Coding & Likes: Our Social Media Stories

Speaker 0 00:00:09 Welcome back Speaker 1 00:00:10 With Kraemer. My name is Chris. I'll be your host and I'm joined by my best friend, Emma. Today, we have a super fun episode. We're going to be talking about social media, something that has been an a all up in our lives, at least for me and Emma, since middle school for some of us a little bit longer for some of us a little bit less. So that's our topic of the day reflecting and considering what we might do with our social medias in the future. Before we get started, we want to talk about what teas we're drinking. So I'm a wet tea. Do you have today? Speaker 0 00:00:46 So not drinking tea. I actually have a Canada, dry ginger ale. That is what I'm drinking today. Why are you making that face? I love ginger ale and like an old 80 year old lady. I just like my ginger ale and my knitting. What are you drinking Speaker 1 00:01:07 Today? I have my favorite tea brand right now. It's tested T it's a company that sells a lot of loose leaf tea. Something that I've just recently started getting into and today's flavor is called fruity pebbles. So it's strawberry pineapple, strawberry pineapple green. I'm going to have full green tea. Speaker 0 00:01:30 Ooh, that sounds fantastic. That sounds like a little dose of happiness. Speaker 1 00:01:35 It is. It's one of my favorites. So the one I had last time was the mango pineapple fruit tea from Testa. That's my favorite favorite, but fruity pebbles is up there for sure. Well, let's get started with our episode. Our first question, going back way back. What was your first social media platform? What got you started? Speaker 0 00:01:59 This one's kind of hard. So I started using social media when I was in the sixth grade. So I was also like 12, 11, 12 years old. So again, like, I want to give that disclaimer that, you know, most social media, you need to be 13 years old to do it. And like, did we lie on these things with our ages? Yes we did. So, yeah, I was 11 or 12 years old using it. I don't know if I should be admitting that Speaker 1 00:02:23 Also 13 is a recent age when we were growing up. You had to be 18. You were not supposed to be 13 because I realized that now that a lot of the platforms that kids are signing up for, you have to be like Instagram. Tick-tock all of those are 13 when we were growing up, it was 18. Speaker 0 00:02:43 Well, so I was definitely too young to be on social media, but I recall being on Zynga X, a N G a. I'm not sure if anyone remembers that it was like a blogging site. I don't know what I was blogging about that. I thought it was so important at 11 or 12 years old, and I really wish I could find it so I could give you guys like an example, but my first, like one that I used super actively and remember being super addicted to was MySpace. What about you, Chris? Speaker 1 00:03:10 I was also using social media around sixth grade. So probably around the same age. I don't know Zynga is, I was using my space and I definitely remember the little disclaimer that said, like you had to be 18 to use the site. So having to figure out what year I needed to be born in to be able to sign up for that website. And it was just one of those, everyone had a MySpace, so I had to have on my space as well. And I think it was definitely middle school. I don't know if it was as early as sixth grade, but that was my first dabble in the social media art. Speaker 0 00:03:48 I just remember having a, my best friend in middle school. Didn't have a MySpace and I think were probably like either seventh or eighth grade. And she finally got a MySpace afterward, but we had like, she's always been kind of like super cool about it. Like was never like super into the whole social media thing. Would you also consider like AOL instant messenger? Was that like a social media or is that more like a communication? I guess Speaker 1 00:04:11 It's more of a communication tool because you can't like make friends or find people now. Granted, I never really used AOL. I used Yahoo messenger. So you couldn't find people. You had to Speaker 0 00:04:22 Be friends with them already. Yeah. Oh see, like on aim. And I remember being on aim in fifth and sixth grade. Maybe y'all were friends with me, ex ex I don't even want to say my name. Nevermind. I had so many names. Like I think I was like babushka at one point because I really liked the way it sounded. I was babushka 21 X, X. Um, now I'm just exposing myself. I think I was poly girl in 94 at one point, like obvious ways that all of these people could've came and kidnapped me and sold my body parts because they knew that I was under the age of 18. Like, if you were from Hawaii, you always had some kind of eight Oh eight in there. Like that was a thing. But yeah, I guess that's not really social media, but I just remember my mindspace being so pop in. Speaker 0 00:05:10 Like I had all of the glitter are, I had the music I had, like, I was able to like hide all the comments. Like I think I I've looked at my MySpace recently in preparation for this episode. And I was like, man, I was so cool. And at the point when I was like coming off of my space, I was taking a more minimalist approach. So I had like all the bolding and the underlining, like I'm just mad that they had us flirting with this six figure paycheck for the free, like, you know, we were out here coding before it was cool to code. Speaker 1 00:05:42 Yeah. Cause you definitely, my space was not a click and choose your theme. You had to, you had to put that in manually. You wanted the songs in, you had to put that in yourself, all of the glitter themes yourself. I remember seeing some of the most out or ragingly obnoxious pages, just glitter, sparkles, like flashing everywhere. I was like this, there should be a disclaimer on your page at the very top. Like this might give you a seizure. This is not a normal page, flashing lights warning. And that's like, that should have been at the top before we scroll down the rest. And this was back when, like, you know, you had to load the page a little bit at a time because you still have to dial up internet. Speaker 0 00:06:24 And then you had like your top eight. I remember like always, always, always my sister was on my top eight. Like sometimes she was number eight. Sometimes she was number one, but she was always on my top eight, but I was like never on her top eight, which I think is key shady. Like what the F Speaker 1 00:06:37 She was also older than