Ep 12 Are You Doom Scrolling???

Chapters

00:00 Exploring New Formats and Experiences
02:45 The Impact of Social Media on Daily Life
05:31 Doom Scrolling and Digital Loneliness
11:51 The Effects of Phone Addiction
16:26 Navigating Boredom and Creativity
18:59 Navigating Social Media and Digital Detox
20:14 The Echo Chamber Effect
21:44 Resetting Algorithms for Better Content
22:41 Trust Issues with Online Information
24:04 The Evolution of E-commerce
27:13 Balancing Social Media and Productivity
29:39 Understanding Time Investment in Gaming
32:14 Evaluating Priorities and Time Management
33:14 The State of US Household Debt
38:46 Economic Disparities and Wealth Distribution
41:40 Understanding Debt and Assets
43:31 The Impact of Wealth Concentration
49:40 Consumer Spending and Economic Indicators
51:10 Future Conversations on Mental and Spiritual Health
56:14 NEWCHAPTER

 Summary

In this engaging episode, the hosts explore social media habits, the impact of digital consumption on mental health, and the economic insights from recent data. They share personal experiences, analyze the influence of algorithms, and discuss strategies for mindful technology use to foster better well-being.

Most of us are wasting up to 70 days a year mindlessly scrolling on our phones—yes, 70. That’s roughly a quarter of your year lost in memes, falls, and the endless abyss of doom scrolling. And guess what? That social media obsession might just be fueling feelings of loneliness instead of connection, especially among Gen Z and millennials. So, what’s the real cost? Spoiler alert: it’s more than just your time—it’s your mental health, your productivity, and maybe even your sanity.In this episode, we flip the script on ‘just scrolling’ and dive into how that dopamine hit is secretly draining your focus, happiness, and actual progress. You’ll discover: why doom scrolling is the digital pacifier keeping us distracted from real growth; how the pandemic exponentially increased phone addiction and anxiety; and surprisingly simple hacks to reclaim your time—like deleting algorithms and turning your phone into a fortress. We break down the science behind social media’s seductive grip, share eye-opening stats, and explore why being bored might be your secret weapon against digital loneliness.We also tackle the broader question—what does it really mean to be connected? More importantly, how can you reconnect with your purpose, your people, and your own peace, without sacrificing your mental bandwidth? Whether you’re desperate to cut down your screen time, curious about AI art’s impact on creativity, or just tired of losing hours to TikTok, this episode is your wake-up call.Perfect for anyone drowning in notifications but craving clarity, this conversation challenges you to rethink your digital habits. Because if you don’t control your screens, your screens will control you—and that’s a trap you can’t afford.And yes, your social media addiction is real, but so is your power to change it. Tune in, level up, and let’s reclaim those 70 days—your future self will thank you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:02

Welcome again to another episode of the Unk Talk Podcast. It's your favorite host, Jay Stafford, aka Mr. Get a Job. We're here to empower uncles and inspire nephews. It's hard conversations with zero yelling. First off, we want to just thank you again for tuning in on Tuesday, every Tuesday. We know you could have been anywhere in the world, but you're here with us. We appreciate it. Continue to like and subscribe on any platform that you see us. And give us a thumbs up or leave us a comment. We appreciate it. We read every comment and we even reply. So jumping back into the episode. Again, for the last couple weeks, we've just been taking a break, trying to refocus and try to plan out our next episodes. And this week and for the next two weeks, we're gonna do the same. So again, hang with us and continue to look out for our mental health series, which will be dropping in three weeks from now. In this episode, we get into my doom scrolling addiction, how AI is fooling everybody, and we start a conversation about financials. I know it gets a little deep, guys, but just hang with us. We're gonna try to make it make sense. So let's dive in, have fun with us. And again, remember like, subscribe, leave us a comment. We love you. Whatever. You know, we try different formats out here, but uh Oh no, we do. We're trying new things. We're trying new things. I'm all about the new experiences, baby. No thing, look, I can't uh I have to uh I have to really Oh, I'm on my wireless still.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, Marcos pizza for only $125,000.

SPEAKER_05 2:06

But man, they're pretty popular, man. What's that? I would say Marcos is pretty popular.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Uh Marco's Marco's pizza available for $125,000. $100,000 a year.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Oh, where's it? It's probably the um probably the um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:26

Bruh. Speaking of speaking of businesses, have y'all heard of this whole like no buy movement in 2026?

SPEAKER_05 2:35

I have not. There's uh running them circles.

