A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Phobias and Fears: Navigating Our Deepest Anxieties S:1E:39
We all have them – those heart-pounding, palm-sweating moments when something triggers our deepest fears. But when does a healthy caution cross into phobia territory? That's exactly what we're unpacking in this revealing conversation.
Fear, as we discover, serves as our natural alarm system. It's that gut response alerting us to potential danger, helping us dodge threats before they strike. A phobia, however, hijacks this system entirely. It transforms reasonable caution into overwhelming anxiety, often completely disproportionate to any actual risk involved.
The personal stories shared in this episode vividly illustrate how differently phobias manifest. Jane describes her paralyzing ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) that can literally cause her to lose consciousness. Dr. Domain reveals the fascinating paradox of his acrophobia (fear of heights) – capable of flying planes thousands of feet up when in control, yet terrified on a ladder just eight feet off the ground. Meanwhile, Bobbi shares her specific fear of driving across water-spanning bridges with her children in the car, haunted by the thought of being unable to save them all in an emergency.
Whether you're curious about the difference between everyday fears and clinical phobias, wondering if your own reactions qualify as phobic, or simply fascinated by the psychology behind our most primal emotions, this episode offers insights that might just help you understand yourself – or someone you care about – a little better. What's your biggest fear? We'd love to hear your story at boomerandgenxer@gmail.com.
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
Welcome you all to the phobia workshop. My name is Lee and I actually have a phobia myself. I have a fear of the word which is spelt a a gh exclamation mark that word. Why don't you tell me about yourselves?
Speaker 2:starting with you.
Speaker 1:Hi everyone, my name is Jim and I have a fear of apologies. Sorry, sorry, ah.
Speaker 2:Ah, welcome everyone to today's show. A Boomer and a Gen Xer walk into a bar, coming to you from the Rabbit Hole Studio, where you, as our listener, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smartassery and a mother and daughter questioning. Are we even related? My name is Bobbi Joy and my co-host is my mom, jane, and we are here to entertain for a little while.
Speaker 3:Uh-oh, I'm down here in fear of speaking, because you were yelling at me earlier and I didn't want you to yell at me again so I have a feeling.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's a phobia?
Speaker 3:I'm not really sure, but our topic today is fears and phobias. Fears and phobias what's the difference? What is the difference between a fear and a phobia? I can tell you, can you?
Speaker 2:I can all right, a fear is kind of a normal response.
Speaker 3:It's a natural and often helpful emotion that kind of helps people to not only perceive what's going on but just kind of react to what's going on. It can be something that you can adapt to, but fear also helps you to avoid danger right, and so it's typically something that has some type of proportionate danger to it, but not a lot. It's what we perceive as a danger. Phobia, on the other hand, involves an exaggerated or persistent fear that is really often out of proportion for what the actual danger is, if there's even a danger there at all, right, so it's a perceived danger and it's really excessive. And uh, phobia comes with intense anxiety that is triggered by whatever the fear is. Now, it could be a situation, it could be an object, it could be a word, I suppose like sorry it could be.
Speaker 2:It could even be photos of things yeah, it could not even the real thing, just a photo of it oh my hmm okay. Well, that's the show, folks, and uh so, um, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about do you have any? Let's start with fears.
Speaker 3:Do you have any fears, just fear well, I mean, you know the normal ones of you know being a failure to my kids or losing my house, things like that you know the fears that drive me every day to not be a shit bag so the normal human fears of being an adult really kind of yeah, yeah, I'd say so I mean I have other, you know, fears that kind of came along as a result of things happening like your child like, like one specific child um, who survived a horrific incident in school only to uh repeatedly crash his motorcycle on me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so yeah, that is a fear right there it is, that is a fear.
Speaker 3:So I have some fears that usually come to mind around 2.30, 3 o'clock in the morning when I'm trying to sleep and they wake me up and go hey, let's worry about what you did back when you were in fourth grade In music class. Well, that's overthinking, overthinking, I think more anxiety and overthinking that probably is. So the fears, the fears that I have, are have to do with, probably, things that could happen that haven't happened, right, right, um, that's what mine are anyway. So I I think about oh gosh, what if I'm gone and I get into a car wreck and my dogs are here and nobody's here to come get my dogs and somebody forgets that I have the dogs and they starve to death?