you. So like, that would have been weird, Speaker 0 00:06:41 I guess. Yeah, because if I was what 12 using it, then she would have been 19 using it. And that's weird to have a 12 year old on your top eight. But then I remember there were those like options to make it like a top 36, like I had 36 friends. And then I remember there was drama. There was drama. Anytime you move somebody. And they're like, why am I now top 10? And before I was top five middle school drama would not ever want to relive. Speaker 1 00:07:08 It's just a mess. Well, talking about all of these social media memories, what's been your most used social media so far Instagram, for sure. Speaker 0 00:07:20 Like a huge, I was like pretty big on Facebook when it was early high school. Like I can go back on Facebook and see like my memories of my pictures from being like a freshman and a sophomore in high school, which I think is really nice to have those pictures on there. But also like I need to go and make sure that my privacy settings are like no longer viewable to everyone. Not that I was doing any suspect things, but like I was a kid, like I was a young kid using social media. Speaker 1 00:07:45 What about you Twitter? For sure. I think I've had it almost as long as Facebook. And even when I stopped using Facebook actively, I still am pretty active on Twitter. So I would say Twitter is my most used social media platform. Do you tweet a lot though? No, I don't on any social media platform. I would not consider myself like a big poster when I had vine. Didn't make vines, Instagram don't really post pictures. I don't tweet much on Twitter. I didn't post much on Facebook because I was just one of those people that realized. But like, it's an easy a, you know, he says like, not every one of your thoughts is a golden nugget that just needs to be shared with everyone. I got over pretty quickly the whole Facebook updates where it used to like tell you like, Oh, this person is doing some thing. And that used to be like the platform that it was done. And so just reading through like the memories that were just like is watching a movie. I'm like, why, why is this here? Who posted this? For what reason? So I've never considered myself a big poster or creator on any social media platform. Speaker 0 00:08:49 Watch these kids on Tik TOK. And I love Tik talks. Like I really do. I actually just recently had to delete because it was getting in the way of my studying for my L set stuff. So I had to delete it, but I'll be back to dog. And when I come back, I'm coming back with a, with a force Instagram, I think I've used the most heavily and going into college, I remember being like very cognizant of like the likes that you could get based on the content that you were posting. I started to realize that like, anytime I posted anything with Isaac, like I got the most likes and it wasn't that I was like pimping out Isaac for likes, but I was very like conscious of the fact that like, Oh, when I post this, like, people don't really care about it. But when I post about Isaac, like everyone, everyone eats that up. Speaker 0 00:09:33 But then as I got older, I was like, you know what? I need to start like posting just for me. Like, I need to post the memories that I want to remember and not just them likes yeah. For the likes. And I think that that is a place that a lot of people get to hopefully eventually, but there is like this whole movement toward, you know, like body positivity and like social media is, you know, like only the best good parts of you. It's not like no one really shows, you know, the ugly side of it. Speaker 1 00:10:01 What an experience do you have a, of all the ones that you've used so far, do you have one that you would say is your overall favorite? Speaker 0 00:10:08 Like currently my favorite or like over time? Which one has been my favorite? Speaker 1 00:10:12 I guess if they're the same, I think Speaker 0 00:10:14 Over time, like I really, really liked Facebook for the games that it had. I don't know if y'all remember Farmville, we'll get girl was farming and then Tetris battle. I was up in there playing Tetris battle. Like the games on Facebook are still unmatched. I have not found any other platform that allows the integration of games the way they do. But I think the one that has stayed true and tests like through the test of time is Instagram. Like I was on Twitter for a little bit, but I was never, and I really only am on Twitter. Whenever Chris sends me tweets that I need to read, that he thinks are funny. And then you'd all like go through the replies and stuff like that. But I was never really a good tweeter Speaker 1 00:10:58 Into that tweet actively. Speaker 0 00:11:00 I was not tweeting on the Twitter. Like I didn't tweet correctly. And now that I like go back to like my posts of my Twitter, even my face look like I can definitely relate to that whole, because Facebook used to ask that question, what are you doing, Emma? And I'd be like, is eating ramen. Yum is studying for a test boo. And I'm like, what is, what is wrong with you? No one cares. And I remember, I it's so funny cause I remember Isaac's brother, one of his older brothers actually posting one time and being like, no one cares about your, like what you're doing. Like, it wasn't like he wasn't like directing it at me. He was just like a generalized statement. And I was like, Oh, what do you mean? They don't care if I'm studying? Like, it was like a whole Speaker 1 00:11:47 Big thing. And then you look at the interactions and it's like, no likes like no one cared at all. No Speaker 0 00:11:54 One cared, you know, like it's too much. Speaker 1 00:11:58 Would you say have been some positive impacts that social media has had for you some ways that it's really been a positive experience for you? Speaker 0 00:12:05 I love seeing my aunts and uncles interacting with social media. And I think that it's like a great way for me to keep in contact with them. And so when I do, when I do post on Facebook, it is mostly for like my aunties and my uncles to like, see like, Oh, this happened and I can always count on my aunts to like hype me up and be like, Oh my gosh, she's the best. And I'm like, thank you. I needed that. But I think that's one of the positive is that it's like, and I can see it even with my, my mom's generation, you know, she'll see like high school classmates getting on Facebook and you know, being able to see like what's going on in her hometown. And like, she'll be