SPEAKER_06 2:38

Do y'all not I mean you're you first of all, are you you a Doom scroller? No, no, I'm barely.

SPEAKER_05 2:47

I don't really on social media. I'm not on social media at all, man. You're not on social media. Are you, Jared?

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Not really, no. I mean, I see like I'm on like art. I watch YouTube videos that I watch, but not like your phone. And go to your screen.

SPEAKER_06 3:08

Go to your screen time.

unknown 3:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 3:10

And how much screen time are you spending on social media?

SPEAKER_05 3:14

Uh oh, I mean, I don't have any of them on my phone, so I don't say that. Any of them on your phone? Yeah, I don't, I don't use it. Like when we were setting this up, I was like, yeah, I made some joke from work stuff because when I was streaming like years ago, but I don't I don't use it. But I got on Facebook to invite people out. That was like the first time I've been on. And shit, I don't know. I love it. Yeah, I don't, I don't really, I don't do, I don't, I don't really, I never got into it, man. I never really got or maybe I got too into it. What was the first you know when Facebook first came out? I was fucking into that shit. I was fucking making new uh personas every week and shit like that. Can you have the music on the no MySpace, not even Facebook? That's what I'm talking about. MySpace. Bro, are you serious? I went hard into it, and then it was like, all right, this is a bunch of messy motherfuckers just talking shit out loud.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

I can't stop what's the what's my screen time for social YouTube where I'm watching usually just like um exclude YouTube. Exclude YouTube. I was about to go back.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

I'm like, I do a YouTube, so I can do that.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

YouTube music, um, and then WhatsApp. So like WhatsApp no no no Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. I don't have I don't have Instagram, um, I don't have TikTok. I do have a Facebook, and like today I was on there 27 minutes, and that was looking at the tribe stuff on Facebook. Jesus to see what they what the tribe posted on Facebook.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

It's fucked up too because when J was telling me to look at the pictures, I was like, all right, I was like, I gotta log in. I was like, I don't know none of my shit. I was trying to reset my fucking password for Facebook and shit.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

I was like, I couldn't get in to look at it.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

I was trying to make small talk about it until I got there, and I just never I couldn't get there to hey.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

That's funny. That's funny. It's it's man, yeah, man. Yeah. Look, you know, y'all can't see it.

SPEAKER_06 5:16

Maybe you can see it. Maybe you can see it. It's already for the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Yeah. That's today?

SPEAKER_06 5:26

No, that's for the Wednesday, yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

But um, it just depends on what you're consuming on social media. Like, are you what do you dude?

SPEAKER_06 5:35

I've got three hours on Facebook, two hours, almost three hours on TikTok. Doing what? And two hours and a half on Instagram. He's like, same question.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Like the but honestly, like, say, for example, you're on your knee, you know, maybe you're on one of those and you're watching like motivational videos or you're watching I I'm not even gonna be noble.

SPEAKER_06 6:05

I'm not even gonna be noble about this. Probably 20% of it is stuff up for here. So like untalk stuff where engagement, checking numbers, you know, looking at trends or whatever like that. The rest, dude, is memes, farts, and falls, dude. That's all it is. And doom scrolling. So what percent and some booty cheeks and booty cheeks. There are some booty cheeks in there.

SPEAKER_05 6:34

Uh gentlemen of culture, welcome. Welcome.

SPEAKER_06 6:38

Bro, I feel ashamed, dude. Don't for what? I know.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Because I know what you mean, right? Because, like, do you yeah, the the on Facebook, they got the shorts, and I've sat there for 15 minutes looking at 10 second shorts and shit where it's just like, oh, that's funny, that's hilarious. How you know, to get you into an algorithm of like shit, you know, that you want to see, you know, and then you know you're sitting there for, like I said, like a half hour just fucking around. But you know, it's it's um dude. I never got attached to my phone. That's really the thing, is that I never got attached to my phone, man. And so because I'm not attached to the phone, I don't always gotta just have it, or it's not always available to me to fucking to grab, to do something with.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

I think that's the issue is like most people, it's a it's an impulse. Like it's a okay, if I don't have it near me, you're impulse to have it with you. But I was, you know, I didn't mean to cut you off, Joseph. You're good, you're gonna be a good one. You know, and then for how much of it and that do you sometimes just need to decompress and look at some mindless whatever videos it is?