Speaker 2:I mean, are you going to outlive me, because I know you have the dogs?
Speaker 3:No, I'm saying that if something happened. I mean, I've always been here to let the dogs out, I know, but I'm just saying that if something happened to me, okay, you know it's like oh, are they going to check on the dogs, make sure the dogs are okay, or you know, are they gonna do this or that? I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I think about if something happened where I wouldn't follow through on it.
Speaker 2:I'd have to rely on you guys to follow okay so that's your example and you know it's hey dr domain, she, she put the dogs above you bud he can think on his end and he can feed himself.
Speaker 3:Okay, he can drive he can drive to the store. He can get his own hamburger from the doctor domain. Check on my dogs well, I mean I don't worry about like, do you worry about if, like, the bills would get paid, if some you know, do you worry about that stuff? You do I know I'm poor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I work about that stuff. I get five dollars in my bank and my check engine light comes on. I am not in a good place, but yeah so. So I have fears so like, are you fear? Are you fearful of? Like certain plants? Like, are you fearful of the color blue? No, some of the things that I've heard over the years no, I don't have any of those fears whatsoever.
Speaker 3:I just I don't. I don't have anything. You those?
Speaker 2:fears whatsoever, I just I don't. I don't have anything you know, not scared of heights? I know you're not scared of heights, I'm not scared of heights.
Speaker 3:I'm not afraid of dark places. I'm not afraid to be in, you know, not close to Open water. I am not claustrophobic.
Speaker 2:The only time I've ever had a water issue is we were scuba diving and the water.
Speaker 3:The sea was really, really rough, so you shouldn't have been scuba diving. Well, no, not scuba diving, did I say scuba?
Speaker 2:snorkeling, dear lord, you still shouldn't have been snorkeling. That's even worse yeah, so snorkeling.
Speaker 3:What happened was? It made me really sick, and so I had to get back in the boat, yeah, so okay, that was. That was kind of fearful for me, because when people I guess that is kind of a fear, because when I watch shows where people are drowning, yeah, and we mentioned this. Yeah, suffocation I hold my breath and it's like, oh, I can't breathe. Yeah, that's kind of a fear, isn't it? Yeah, that could be considered a fear.
Speaker 2:So? So what are your fears there, bobby? Um, besides the normal stuff, uh, driving over bridges that are over water. If my kids are in the car, why?
Speaker 2:and I know that's really specific. I know it is. I've always had an issue with bridges. Um, I'm not sure where it came from or anything, because you know whatever, but if my children are strapped, especially when they were younger, if they are strapped in that car and I'm driving over water on a bridge, I'm white knuckling it, I'm barely breathing the whole time, I mean eyes forward. I don't care if my kids are screaming in the back, because my biggest fear was I wouldn't be able to get to all of the kids to release them before they drowned. Yeah, that was I mean, and it still is, even though my kids are basically grown. Yeah, that's a fear of mine. If I have them in the car and I'm driving over a bridge and there's water underneath, that's my big fear, okay I think that's a, I mean, that's a good one right there, but it isn't that you're afraid of heights.
Speaker 3:Being on a bridge, no, oh God, no, no if I'm by myself, I mean it's whatever.
Speaker 2:Okay, but yeah, like I said, especially when they were younger, in car seats and stuff, my biggest fear was if we hit that water, I'm not going to have enough time to release them all.
Speaker 3:I think about that, though, too, when.
Speaker 2:I have somebody else in the car, especially one of the littles. If I have a little in the car, it's like, oh, I think about that, oh yeah. And when I have all my kids in in the car with me at the same time, it's like this is my entire world right here. Like this is my family in this car. What if some jackass decides to not, you know, go?