able to see news coming in from Hawaii. And so it's just been a way for them to connect and like keep that closeness, even though they're no longer within the same, you know, proximity or vicinity of each other. What about you? What are some positives? Speaker 1 00:12:55 I think I'd have to agree. I'm not a super social person. So I don't go out of my way to maintain a lot of connections overall. So having those social medias that kind of by default, keep people connected until actively disconnecting. It's just nice to go through every now and then if something's happening, checking in on people, seeing major life updates, marriages, babies, home, purchasing, I don't know what other people are doing right now in their lives, but things like that. And so I would agree if I'm posting, it's usually something major. Speaker 0 00:13:29 Do you ever like fall into that? Oh my gosh. I'm not adulting because like, I don't have a baby or like I don't have a husband or is that just my own personal thing? Speaker 1 00:13:38 No, I still think I'm like way too young to be doing some of these things that people are doing. Like, I mean, it's fine. Like live your life, like do what you want to do. But I'm like, Oh my God, people get married. Having kids buying houses. That's a lot, first of all, at this point, like Mary tohu, who would I be marrying? And then having a baby with who, how am I going to take care of a baby right now? That's money. And then buying a house for me, that's a play. Like that means I've found a place that I'm committed to living in for a long time. So these are just questions. I don't have answers to much less able to act upon. So I mean, if other people got it great, I'm just not there yet. Speaker 0 00:14:14 I feel like a quasi adult every time I see that, like when I see people like, Oh, having a baby, I'm like, wow, like you're going to take care of a whole other human being. Like, I can barely take care of myself. Like what did I eat for dinner last night? And so it's like, yes, I'm 26 years old, but I sometimes still feel like I'm not. So like when, when I see people that have it, like, I guess, quote unquote together, I'm like, dang y'all are like real life adults out there. And I'm out here just like trying my best and you know what? That's okay. Sometimes your best is all you can do. She said trying my best. That's all, Speaker 1 00:14:49 You know, it is what it is. No, that's fine. So on the flip side, you know, seeing all those people and those positive impacts, maintaining those connections, what are some ways that you think social media has a negatively impacted your life? Speaker 0 00:15:03 For sure. Like, I kind of talked on it a little bit, was talking about how there's that pressure to, you know, portray this like wonderful, perfect life. And it's so hard to see through that. Especially as a young woman, you know, growing up, like not seeing representation of myself and you know, now that there's this like body positivity movement, like I'm here for it, but it's like something that I didn't have, you know, you see all these influencers and folks like that, that like post their beautiful homes and like their trips that they're going on. And you know, and they're in their like bikini ready bodies and all these things. It like starts to weigh on your mental health. I think a little bit that people do get into that comparison game. Like, what am I doing wrong? You know, like, how are we the same age? But you're out here partying in whatever country you're currently in. And I'm out here like studying and trying to like get my life together. And so again, different struggles, like I'm sure that whatever they're going through, like they're doing their own thing and that's not the full picture. So I think that's one of the negative impacts. What about you? Speaker 1 00:16:10 I would say a negative impact is going through personal growth in a public space. So having access to these public forums and posting the thoughts and opinions that I had at the time, and then having to reconcile what those impacts are for me now, because there are certainly been times where I will see posts from well back in the social media days and realizing that that is absolutely not a mindset that I still have about certain issues and certain topics and having to figure out how to address that growth within myself. But then also again, it's out there, it's in the public realm. So how do I go about making sure that it's not something that I guess still reflects poorly on me in the present? So I think that's something that has negatively impacted me, always worrying about, Oh man, what did I post 12 years ago when I was 13 years old or whatever the case may be and how could that possibly impact me, um, in the present, uh, as I move forward with a career, which kind of brings to that, that next topic. The next question of like, if someone, if you were to be like the mayor or the governor right now, if you were to become someone famous and influencer right now, is there stuff that you think would be on your social media that would result in you being like part of the canceled group? So people would find it and be like, Oh no, this person's trash. And they would cancel you before you even had an opportunity to kind of like fully out what you were doing in the present. Speaker 0 00:17:51 That's a good question. I think I want to say no, but I also like don't know how things can be misconstrued, you know, and also like things that I said at 16 versus now me being a full no a half grown adult, like, you know, there are things. And so that's one of those like arguments and debates that I see you around cancel culture is that we are canceling people who are, you know, 30, 30, five years old for things that they said when they were 18. And was that something that they should have done? No. Was that something that they should have known better maybe, but again, like we have to take into consideration a lot of these people and like their upbringing, their environment, like, did they think what they were saying was true and correct at the time maybe, but like at 35 years old, if they are still holding that same opinion, I think that's different than, you know, canceling something, someone for something they said like 17 years ago. What about you? What do you think? Do you think you would be canceled? Are we canceling Chris? Speaker 1 00:18:48 Yeah, I could guarantee I'd be canceled. There've been like things that I found on my social