SPEAKER_05 7:53

I mean, yeah, and that's and that's what I'm saying, because it's not like I my I it's replaced, right? It's not my phone, but it's my PC. I'm always sitting in front of my PC, right, watching Invincible or watching the boys, or you know, just watching shit on YouTube, just different, you know, just vids and shit as I'm working. So it's really the same thing. It's it's rare that I'm listening to lo-fi nowadays, man, because I'd be like, Oh, I love lo-fi. I need to I need to it's the best thing in the universe, man. Yeah, especially because like I can get lo-fi mixes of like all my favorite anime openings. They do all the anime intros for like the record one piece, and but it's just lo-fi, remember. It's just so fucking nice, dude. These artists are so nice with it. You know the chill hop and all these guys, man. I've been listening to motherfuckers since like 2018 and shit, man. These they're just they're so nice with it, man. And uh I love that. I'm gonna tell you what I got into for a little while. Those AI artists. They're amazing. These songs are amazing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Like these solo versions of raps.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

Yeah, like dude, these 40s, you know, versions of these rocks. I mean, they're amazing. They're amazing. I'm just like, wow, this is so nice. Yeah. So I was into that for a little while because they were just uh you know, I think it's like it's hard to hate it, man. It's hard to hate it. You shouldn't hate it. For what? Because I'll tell you this there's still an artist behind creating it. Yes, the sound is not the artist, but I couldn't do it. Like if you told me to recreate that, I would have a tough time doing it, you know? Yeah, so I do think there's still an art behind creating that. It's just it's a different type of art. They're using a different medium, a different paintbrush than you've ever seen. And and they're creating a new type of drawing. That's the thing. It's a new type of art, too, bruh. Because like it's strange when it's all fake. It's like, damn, bro, because they're getting a mm-mm, mm-mm. They get all the subtleties you can imagine. And it's like, damn, bruh, that's mimicry at its finest.

SPEAKER_06 9:57

My fault. Go ahead. Dude, have y'all read Kevin Kelly's book, The Invincible, Inevitable. I think I've mentioned this before. You've read it, but Jared, have you read it?

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah, I've read that thing twice. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 10:10

That was inevitable. What is it called? Chapter Kevin Kelly, the inevitable. The chapter of remixing that he talks about. Remixing, that everything is just gonna be a remix of everything. When I see this AI stuff, I'm like, oh, that's the first thing they're gonna do, is do music. And so, dude, when they had ludicrous bitch get out of the way as like a 70s soul artist, yeah, you know, or 60s blues artists. Sounded phenomenal.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

I was like, it's like, no, I know it, I know, I know that old black guy singing. I know that, I know he's there, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Yeah, with the with the pain and the the feeling. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

It's souls in that.

SPEAKER_06 10:55

You're like, hold on, yeah, the computer got sold. Dude, I caught my uh my uh father-in-law listening to uh AI generated gospel music. So like they then said he was like, uh it's uh who said some country artists he's like, this country artist is singing, he can singing gospel now, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. A new exactly. It was one of them.

SPEAKER_05 11:25

A Lizzie? Uh okay. Um unreleased Elvis and Prince Duo. Oh, I didn't know they did that.

SPEAKER_06 11:34

Yeah. Like these old people getting duped by this stuff, dude.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

Oh, it's it's rough. It's rough, rough. And they ain't just the old people, bruh. All right, like some videos I'm like, let's say I'm like, it sure is. Oh shit, huh? That one got me.

SPEAKER_06 11:51

Dude, okay. I I stumbled on an article, dude, that was talking about, okay, it says that the average person is spending 70 days a year on their phone. Not hours, 70 days. So 53% of Gen Z and 46% of millennials engage in doom scrolling regularly. Me. This is based on a Harvard medical study, uh, medical school study. How many hours is that many days? Digital pacifier. Ooh, I like that. A temporary distraction from boredom, stress, loneliness, and difficult emotions. Research also showed that Gen Z is expressing what is called what scientists are dubbing digital loneliness, a paradox where heavy online connectivity actually intensifies feelings of social isolation. Yep. So like wow, guys, I am ashamed, and I am calling my call to action for you guys is to help me get over my doom scrolling. I need your guys' help. Because apparently, I am one of the 46% of the millennials out here dooming on a phone. I'm I'm afraid to look at my annual usage of social media. To see what that would be. To see what it is. I'm afraid to look at it.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

That's why. So, yeah, 70 70 days. That's 20% of the year. 20% of the year. That could be the 20 that unlocks whatever.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Whatever, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

We're talking 140 hours you're trying to get to. That's crazy. So if there's a something that you're trying to get to, yeah, the 20% you need to get there that's uh is uh you know is is is being spent on something with low to no ROI. So you're you're equating, and you know, like I said, people do control and stuff like that for different reasons, but you know, if it if it's just mindlessness and there's no return on it in any kind of way, that that you're immediately equating 20% of that value that creates the 80% to zero.