Speaker 3:by the line and you go in the pond or into the river or even just getting like t-boned at a red light you know, things like that that yeah that scares the crap out of me I've thought about that when I've had littles in the car, and that's why I don't drink with them in the car anymore. So what about you, doctor? What about Domain? What are your fears?
Speaker 1:I developed this really, and this is recently. It's called trypophobia Trypophobia.
Speaker 2:No, I've heard of this, okay.
Speaker 1:So well, it's not necessarily. I don't know if it's a fear or just a really strong aversion.
Speaker 3:Is it like an anxiety about tryp the fish? It's the sight of clusters of holes oh yeah, that's right. Holes or bumps or something, or just a really strong aversion.
Speaker 1:Is it like an anxiety about tripe the fish?
Speaker 2:It's the sight of clusters of holes. Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Holes or bumps or something.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not really a. I don't think it's like officially recognized as a phobia, from what I read.
Speaker 2:But I don't. I think it's just a mental disorder. It's like an avoidance. It's probably a mental disorder more than anything.
Speaker 1:Probably, I'm just saying Keep that sponge away from me.
Speaker 3:I was aware of that because you brought that to my attention before. But you also have another fear that I'm aware of no-transcript. We're listening.
Speaker 2:We're listening, we're listening, we listen and we don't touch the fear of being too successful.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 3:What. What is it?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:About being too successful. Is that what he said?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He's using avoidance.
Speaker 1:He is no, what is it? What is it he?
Speaker 2:doesn't even know.
Speaker 3:No, I don't even know what it is A fear of heights. Oh my goodness, yeah. So we had to replace one of the air conditioners on top of that big old motorhome out there. And guess who had to get up there and who had to carry a nine-ton stupid air conditioner up?
Speaker 1:there I provided support.
Speaker 3:You both provided support yeah, and. Corey was here, but they're heavy and anyway I was up there like four times trying to get things taken care of. So phobias are recognized as a form of anxiety disorder. Specifically, they're categorized as kind of like a social anxiety disorder. They involve persistent, excessive fear or anxiety triggered by a specific object, situation or circumstance. Now I have a phobia yes, you do I know what it is.
Speaker 1:I know what it is and I.
Speaker 2:I suffered with it for a lot of my life too yeah, it's called.
Speaker 3:It's called nomophobia nomo because you got no more money no, it's a fear of being without your phone that's not true. I think that's true that is not true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have a fear. That's a fear, that's not a phobia.
Speaker 3:She no I don't have a phobia.
Speaker 1:A phobia does include an irrational fear it does a phobia does yeah it's very irrational, it's more your reaction or extreme or extreme yeah it is yeah I would say that, yeah, nomophobia you're crazy phobia.
Speaker 3:I'm not having my phone. Yeah, I could put my phone up longer, then why?
Speaker 2:doesn't she ever answer it?
Speaker 3:because I'll call right back.
Speaker 2:What did you throw?
Speaker 3:it in the lake that's another fear.
Speaker 1:I told you yeah, I told my phone. My phone's a ringing phobia, and she doesn't want to answer it. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:She's probably one of them. Damn kids yeah.
Speaker 3:I told you that I could go without my phone and that's no problem.
Speaker 2:We need to have a challenge.
Speaker 3:I'm good with that.
Speaker 2:Let's do it. I mean I'm not going to participate but y'all can I've also told you.
Speaker 3:She's going to encourage it.
Speaker 1:She's going to draw the bet up.
Speaker 3:I've also told you what it means when I say I'll call you right back. Yeah, go about your life Enjoy your day. I'm not going to come back and call you back. So I do have a phobia and I will mention what that phobia is.
Speaker 2:Can you even say the words yeah, oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I have a phobia of snakes, and it's not people go. Oh, I'm scared of snakes too.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. No, you have no idea. I have so many stories you have no idea.
Speaker 3:And I remember my ex-sister-in-law said oh, there was a bull snake in my basement and she had a finished basement and everything. And and it's like where'd that come from? And she goes oh, it came up to the drain, I'd burn that mother down. I'm not. That house would have been burnt down before you could even tell the story.