media. I'm like, Oh my God, can I cancel myself? Like, why? Because I know I've definitely had conversations with people or seen it on social media where they have this like holier than thou attitude towards it. All. I never said anything that was, that could be misconstrued or deemed homophobic or racist or whatever those issues were. And so I think for me, it's just one of those, like, that's great. I'm glad that you didn't grow up in an environment where that was a norm and I'm happy for you, but that's not the norm for everyone. I know. Like I had to deal with a lot of internalized homophobia things that I would say that now I'm just like, wow. I re I was dealing with a lot. That's absolutely not a healthy thing for me to have sat at the time about anyone and now like kind of applies to myself, right? Speaker 1 00:19:43 So I think again, that the social media airs a lot of that growth. It displays it, it puts it in public, in a place that can be found. And my thing is, if I'm not exhibiting those same types of mindsets and traits, I've grown, I'm not the same person that I was when I was 13 years old on Facebook tweeting out at the world because I was angry with my own circumstances or how the world was treating me at that time. So I don't know. I think cancel culture is a little weird. I would probably almost definitely be canceled and I get it. But again, we all go through things a little differently, a little 16 year old, me, 13 year old me, whatever it was going through. A lot of, a lot of internalized issues. And that probably shouldn't have been on social media. But growing up with social media, I don't know about you, but no one gave me like a book or I didn't take a class on, Oh, by the way, the stuff that you say now, doesn't go away. It doesn't go away. It's going to come back and haunt you. Cause I mean, like my MySpace stuff, I feel pretty confident. Like my space pretty much went, it's gone, but I know Facebook is still around Twitter. It's still around. If people take screenshots still around, Speaker 0 00:20:55 You know, like now that I'm like talking about it, I'm like, actually I think I would be canceled or at least not canceled. I would be like, this is problematic. Like I definitely have those times where I'm like thinking now that I'm like, Hmm, did I have anything that was like internalized and problematic? Oh, for sure. Yeah. Like I would definitely like someone would have found it and been like, that's not okay. Like this is, and this is why it's not okay. Which I think when we talk about cancel culture, like we need to address that. I think we need to give people the opportunity to grow. And then if they continue to show this like, okay, they're trash then yes, let's cancel them at that point. But automatically canceling someone, doesn't give them the opportunity to grow from it. And I know that we're tired of hearing these like excuses and like apologies that seem, you know, not genuine, you know? And that's the thing as well. So again, like to automatically cancel something for something, they said 30, 20, 30 years ago or something they did 20, 30 years ago. I think we have to look at a pattern of behavior, right? Speaker 1 00:21:53 Yeah. I mean the dominant culture, definitely. It's certainly up to say some really messed up things that even now would apply negatively to myself. So like 13 year old me would probably not like 26 year old me because 13 year old me was still a part of, Oh, well, everyone else around me says that that's not good, so it's not good. And I just, it takes, it had to grow there. I had experienced, like I had to experience the life and get out here, see things differently, go through it, myself, develop my own identity before I could make more informed decisions, but that's that social media. So would you go back if you could and change your approach or your presence on social media? Like if you could go back and either do it again, or like tell younger you, Hmm. Maybe you stress on it a little differently. Like what would you say? Speaker 0 00:22:42 I think if I were to go back and talk about, you know, 12 or 13 year old me and really sit down with them and have that conversation of like, everything that you do say can impact you in the future and everything that you say will not go away. I think that's the biggest part is that it does not go away. What I changed my, the way that I approached it. Yeah. For sure. Like, I wouldn't have been posting like is studying, is eating noodles is, you know, like all those things, like it was unnecessary. Like again, like Eza was saying, make golden nuggets, like not everything you have to say and status update is a golden nugget. So I think it's important to address that. I feel like I learned pretty early on that everything I did say, you know, could be traced back and all that stuff. And so I did start like falling off on posting really more often. And now that I like look back at like my social media presence, especially on Facebook in the past five years, I can say I was only really posting like things that I wanted the family to be updated on. Right. It wasn't like posting just to post. What about you? Would you change your approach or how would you change your approach? Speaker 1 00:23:52 I think the hard part would be trying to get younger me to not be dumb. Like that's the, that's the part that would be difficult. Cause I know I was stir burn. So if I could go back and change it, I would definitely minimize my social media presence altogether because I know again, it was, there's a lot of pressure to be on social media, but I would try really hard to not for as much as possible. And even if being on there just avoiding posting as much as possible, because again, that growth and that character development does not need to be played out in public. I think leaving it as its own private compendium of ideologies is fine. Like, I don't know, maybe a journal, a diary, something, but we all saw what happened to your last diary. Exactly, exactly. Speaker 2 00:24:40 So that character development could have been played out in the privacy of a journal that I then burnt when I was like, okay, great. Speaker 1 00:24:46 In this space mentally done, it's fine. It's over with, so I try really hard to, to keep that character development private, and I'm trying really hard to like scrub it now, but again, it's much easier to just not posted it to begin with, because again, there's the say there could be screenshots out there. I