a

517
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: lot more from her over the next few classic episodes.

518
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff,

519
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: feel free to get in touch with me. You can

520
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: email tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com or

521
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 1: drop a line on Facebook or Twitter. The handle of

522
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: both of those is text Stuff h SW. You can

523
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,680
Speaker 1: also pop on over to our website, tech stuff podcast

524
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: dot com. As I said earlier, you can go to

525
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: the archive of every episode we've ever published. It's searchable,

526
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: so if you want to look for a specific topic

527
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: you can. You can also find a link to our

528
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 1: online store, where every purchase you make goes to out

529
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: the show and we greatly appreciate it, and I will

530
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is a

531
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more

532
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,

533
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or where are you listen to your favorite

534
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 1: shows