Speaker 2:Okay, like when you tried to run over the air conditioner on the south side because of the snake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, when I was a kid. This is really sad. My you know we were super poor yeah and my mom had a big garden.
Speaker 3:God love her. She, you know, worked hard at this garden and she's a good gardener. And we did have a little bitty snapper riding lawnmower that my dad pieced together and I remember she'd tell me to go out and get tomatoes out of the garden. And I ain't walking through that grass to get to the garden. It's not like I had to walk four miles uphill, I didn't, it was just in the backyard. I'd get the mower out and I would ride it to the garden. And this is what's the saddest part she would plant like 60 tomato plants because she canned everything Right, because we had to, and so I would get out there to get the tomatoes and I didn't want to get off the mower, so I would run over the tomato plants to get them. Oh my gosh, she'd go. I know that I planted 60 tomato plants. What happened?
Speaker 2:You just had her convinced that she was losing her shit.
Speaker 3:Well, you know kind of like what you guys do to me, right, but I do. I definitely have a phobia, and let me tell you how that works. It closes off my throat. I cannot breathe. I have passed out easily. If it comes up on and I have a nephew I'm not going to mention his name, but the little butthead he'll send me reels or some type of meme or something that's got some snake in it that pops up, yeah, in this stupid reel. Just to scare the crap out of me. I can't even touch the tv or pictures or anything like that because they're snakes. So, or the snake skin boots yeah I can't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I can't. Snake. Skin creeps me out. Now I did. For a very, very long time I suffered with the same phobia, and I mean it was a phobia to where, yeah, you had a hard time breathing, you couldn't move. There were times that I mean I literally peed my pants seeing a snake I mean there was nothing funny about it? No, and lucky for me, I had a sister who is not scared of snakes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so she found that out early on and chased me all the time. She put one in the mailbox one time. Oh god, the fear of snakes yeah I can't remember off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:I just know I have a phobia of snakes, so um she put one in the mailbox one time ophidiophobia, I think, and I, I, yeah, ophidiophobia, I almost that's have, yeah, so next time you go to the bar you can say, hey, don't break out the snakes, I have ophidiophobia, so here's why you don't tell people now that I've told everybody on the podcast yeah.
Speaker 3:Here's why you don't. When I was working out at the plant, I had told the guys. I said I'm just going to tell you right now. I have a phobia of snakes Because you know we had what? 100 and some acres out there Right.
Speaker 3:Plus we had to be on site and all that stuff and I said if it lies it dies. So if you see it, you got to kill it. And that's the rule now. And I said if you ever bring a snake up to me or you try to put one in my truck, you try to bring one up to the office, I will fire you for horseplay. There's no question about it. I will fire you for that. And fair warning. It was fair warning because I pass out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a literal medical issue with you when it happens yeah, and so what do you do?
Speaker 3:I mean, you know, uh, jane come can't come to the meeting right now because she passed out.
Speaker 2:Can somebody go pick up Jane on Field 3, Tower 2? We found a snake.
Speaker 3:I even thought about getting hypnotized. I wonder if any of our listeners, because of their phobias, have ever tried to get hypnotized. So what's your phobia? Phobia.
Speaker 2:Bobby. So that was my big one for most of my life you also have one of getting uh, what's that?
Speaker 3:uh disease on a ship scurvy.
Speaker 2:That's not a phobia, that's just something you think about three times a day is that a fear?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, but, and I'll tell my, you know, my snake stuff is I. I think it was a little bit of your phobia, you know, kind of trickling down to me, because I saw how you reacted and my first thought is, oh god, you know, this must be really bad. Now, when I moved back from texas in 2013, one of my really good friends, who we've been best friends since we were 13 years old, he had started his business of breeding ball pythons and so he had, I mean, dozens of snakes in his house, and I always told him I said, I'm not coming to visit you, I can't do it Like I cannot do it, even just knowing they're in the house. I can't step in your house. And so we talked for, I mean, it took a few years between years between you know, every time I would come over, he would cover and hide all the snakes, you know, just to get me in the house, to get over that part and a little girl right.