don't even know. We won't know until I run for president, you know, Speaker 0 00:25:07 All of a sudden all the things come out. Yeah. I think that's one of the biggest things too. You don't realize the grand, like how big of an impact it makes down the line. Because again, like we are seeing these creators and we are seeing these influencers who are getting canceled for things. They said when social media first started, Speaker 1 00:25:25 We're having teachers get fired because they got caught dancing at the beach in a bikini and it bikini, which is all like, Speaker 0 00:25:34 Or issue, I think at hand too, is that like, should your social media presence be something that reflects on what you do as like a person in the public? Like for us as teachers, you know, we do have certain, I don't know if it's like laws, but like certain unsaid practices where like, because we are seen by the public, we are only allowed to have a certain public persona, you know? And so it's like, is that one of those things where like should show social media reflect the way that you show up in these professional spaces. Speaker 1 00:26:03 But again, that was not given to me as a 13 year old kid that manual, that clarification, that warning was not, and it wasn't happening at the time. So people weren't losing their jobs in the news. People weren't being canceled at the time because of their social media presence. And so I think being a part of that, like pioneering generation of people growing up with it for the first time, figuring out what's going to happen. And then now years later seeing what those ramifications are are for people is what makes it kind of annoying. Cause again, had, I, I think growing up in the generation of kids who are growing up now and being able to like when I teach my kids, I can point to direct stories of, okay, y'all think this isn't gonna impact you. Here's a post that this person made. Here's what their life was like. And then boom, they were fired. They lost their job. Like those are stories in the news that I can point to as examples where I didn't have that to look to when I was growing up and figuring out social media with the rest of the world to I when changed my approach a lot Speaker 0 00:27:11 Also think about like, you know, with the privacy aspect as well. Like we had, we were part of that generation that like was getting kidnapped and you know, traffic, human traffic due to like people meeting up with other people that they didn't know. And I like remember being on even instant messenger and like messaging people that lived in New York, like I was from Calif. Like I am not even in California, I was living in Hawaii. Like I had no business in these, like talking to these random people, you know, from God knows where, and you can even see it like on my space. Like there were girls that went missing because they met up with someone that they thought was somebody else, you know, like the OG catfish with like the dangerous catfish where people didn't return. And so there was just a lot that wasn't being said, and it was a lot of jurisdiction and laws that had to be created in response to, rather than trying to Speaker 1 00:28:02 Be proactive about, because Speaker 0 00:28:04 Like, we didn't know what we had to be proactive against. We didn't know the dark side of social media. I feel like. So like speaking about the future and like kids, like, do you talk to your students first of all, about social media, but then also like when you yourself have children, how are you planning on doing social media? Are you planning on having that be a thing? Speaker 1 00:28:26 Social media issues have definitely come up in the classroom a few times. So it's something that I've definitely had to wrap my head around addressing proactively and getting better and better at it every year, especially now when you're thinking about kids going to schools where it's one-to-one on devices and those devices aren't just accessible at school. And so figuring out, okay, how do you use this device responsibly? How do you make sure that your online presence is one that is generally okay, it's not something that's going to come back in and impact you later. And so having to have those conversations with my kids is something that I find myself doing that I didn't necessarily anticipate doing. But again also because the social media platform age is technically 13. So I also have to lead those conversations with like, by the way, y'all are not supposed to be on this platform, but since you're there and it is impacting the things that we're doing on a day to day basis here at the school, here are some conversations that we need to have about staying safe and being responsible and respectful. Speaker 1 00:29:34 And so those conversations of, you know, it's not just, Oh, you have to be respectful in the classroom because distance I want at, and then bringing that drama back into the classroom has impacts on what we're doing in our day to day classroom business. So now having to have those conversations and expanding those expectations beyond the four walls of my classroom has been a whole other set of challenges. And as for my children going up, I don't know, I just might be that terrible parent that tries really hard to keep them off of social media as much as possible, because I don't know, there's a lot to go around and figuring out that's putting that kid's information out there, pictures of them, their likeness information about them. So now it's even harder to answer those security questions that they ask you because half the time the answers are somewhere on your social media somewhere. So I don't know, I want to avoid it when I have kids. But I also say that knowing full well that having kids puts you in a different type of situation than talking about having kids. Speaker 0 00:30:40 Right. And I think that's like, I respect a lot of people who choose not to put, you know, their parents like to put their kids out there, especially like celebrities because fandoms and fans are ruthless, you know? And so like I respect when celebrities don't put out their child's name immediately or like don't put out a picture of their children and now do I think I'm anywhere near like the Kardashians or anything like that? No, but I don't believe that my child had a choice and choosing on whether or not they want it to be, you know, part of my social media. So I think that that's something like a larger conversation that needs to be had is like me