WEBVTT - The Internet 5 Years From Now 😲 🛜 🌐 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.480 Flex and Frooms, Flex and Frooms. This is the Flex 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:06.000 and Frooms catch up podcast. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.920 Oh God, welcome guys. Listen. We love the Internet. I 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.520 speak on part of myself when I say that. Make 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:14.800 you like it too, babe? 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:16.200 Always always Do you. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:17.480 See someone who log in and out? 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:19.480 Yeah, I'm pretty I can be off. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.799 Fine, you've touched on grass in your time. Where do 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.279 you see the internet in five years? It is a 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.160 hypothetical question. Flexi're sharing her opinion and also we're talking 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:27.080 about the office ten. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.840 You'll get it when you get it. Let's go, mammae. 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.599 Can I listen to Flex and Frooms? Flex and fromes Okata? 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.400 People on the internet at all in the last thirty 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.880 years and your big fut of pop culture and rap music, 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.760 you would have definitely seen the meme. I don't think 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:43.720 it was intended to be a meme when it first dropped. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:45.160 I don't think it was intended to be a joke, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.440 but that's what it evolved into. People would pose the question, 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.800 would you rather five hundred thousand dollars cash right now. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:54.360 Or dinner with jay Z? 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.040 It seems like an obvious answer, but the Internet is 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.320 up in arms debating about what would be better. Idea 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.440 is that perhaps if you took the dinner with jay Z, 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.600 you could network build connections, and that would triple your investment, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.800 could driple billionaire dripple it. I don't know if that's 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.560 how it works. But however, many years later, almost ten 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.520 jay Z himself has responded to the mean He did 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.640 an interview with Gail King Oprah's Besty on CBS Love, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.800 and he said that he would advise anyone if the 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.040 opportunity presented itself to take the money. 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.679 You would take the money. Yeah, because you got them. 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.560 You got all that in the music for ten ninety nine. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.000 That's a bad deal. I would I wouldn't tell you 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.200 to cut a bad deal. I don't take the five 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.600 hundred thousand. Go buy some albums and listen to the albums. 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.679 It's all there if you lookay, if you piece it 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.360 together and really listen to the music for the words, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.280 for what it is, it's all there. Everything that I 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.120 said was gonna happen happen. Everything that I said I 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:53.760 wanted to do, I've done. 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:54.560 There, you have it. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.240 If ever, you're given a hypothetical scenario, one involves the 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.960 illusion of prestige and the illusion of the connection, and 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.280 the other is tangible cash. 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.160 Take the cash, the cash and run. 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.760 The Internet is a weird place right now. It's equal 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.760 parts silly and very serious, and people aren't quite sure 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:12.120 what to. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:13.800 Do with it. 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.239 It's interesting to think about where the Internet and social 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.160 media in particular is going to be in the next 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.120 five years, because, as you said through me, none of 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.480 us could have really anticipated the rise of AI and 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.680 how it went from just a concept that would probably 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.040 be available to the most techi tech heads of the 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.480 entire world versus the rest of us. I really thought 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.239 we would have time when chat GPT was announced or 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:41.120 launched or available for regular person consumption, I definitely. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:41.440 Just avoided it. 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.000 I thought it was going to have to be I 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.200 thought it was like one of those things you had 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.119 to access on the black market, or something you needed 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.960 like a code and another code and another code, and 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.280 then VPN and then all of a sudden, less than 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.040 you know, two months later, it's a nationwide thing, a 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.800 global thing, and people are telling you hacks on how 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.080 to integrate it into your daily life and all the 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.080 ways you're missing out optimization and automation if you don't 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.200 know how to use AI perfectly, and that kind of 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.560 stresses me out because when I was younger, I couldn't 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:15.000 I couldn't fathom how older people weren't across technology, you know, 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:16.919 like you would see parents who didn't know how to 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.799 use the internet or phones, and I would think, oh 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:20.720 my god, but how much different is it really, or 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.440 the transition from brick phones to smartphones? I was like, 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.440 isn't it self explanatory? It's not. Everything is complicated for 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.720 a reason. But I think I have a few theories 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.079 and I'm not gonna hold myself to it. But the 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:34.880 first one I think is going to really come through 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.080 is this need and rise for independent publishers. The way 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.000 that people have perceived government and government structures as not 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.080 really being sure, like are they for our best interest, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.320 or like not really being sure what media is good 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.440 media and bad media or fake news or whatever. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:50.240 The solution to. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.240 That is not more regulation, because loopholes are created every 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.800 day all day. Okay, but I'm gonna see that, Like 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:01.000 I can imagine people are gonna keeping for information that 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.040 suits what they want to believe, not what is the 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.200 common thought, because the common thought hasn't protected many people. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.000 And so I think what will happen is like these 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.120 Internet factions. It's not just the hypothetical good thought and 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.920 the bad thought, but all the nuance in between. And 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:17.640 I think people will just go to their section of 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.400 the Internet and they're not going to try and like 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.919 cohabitate in a shared space. That's dangerous, of course, but 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.520 the world is dangerous. I think social media is going 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.560 to reflect the real parts of the world. I think 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.320 we spoke about before, how you know being in certain 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.560 parts of the Internet makes you think that your part 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:34.440 of the Internet is a reflection of the world. 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.359 That's dangerous. It's dangerous right now. 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.480 You know, we can get a bit complacent about what 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.000 needs to change because we assume off all our friends know. 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.320 Then the world must be pumping and pupping. And then 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.560 you literally look at the news your parents watching, you're like, whoa, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.080 if you walk outside, that's what you're doing. 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:51.400 Okay, this is exciting. 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.760 I guess we'll wait and see. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.200 Flex and frilms on kedis. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.400 We all know that curating an has always been really, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.839 really important, So why wouldn't extend to everything that you 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.920 accessorize your body with. We've got the hair, you've got 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.680 the skin, the body, the bag. 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.000 The shoes, But what about the books. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.040 There's so much power and books not just for what 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.760 they symbolize, but the stories, the authors, but also the 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.640 perception that we have on book readers period. When somebody 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.920 says they do not read, I think they kind of 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.320 eat with that. Whatever it is, there's a perception with it. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.680 When someone says they read a lot, what genre they 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.480 say they read for, what purpose? 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.159 Any of them can be looked at derogatorily or with 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:37.880 heaps of praise. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.080 So I feel like since we were kids, and even 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.279 before then, everyone's told you not to judge a book 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.920 by its cover, both physically and metaphorically. But what about 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.760 a person that chooses books for you, Like they are 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.200 simple accessories and things that you can use to make 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:58.040 up a persona about yourself. In Hollywood right now, there 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.520 are book stylists, the same way you can hire a 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.240 stylist to change the way or perceived by your audience 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.320 or by media broadly. I mean, look at Harry Styles 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.240 from one direction to who he is now. They turned 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:17.040 him into some kind of like queer adjacent icon just 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.279 by putting him in sequence. He was never in sequence 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.080 in one direction. That was a very particular styling choice 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.360 that was made, and it's like it's benefit him, It's 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.919 benefited him really beautifully. Similarly, I'm not sure if you 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.800 would notice, but over the pandemic, especially when people weren't 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.000 necessarily going outside because there was lockdown, people started to 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.440 use different parts of their house as symbols for who 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.320 they were and what they believed in. So suddenly everyone 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.960 could make bread. It was wholesome. It was the wholesome 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.039 thing to Jesus, out of my face. And then you know, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.719 every now and then someone will post a little book, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.440 you know, was it the Classics, little Pride and Prejudice, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.520 a little Penguin moment? Was it a little anti racism book? 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.400 Those ones were popping up? Was it a little philosophy socialism? 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.440 One oh one? It absolutely was. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.520 It's just slightly out of frame, just slightly out of 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.840 frame enough so you can tell. And you know, there's 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.000 a lot of debate on the internet currently about what 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.080 this means and if it's wholly a good thing a 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.680 wholly a bad thing. If one of the biggest celebrities 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:19.120 in the world is holding a book about social justice 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.760 doesn't intend to read it. But the fact that they 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.280 have thirty million followers and will reach even more than that. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.600 Is that not better than the alternative? And what do 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.680 you think? I'm not now I'm processing. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.880 I mean, I see, I see the value of performative everything, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.360 but I get really resentful that people don't rise above 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.240 the performance of it all. Like with any statement that 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.440 can get made on social media about what you believe in, 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:42.160 why you believe in it, what you think, what you 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.360 don't think. I feel like if you had to, like, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:51.800 look at anybody who posted about Coney, Sure Coney, everyone 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.679 who posts about Cony, everyone who posted about BLM, everyone 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.640 who posts about climate change, everyone who posted about you know, 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:01.160 the same oligarchs owning everything in the world. Ask them 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.120 about it in person and see if they could say 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.400 anything about it. I would argue the first thing they 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.120 would do is reference someone else. Well, I saw that 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.400 flex said, oh, I was reading an article that said, 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.440 but what did you say? 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:12.960 You know? 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.920 And so similarly with this book styling thing, we could 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.640 argue that celebrities don't have to say much. They've always 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.880 been there to represent a sign of a time. 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:21.640 Right. 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.960 It's like you put a certain pop star in the room, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.120 you're not really talking about how amazing of a singer. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.280 She is, but this is what we want to platform 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.360 as beauty and talent right now. So similarly with these books, 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.760 it's like, if these celebrities are just messengers for important messages, 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.520 shouldn't that just be enough? Like if the first if 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:45.679 your first look at socialism was because you saw Grimes 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.479 or Kendall Jenner holding a book about socialism. 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.640 So bit, I did love the book cover of my 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:52.760 Year Rest and Relaxation. 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:53.520 Beautiful book covers. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.080 I'm putting that on what's another one? Oh, it's a 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.280 really great book. It's on my mantelpiece. 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.920 Yeah, and so never read it. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.600 Read a little Life on the holiday? 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.320 Yeah, girls, yeah, I read not a little bit. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.040 Tould be a year to get through. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.679 But you read it all, I know, be shocked, folks. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.360 As per usual, we have what do you call it, 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.680 traverse the internet to find a story that is equal 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.600 parts important and absolutely ridiculous and totally inconsequential to life. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:24.559 I said that I found it, but it was actually 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:26.840 Mickey Annie. Thank you very much to our long standing, 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.440 long suffering producer, The Cut. New York Times like affiliated 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.920 little website will see and they have coined the Office 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.840 ten and they are the person who'd never take a 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.559 second glance at in a Patagonia vest, So why does 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.520 he suddenly look so good when he asked to borrow 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.120 a stapler. We've spoken about this on the show. I'm 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.360 pretty sure, like when someone's in a different context, like 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.480 when you're in high school, men thing, Yes, everyone at 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.120 the airport who's your age is hot. See also the 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.520 one like geography teacher who is under the age of I. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.040 Thought it was more of a pe teacher thing. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.880 No, they're like, I don't like nah, I don't know 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:07.680 you're talking about them. 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.360 Okay, Well, the Office ten is a real thing, Mickey. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.200 I believe that this is a consequence of trauma bonding 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.600 in the workplace. We're all going through a duress type time, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.880 and therefore we need icons and people to look at 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.040 in a loving way. That is where the Office team 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.120 comes from. But I think as well, a part of 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.240 it is like you can't really have the office ten, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.440 Like you know that you can't where you eat. Won't 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.440 stop some people doing it, OBV, but we know that 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.920 there are real world implications. Micky, do you have any 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.400 experienced this outside of the office, Well, I. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.720 Think going to an old girls' school like any man 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:49.000 ever walking through the school ever full stop was always 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.199 like a circus ensued. 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:53.080 Literally a zoom. 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.040 Yeah, I remember we did this thing at my school, 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.880 like Australian idol. We called it after my school. And 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.040 for some reason the boys' school got invited to come 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:04.160 right and then they. 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:05.880 They love doing the cross Colleen. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.240 Captains from the Boys' school would like walk down the 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.120 aisle and they'd be swooning. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:19.280 How sickening it was when the two sexes collided in school, Like, just. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.600 The same science is being used in the office. 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.880 Yeah, it's a real thing, right down to the Patagonia vest. Look, 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.839 I'm excited that we're putting these practices into words because 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.000 I think it is important to acknowledge that this is 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.640 a phenomenon and therefore you should make an informed decision 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:35.840 as to whether or not you want to go there. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.559 You've been listening to The Flex and Froom's daily podcast. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.400 For more, tune Indicater on DAB or stream it on iHeartRadio.