Speaker 2:But at the end of it, I actually walked up to one of his cages and there was a snake I really liked called dick neck, and he'd had him since a baby, and you can imagine why he was called dick neck um, but he'd had him since he was, and you can imagine why he was called dick neck um. But he'd had him since he was a baby and he was one of the ones that he used to desensitize me, basically to these snakes. And I walked right in and I picked him up right out of his cage. I said nothing to nobody, I just did it and it was like a whole switch had turned. But let me tell you it doesn't work for garter snakes, because those things are directly from hell.
Speaker 2:I don't care if it's dead or alive. If I see a dead garter snake, I mean like I feel my heart stop.
Speaker 3:Isn't it funny how that works, because it doesn't matter. It could be a snake.
Speaker 2:That's two inches long and I'm See, and I only seem to have an aversion to garter snakes I mean the other snakes I have no problem what about bull, snakes and stuff? No, I don't have a problem with those. Hmm, no, it doesn't matter how big they are, I mean the venomous ones, not an issue.
Speaker 3:So literally, garter snakes so there's a lot of people out there that have phobias, and I mean phobias to like spiders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, spiders don't bother me at all I could care less about spiders none of the other critters bother me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, none of them, and so a lot of people. So I should post this out on our official website for boomer and gen xer. I posted it today in our georgia house we had one of the cameras. Oh I that we were watching the cat go across the front porch and here's this huge old spider right into the camera and it looks like the spider's ginormous and the cat is like well, that's not our cat and that's not our spider, but I should post that on. Let's do that. We'll post it on the official website.
Speaker 2:The Facebook page.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that people can see it. But some people have that to spiders and I think that's more common than what we think.
Speaker 2:I think it is too, and anytime I find out that I have a friend or someone I know with a phobia, I know what that feels like. I'm not going to screw around with it. That's not something that I'm going to joke about. It's not something I'm going to chase you with or anything like that. I understand that it's a real thing. Now, if it's just a fear and you just scream like a girl type of thing, okay, I'm going to make fun of you. But no real phobias. I mean, they're nothing to mess around with. They actually have major consequences for the person who has them. It's not like you can just go, oh well, be around them more and you'll be fine. That's that's like telling an asthmatic to go outside for some fresh air because their asthma will be cured.
Speaker 3:So do you know what the most common phobia is? And it used to be that people would say well, it's a fear. You know your biggest fear out there is public speaking. That is not true any longer. I would say it's probably heights. It is really your heights. Yeah, yeah, it is that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I don't have any fear of heights. I have fear of the landing if I fall I fear that because it stops you so quick. Yeah, I mean that that's what's gonna hurt is the landing nothing else is gonna hurt on the way down.
Speaker 3:So you would understand that fear of heights has been pretty prominent, wouldn't you there, Dr Domain?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm okay in a plane.
Speaker 2:Yeah because, you're a pilot.
Speaker 1:If I'm flying the plane, I feel like I have control, so I can be thousands of feet over the ground and I had asked you that. But on the ladder. It's not my thing.
Speaker 3:Isn't that wild? Because I had asked you that. I said how can you be a pilot and have a fear of heights? It's so weird.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're in control. Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 1:If you're in control, yeah.
Speaker 2:Same with a car. I'm a horrible passenger because I'm terrified, no matter who's driving.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm terrified, so I drive. Let me go back to you, doc, um you sometimes have issues.
Speaker 1:Going over a bridge, though, and you're in control of the vehicle. Yeah, well, it's the height. I think that's part of it, and it might be mixed with what bobby was saying is it the fear that I was? Just looking that up, it's, it's gero. Phobia is a fear of bridges I don't know so much the bridge itself, but just maybe the travel over the bridge now is it?
Speaker 2:is it a specific height for you, like, are you more fearful if you know that there's a possibility you could survive but be a vegetable? Or like you know because up in a plane you're not going to survive? If you fall out of a freaking airplane or you know things like that, there's not a good chance of survival?