putting their pictures and their like moments on there. I don't know. I don't know if I would plan on sharing that part of their lives with, you know, my followers and things like that. Speaker 0 00:31:35 No. When most of my followers are my friends and family. Yeah. It's nice to like, be able to have that connection so that people can see because you know, not a lot of my friends and family live in Texas. So, you know, I also don't know where I'll have kids, but again, it is, like you said, it's hard to say what it will be like, like I can say like, Oh yeah, my kid will never be like a tablet kid or like my kid would never be a telephone kid. I don't know. Like even just watching my nephews, like they are tiring. I love them to death. You know, they're nine and two years old, but sometimes it's just easier to give that two year old the tablet and be like, okay, now go do your thing. Speaker 1 00:32:12 And it makes me wonder if it's not actually kind of a disservice to not have them building up those skills at that young age, because they're going to be competing with kids who have been dealing with phones and tablets from start. And so I think also part of it is like, cause I used to be like, no, my kids aren't going to have technology and they're going to read books and we're going to do things that way. But then realizing that they still have to grow up and be competitive people in a workplace. So you still have like the technology not going away. I can't raise kids who don't know how to use an iPad until they're 13 like that. Doesn't, that's, that's not setting them up to be successful. Longterm technology is only getting more and more a part of our lives. So, you know, again, having to evolve on those mindsets and I think just being active in what the kids are doing on the phones and the tablets, I think is a big part of that. If you're going to do it, do it responsibly. And that's what I'm going to have to figure out. And they make it a lot easier now to, to monitor and to be really active in that you can set up kids' accounts on so many different things, which is really nice. Cause again, like when YouTube came out, you just went on YouTube and you just hope to use the unified, some sketchy, Speaker 0 00:33:25 Suspicious things. Speaker 1 00:33:28 So now they have just YouTube for kids. I mean, granted know, still check out YouTube for kids. You never know, people find creative ways to get through filters, but it's, it's easier. There's Netflix accounts for kids. Apple has accounts for kids. So that way, again, technology is not going away. So if, at least if I'm going to do it, I want to be able to monitor and guide kids, my kids through it, as opposed to just being like, here's the internet, good luck. Cause this terrible out there is not a nice place. Speaker 0 00:33:57 It is. It is constantly like, and I feel like we truly do not understand the internet either. Like we can say like, okay, this is a place where it's stored, but like where, and I think this is a more of an existential crisis that I have all the time is like, what is the internet, honestly, when you truly think about it and if you are an internet expert out there who can like explain it to me in layman's terms and in podcast terms, or I can learn to like unpack it, that'd be super cool. But like, what even is it? You know, like we still don't even know the ramifications. We still don't even know the effects of, but yeah. So like how, you know, we're talking about privacy, we're talking about having our kids on here, all those different things. How do you maintain your own privacy when you're using social media now as a 26 year old, Speaker 1 00:34:44 I just try, I don't post my daily life things. Um, and I've tried to go through all of the settings as PO as many settings as possible and try to, cause I have to find a balance, you know, because again, the technology works when it has more information about you, but like where do you find that balance of like, cause again, that the information about me is stored somewhere and we always see every few years, sometimes a little more frequently that the internet is super vulnerable to being found by people with malicious intent. And so figuring out how much information is safe on the internet, I think is something that I'm still trying to figure out that balance of like, how do I post enough to where I'm still, you know, making those connections and maintaining connections with people, but not so much that, you know, if someone were to hack, then my entire life would be ruined kind of thing, you know? Speaker 0 00:35:41 Yeah. I, yeah, I guess I'm the same way with like privacy. I'm a lot more in the same way that I was like conscious of, like this gets alikes. I now am more conscious about like, do I really need a post that, like, I think about that, what is that? The acronym that all teachers use? Is it like, think you have to think before you use it, like, so is it, is it true? Is it helpful? Is it I've never heard of this acronym? Oh, okay. Well let me bring it up. So like teachers and I, I I'm sure it's in other spaces too, but I see mostly teachers use it when they're discussing, um, social media and like posting and like ways to interact with other students and so Speaker 1 00:36:25 True. Helpful, inspiring, necessary, or kind. Yeah, Speaker 0 00:36:29 Basically, that's it. And so it's like one of those things that like teachers encourage their students, like before you tweet, before you post on Tik TOK, before you post on social media, you have to always think like, think, you know, is it true because you know, a lot of times people were repost and I'm not calling out like the older generation, but y'all be posting some alternative facts. And I'm like, is that true? Um, you know, is it helpful? You know, like, am I just repeating the same thing or am I actually Speaker 1 00:36:59 Adding to the conversation? Is it Speaker 0 00:37:01 Inspiring? Like, is it like life-changing or are you being like the ECA teacher and you know, not, you're just posting a chicken nugget and not a golden nugget. And is it necessary? Speaker 1 00:37:11 That's where most posts can stop right there. Is it necessary? Speaker 0 00:37:15 Is it necessary to post what you're posting and then is it kind? I think that that's always something that is super important. Like we want to instill these like values and things in our kids, but is it kind should always be at the forefront because people will be posting unkind stuff all the time, Speaker 1 00:37:31 All the time. Yeah. Oh, them comments who do not read the comments section, Speaker 0 00:37:37 It's ugly. It gets into a very ugly place really quickly. And I don't want like social anthropologists to look back at 2000 at the two thousands and be like, dang, these people are rude. Like they really thought there was, it was inconsequential to see these things, but not, this is like it's out there, like we're out here and we're able to see it. Speaker 1 00:37:57 How do you kind of set up your social media system to where you're also, you know, the truth part, the rude comments, but also not creating like your own little echo chamber where it's just you and your friends saying the same thing and you all agree with each other and no one's ever really like challenging your viewpoints. Like how do you, how do you find balance and maintaining that other side as well? Speaker 0 00:38:19 I can definitely say that I'm guilty. I'm guilty of being somebody that will delete you if I don't, you know, if I think that you're being suspect, if I think you're being racist, homophobic, transphobic, like there are certain things that I just do not stand on. And if I can see that constantly, this is something that you believe in, I will delete you. And so, you know, that does make my circle of people get a little bit smaller where we are all believing in the same thing. But again, in terms of like echo chamber, like I will not argue with somebody who does not have expertise in it. If that makes sense. You know, I will not argue with you because you got your education from Facebook university. Like I will argue with you when I know. And again, like, is that elitist of me to be like, I'm not engaging in conversations because I don't believe that you're educated enough to, to engage in these conversations with me. Speaker 0 00:39:12 Like, I don't know. I think that's something I'm still learning to unpack, but like I do, you know, like I'll read news articles from like both sides. I'll try to be a little bit more unbiased and like what I'm reading, you know, I'll go to things that are like, not likely what I, not the wing that I, I don't know how to say this. Un-politically, you know, like I try to read not unbiased, um, use and things like that. But again, it's getting harder and harder in this day and age where we're just becoming so divisive. I also like have to read multiple of the same topic just to like, get like an overview because at the end of the day, like, am I just getting the same thing said to me over and over and over again, I don't know. What about you? How do you manage the echo chamber? Speaker 1 00:39:58 It's exhausting because I think issues get more and more complex as we go along. And it's hard to, it's hard to feel like you have a good understanding of a good understanding of both sides fully. So I think what I try to lead with is, I don't know, just reading, I don't really con I don't talk to many people about their views on the internet, really at all. I read a lot of comments. I read a lot of comments. People maybe saying stuff on the internet. Speaker 0 00:40:32 If you have said something, suspect there is a guarantee that Chris and I have screenshotted it and sent it to each other and be like, what, what did she say? Speaker 1 00:40:42 You know, I don't delete people if they're saying things like that. Cause I'm, again also not on social media enough to see it regularly, if you are. I don't like to delete people just because they say stuff like that. I do enjoy because people will say stuff and then I'll read the comments. Other people will call them out. And honestly, if we're close enough, I'm not going to post on your social media. I'm about to give you a phone call and be like, Hey, sail. I saw that Nina, you posted, can you tell me more? Because I feel like I'm missing some context. Otherwise we have some other things that we might need to discuss, including not hanging out anymore. But I don't know. I will say like my, if my in-person circle of people is probably more of an echo chamber than my virtual connections, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I like to be around people that are like to be, and they're like you said, there are certain things I'm not actually going to argue with a person about, so there's certain like human type issues. I'm not going to argue with you about any sort of phobia or ism it's it's there. And if you are a part of it, like we don't actually have much in the way of like a friendship at all. Speaker 0 00:41:53 I think that was like a really large conversation that was beginning to happen. And I'm, I saw it closely with like the Pacific Islander community because you know, that is the community that I'm a part of. So I don't know what was happening amongst along the lines, you know, everywhere else. But it was something that we were beginning to rectify and try to like strategize on discussing with our parents, like things that we were seeing, misinformation that we were seeing being posted. And how do we do it from a way that's still culturally respectful? Because that is like a huge part of our culture is like, you know, being respectful in the way that we engage with our elders. Because again, at the end of the day, they are, you know, our cultural and our knowledge comes from them. But like, how do we rectify with that in a day and age where all this views is like, like news again, quote unquote news is being spread. Speaker 0 00:42:47 And so that was one of those big issues that we were seeing in this past year with like COVID with the elections and all those things. And that was really, I felt interesting to watch unfold and have those larger conversations and these zoom calls that we were having, like, how do we begin to address these issues with our parents? How do we begin to address these issues with our aunts and uncles, our grandparents? Because again, like I know it was being said all throughout the summer was like, change cannot happen until like, even your immediate circle is seeing that change as well. Right? Because like, it's easier. It's easy to get into like a, a keyboard warrior conversation with a complete stranger in Idaho, but it's even harder to have that conversation with the people that are in your backyard, in your home. I felt like that kind of, we kind of went off topic my bad. I know. Speaker 1 00:43:36 Well it's because of this, it opens a lot of segues and doorways. So we might actually have to