Speaker 3:The likelihood is slim, yeah, the probability is slim, yeah. The probability.
Speaker 2:But I mean, if you fall off, say the motor home, I mean you're, you're most likely gonna survive, but then there's a chance you're gonna be. You're just retarded, wearing a helmet the rest of your life licking elbows or licking windows.
Speaker 3:Hey, go out and clean the windows.
Speaker 1:I think that's the limit. Is the height of the RV?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, okay so anything that and below you get kind of shaky on yeah. Like maybe the roof of a house.
Speaker 1:Maybe eight foot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's probably where it starts. Anything above that is yeah. Yeah, You're good.
Speaker 3:So what do you think the second phobia is?
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's fair heights Um.
Speaker 1:I think it's a recent phobia too.
Speaker 2:A recent one, I don't know my opinion. Fear of no Wi-Fi? No, but that's a good one. Cell signal.
Speaker 3:That might be on the list, though, but fear of spiders is number two, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:And then number three, legit.
Speaker 3:Arachnophobia.
Speaker 2:Yep arachnophobia Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, I shouldn't say these are in order. Really, I shouldn't even say that, because some of them are not. There's different kinds of phobias. There's generic, based on your everyday life, and then there's other types of things that come up that are psychological, so acrobaphobia.
Speaker 2:Here she goes. She does the best she can with the tongue that she has Acrophobia, fear of acrobats.
Speaker 3:There's the fear of has Acrophobia.
Speaker 2:Fear of acrobats Is the fear of heights.
Speaker 3:Oh close, aerophobia is the fear of flying. So there is. You know, it isn't just the fear of heights.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:We talked about arachnophobia, orphideophobia, orphideophobia.
Speaker 2:Smile so I can see if half of your face is drooping, I'm drilling down here, you know that's not funny.
Speaker 3:Drooping, I'm drooping down here, you know that's not funny.
Speaker 2:Don't say that's not funny to me. I'll start laughing. That's not funny. That is the fear of snakes you said it earlier, dr Domain, I didn't say it earlier. Yeah, a phidiophobia.
Speaker 3:Cinephobia is the fear of A movie. No Cinema, I don't know. Cynics, aphidiophobia, cinephobia is the fear of a movie cinema cynics, critical thinking dogs trypanophobia is the fear of cooking bedpans.
Speaker 1:We could never get these, could we? Is the fear of cooking Bedpans.
Speaker 3:We could never get these, could we Injections?
Speaker 2:Needles. Oh, and you know, there is a difference between the fear of like an injection or a blood draw and the fear of a tattoo, so Completely different.
Speaker 3:So do you? Are you fearful of getting your blood drawn or of?
Speaker 2:a shot no.
Speaker 3:So do you just watch it? Oh yeah, yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:Oh, I watch yeah, that's a real thing. So my son and my ex-wife had the same condition as vasovagal and actually they have physical reaction to it.
Speaker 3:Meaning like they pass out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they pass out, they like clock out.
Speaker 3:Because of blood, I was out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah they pass out. They like clock out, because I was in the hospital. Yeah, blood, I was in the hospital and my son coughed up a little blood because he had gotten his tonsils out and she stood up to excuse herself. We're in the hospital. She walked like four paces and boom, yeah, right there at the hospital. Yeah, it's a physical thing, it turns into a physical hospital. Yeah, it's a physical thing, it turns into a physical thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't understand. I mean, it's in your body and you see it all the time.
Speaker 3:I don't have any problem watching anybody else Could you?
Speaker 2:imagine being a woman on your menstrual cycle and having that type of issue.
Speaker 1:How does that work? Pneumophobia, I think is it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Fear of blood.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how does that work? Well, yeah, but you just said that she had a phobia of blood.
Speaker 1:I wasn't around, I didn't hang out during those moments.
Speaker 2:Oh, so she just passed out on the bathroom floor and free bled all over the place. What'd you do?