reach out, find some more questions, get some more information about social media. Again, if someone is an engineer for the internet and knows how it works and would be willing to explain it because clearly Emma is stressed. So just some clarification on how the internet works. That'd be great. We will probably have to continue this conversation for sure. Speaker 0 00:44:00 If you'd like to come on and share your viewpoint as well, please reach out Speaker 1 00:44:04 If you're a parent and you're raising kids and having to figure out how to do the social media and the internet and the devices with them. Like absolutely. We're looking for more people to interview. We've only had one interview so far and he didn't really have a choice. So Speaker 0 00:44:18 We're looking for willing participants actually, Speaker 1 00:44:21 We'll keep this conversation open for the future kind of our final thing for right now, if you had to give social media, like your overall opinion. Yeah. I'm down with social media, like, mm, nah, actually I'm good. Keep that. What would be your final opinion? Can I be both NA yay or nay? Speaker 0 00:44:41 Okay. I would be yay. I would be EA for social media because while it does have its negative impacts, I do see the positive and I do enjoy and like reap the benefits of the positive. What about you Speaker 1 00:44:53 Solid name, easy name? Definitely. No, I would not. I wouldn't sign up for it. I wouldn't recommend anyone else signing up for it. If I go back and take out that entire part of my life, I definitely would. Do I recognize that we are now recording a podcast. That's going to go and be shared onto Instagram, a social media platform. Yes, yes I do. But again, especially the way we were growing up with it. Definitely. No, there was too many variables that weren't accounted for. And so now I just feel like a lot of people are held accountable to things that they weren't really told a lot about. So I would have to say, I'd have to say Nang. That'd be my final thing. Speaker 0 00:45:26 Okay. I like it. So as always, we are going to close out our session with a rapid fire question. Chris, would you like to go first? Yeah, sure. Speaker 1 00:45:39 My question today is what type of contest do you think would be fun to judge contest? Yeah. Like if you were going to like a game show, like, Speaker 0 00:45:48 Oh, okay. You said game show. I would love a love. Love, love, love, love to host either jeopardy, rip Alex, Trebek, love you. Or supermarket sweep or double dare $2. I think I would just like to host any type of game show because I love game shows. Those are like, I grew up on them. I love them, all that good stuff. What would you like to host Speaker 1 00:46:11 Or a cooking competition? Especially with people who are like, aren't that great at it? This is the one thing to like see people who are super great. And then you kind of feel bad after it's usually like, man, I could never make something like that. Like, no, no, no, no. Like average people, not like the professionals. Like I want to judge rich people try just trying their best. You know, that's what I would want to host their contest Speaker 0 00:46:31 At Nicole Byer. Chris is actually coming for your job. He's specifically talking about, nailed it. And we're actually really big fans and we've seen you live, but he's coming for your job. So high job. Um, my rapid fire question for today is if you could only write with one type of writing to utensil for the rest of your life, what brand and what writing utensil would that be? Speaker 1 00:46:57 It'd be a tool needle point black pen 0.5, actually tool Speaker 0 00:47:03 T U L everyone it's on at office Depot. I love tool writing utensils, all of them. If I had to choose though it would be a, Oh, I just started writing with it. It's a zebra Surasa clip and the point, and it says 0.5. But these are like amazing. If I had to pick a color, probably black, cause it's pretty versatile. You know, like I could do many things with that, but I am also a gal who enjoys all the different. Is there any type of like utensil that you want to put people on that you think that like everyone should buy? Speaker 1 00:47:34 I mean, I have just about every kind of tool that they make have the ballpoints the needle points, the felt tips, the permanent markers, the highlighters, the mechanical pencils, the planners. So they have like a whole system and the pens, they work on pretty much everything, but they definitely work the best on the tool, paper fax. So I would look into tool if you can. And they're always on sale office Depot. So catch a sale. That would be my recommendation. I think I would change my color to green though. Like an earthy kind of green, like the green olive green? No, not olive green. Oh my God. No, not that green forest green, like a forest green. Not like I've got too much, too much Brown. Speaker 0 00:48:18 Yeah. And like, Chris definitely put me on to tool. Like I love tool, the whole note taking system. Yeah. So I always check that section when I go to office Depot, especially cause it is always on sale. So I think it's a great system. I personally enjoy it. Speaker 1 00:48:32 Office Depot at Missy and kid, you know, just want to make sure y'all did not go to staples, trying to look for it. It's nice staples. I don't know what Emma told you. Speaker 0 00:48:42 Thanks. She just went to staples. Oh kid, look now you're getting me in trouble. Anyway. If I could put somebody on any products, it would be definitely like at Sharpie products, they're constantly coming out with things. I personally am a huge fan of their, their highlighter that has like the clear tip on it. All you have to do is like you just highlight and it tells you where to stop. Cause there's a clear tip. They also just came up with these like markers that I just bought at target eight 99. I honestly like we're giving away free sponsorships. So they should really start sponsoring them Speaker 1 00:49:12 And Sharpies really consistent. It's not my favorite, but it's consistent. The products are durable for the most part like that. And they work they're Speaker 0 00:49:19 Up there. They're up there for consistency for sure. Speaker 1 00:49:21 All right, Emma. Well, where can people find the podcast? Speaker 0 00:49:25 You can find our podcast on Twitter or Instagram at the T with crema, or you can find us anywhere that you can stream podcasts such as Apple podcast, Spotify or Stitcher. We'll see you next time. Bye.