Speaker 3:Go on a fishing trip. Every time she had her period, he took off in the plane.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's right. I'm working on my own fears Back off.
Speaker 2:I wonder, how that would work, though I mean honestly, because I don't know. Could you imagine somebody that gets nosebleeds all the time and you pass out every time you see blood? That would be crazy. I'd have to wear a helmet, my youngest son is the same.
Speaker 1:He'll turn ghost white and he'll just shut down.
Speaker 3:That's crazy to me.
Speaker 1:Can't give blood, not a. Thing.
Speaker 3:So again, I would kind of like to know what our listeners, how they react, because not everybody reacts the same right. Some people scream, some people lose their breath, some people pass out, some people run, some people throw up, some people throw up exactly. I'd like to know how our listeners respond and what their phobia or their fear is. If it's a phobia, it's going to be pretty severe. If it's a fear, it's a fear. That's not that big of a deal.
Speaker 2:Well, they can still be severe to the person, it's just not a.
Speaker 1:I don't believe that. That number one phobia, what did you say it was? It was like public speaking.
Speaker 3:No, it used to be public speaking, now it's heights I don't agree with that okay. Well, thank you for your opinion.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just saying I, I think, well, I and I, I think that with the evolution of social media and all these other garbage sites, that a lot of people have anxiety around social, social, anxiety.
Speaker 3:What would that be called?
Speaker 1:fear of being a human and interacting with folks in a normal manner phobia I don't know what you call it well um, I'm just saying that I think that's the real thing I think you're probably right, but I don't, I don't know that it's like officially categorized, but um, and it's not a phobia, though.
Speaker 3:It's just a fear, because I don't react like a human extreme, oh um mysophobia, which is excessive fear of germs and dirt oh, wait a second.
Speaker 2:You don't have excessive reactions I don't have a phobia.
Speaker 3:Yes, you do no, yes you do no, help me out Domain.
Speaker 1:What was the phobia again?
Speaker 3:Germs and dirt.
Speaker 1:Germaphobe yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know it's probably a slang. Is it a fear for her or is it a phobia?
Speaker 3:I think it's just a fear.
Speaker 2:It's a phobia. You got it 100%.
Speaker 1:I think she's just being cautious. She doesn't want to catch anything.
Speaker 3:He's such a Just suck up. Gonna have that milk bone underwear later. So there is a social phobia which is a phobia, excuse me, a social phobia which is a fear of social situations. I think a lot of people have that, especially those who you know sit in their parents' basement and play games all the time and can't really face the real world.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think a lot of this did pop up during the pandemic, when everybody was locked down as well. I mean, you have college students that were coming into college when that started and they graduated before they could even attend a class in person.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true, that is true. So there is what's called a cyberphobia. A cyberphobia, okay, or?
Speaker 2:technophobia, so the fear of AI becoming too powerful.
Speaker 3:You know, that's my fear. I'm serial as a heart attack.
Speaker 2:I mean they can have it. I'm serious Something's got to work.
Speaker 3:I mean everything else breaks. I mean, nothing runs right and yet you're going to put these robots Anyway. So cyberphobia or technophobia is the fear or anxiety associated with being away from or without a Wi-Fi connection. Boom, boom, yep, yep, yep yep, it's often linked to nomophobia, which is a fear of being without your mobile phone. That's not me.
Speaker 2:You keep pointing at me and that's not true, I mean, I'm telling you every time she.
Speaker 1:You do have anxiety. I think she throws it in the lake all the time. Yes, you're like where's my phone? Your technophobia.
Speaker 2:Where's my will be it just raves.
Speaker 1:You know what it's true. It is true Admit it. You're like where's my whoopee? Bring it up to me. No, yes.
Speaker 3:Because you do it as much, if not more. Where's my phone? Where'd I put my keys? Where's my coat? Did you see where I put that?
Speaker 2:screwdriver, I just sat down. It has nothing to do with not being able to be without your mobile phone. You just went off. Okay, what did?
Speaker 1:you call it Deflecting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's deflecting, deflecting.
Speaker 3:I'm taking lessons from Bobby on how to speak highbrow, how to speak eyebrow, highbrow, highbrow, highbrow. Oh, I see. So, bobby, did you tell us what your?
Speaker 2:phobia was. Yeah, I said the snake thing. I mean the garter snake thing is definitely Other than that. I don't know that I actually have. I mean I have an intense fear of open ocean. I definitely have that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, like the deepest parts and stuff, I don't want to see a megalodon. I don't want the giant squid, I don't want to see a megalodon.
Speaker 3:I don't want the giant squid, I don't want any of it. I want to see all that.
Speaker 1:That's why that's If you still see the kraken, the kraken. Oh my God, you got to say it that way.
Speaker 2:Now would I go like Would I learn how to the kraken the?
Speaker 1:kraken, the kraken.
Speaker 2:Scuba dive Well, even in open ocean. Because I want to go to the Bermuda Triangle, I would dive there.
Speaker 3:Dr Domain does.
Speaker 1:Wait, wasn't that on an earlier episode we talked about superpowers?
Speaker 3:Yes, mine was to go into water as deep as I possibly could. Well, but I don't want to go deep. I'll go see the wrecks, but open ocean.
Speaker 2:I can't see land. No, no, thank you, nope.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. Or you could put a. You know, if your mom had the superpower, put a saddle on her and you could go wherever you want in the ocean.
Speaker 2:What am I going to do? What Bring it through her ears? That is so bizarre. How would I bring it? That is so bizarre, that's a weird superpower. Why would I want to saddle my mom? Exactly? That's a weird superpower.
Speaker 3:Superpower is this a bizarre sexual thing with you. What is going? On google search history I know I don't even want to look at it saddling up a boomer the fear of dying and not clearing your search history before your family gets.
Speaker 2:That is fearful.
Speaker 3:that is fearful, or you know your nightstands Clear those out.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean the granny porn. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Hey, you don't know what granny porn's all about. It's not that bad, it's pretty darn good, oh my God.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying it's just regular porn for you it is that's right.
Speaker 3:All I have to do is stand in front of the mirror.
Speaker 2:That's it, you go of the mirror. That's it, you go. Oh okay, no, we're not. No, we're not. We're done with god. How do we always get into this?
Speaker 3:this is wrong well, I don't know that I have anything else. I mean, did you have anything else? Uh, bobby, that, um, you thought was a fear or a phobia?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I mean, I really don't care. I don't have a fear of people not liking me. I don't have a fear of you know things.
Speaker 3:I don't give a shit but so I mean when we were talking about the snakes and when I say a phobia. I would put my arm inside of an alligator, no problem. I would be covered in spiders, no problem, I would. You know what else is there? I mean, there's nothing else that I'm fearful of Right.
Speaker 3:It's like, okay, I can do all of that, and even a really long worm is okay, but not a snake, a really long worm. And here's the biggest advantage I have having my dogs. They are snake killers. They love to kill those snakes and I love the fact that they do it mine just barks at them. Her two brain cells don't work together oh man, my, my dogs need to come over to your house because, they teach my dog how to dog here's how you're supposed to take care of those snakes follow us.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that's probably all we have for today. It was fun, though, and I really would like to know what some of our listeners have for phobias and how they actually respond to them, because some of it can be a real mental or health issue for a lot of us. So, anyway, we appreciate you joining us here at the rabbit hole studio. Be sure to follow us. We look forward to spending time with you guys each and every week. I don't know if you saw out on our facebook page, but we hit some milestones and we are so excited about that yes, we are in 11 countries now and 161 cities and um.
Speaker 3:This past week we hit 2 000 downloads, so we were pretty happy about that, so we're moving forward. Please like us. If you have some positive feedback for us or if there's a topic that you want us to talk about, drop us a short email at boomer and gen x or at gmailcom. If you have hate mail not interested, send that over to bobby I'll take it until next week. I'm jane burke and I'm bobby joy, and you're stuck with us.
Speaker 2:Peace out later.