SPEAKER_06 14:09

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and this isn't including this isn't even including the entertainment piece, the time that we spend on YouTube, because YouTube isn't considered social media, YouTube's considered entertainment. Oh yeah, you're right. YouTube, Netflix, all the streaming services.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

Yeah, like this is social media, this is like stuff people are posting, like posting.

SPEAKER_06 14:33

Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, um you know, uh Twitch. Um, you know, the the base the the what's the the traditional social media platforms.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

So here's here's the popularize the reasons why. Like, is there escapism?

SPEAKER_05 14:53

Is there a um I mean it's all of the above, I'm gonna assume.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

I know because there's there's dopamine addiction that comes along with it from a neurological standpoint.

SPEAKER_05 15:02

It's gotta be that and boredom. Gotta be the top two, right? That's gotta all be. I can just go find something that's gonna make me laugh. I I know I can go just find a channel or uh, you know, whatever that that'll just make me laugh. So I think that, like you said, that instant gratification for that dopamine is also it's gotta be a part of it.

SPEAKER_06 15:27

Well, so for apparently this this trend has been exacerbated since COVID. Uh uh the pandemic increased the amount of time young people in particular spent on their phones. Uh in 2019, eight per 8% of adults between 18 and 29 had anxiety. But by 2023, that number soared to 22%. So they're attributing part of this phone addiction. They're lumping phone addiction into this.

SPEAKER_05 15:55

Yeah, it's hard to talk to people when you ain't ever talking to people. You know, it's hard to interact in the world when you're not interacting with the world. It's it's it's it's it's really it's difficult, man. And I that's why you know you tell your kids that no, I want the be bored. That's where your imagination comes from, bro. Be bored. Sorry. Yep, you'll trust me, you'll find something to do. Give it 10 minutes, give it 15 minutes, give it a half hour. Then all of a sudden, y'all playing together, y'all done made up some new game, y'all done. Yeah, that's that's how that happens, man. And and that's um that's part of it, is a lot of kids nowadays they don't know how to be bored because they've never had to be bored. They've always had some sort of thing blasting lights and colors and sounds into their brains, overcharging them, and then it's like, hey, let's do this word problem. And they're like, what is this bullshit? You know, they can't handle the the mundane nature of real life. You know what I mean? And it's like it's it's it's you you've it's really hard not to have them indoctrinated in that uh when it comes to the public school system, because it's like these niggas are coming home with tablets from the school, like, nope, they're in front of a screen, even at home all the time, just blah, and I'm just like, yikes, yikes, yikes, yikes. So it's it's it's you just you know you have to step in. Now, when it comes to adults, right? Let's say you in particular, uh the easy fix for this, right? Is if you catch yourself doom scroll scrolling, no, let's let's let's get a chapter ironed out for that book, or let's get an idea down for that thing that you want. That I think that that's a that should that could be an easy flip for you, is when you catch yourself doing it, you can refocus, kind of like a breathing exercise, right? Meditation, when you catch your mind slipping and you just you gotta re-resent or refocus. I think the same sort of thing can happen, but to a productive outlet, right? You know, you catch yourself doom scrolling, spend five million dollars. Wait a minute, if I got this extra 15, let me throw some ideas about the pile, let me throw some ideas about the book, let me find a little something, maybe find me something healthy I can eat tonight, let me find me a quick exercise I can do, you know, whatever, but just try to get that refocus to something productive if you catch yourself doing it. The problem um with addictions, I don't know if we want to call this an addiction. The problem with this sort of habitual nature, uh, I find this when I am in this, is that I don't think about it till it's done. I don't think about it till that time is wasted. And then it's like, fuck what I do with this day, or what I do, you know what I mean? And so catching catching yourself in the act might be also uh uh uh an exercise in itself, just just getting that, oh whoops, I'm I'm wasting this time right now. And then it's just a willpower thing, right?

SPEAKER_06 18:29

You know, and that's that's that's just gonna be you know on you, but I I th I'm I'm I think I'm gonna probably take them off of my phone. That's a good start. Can't use the phone. The phone is the is the hardest one. So then and leave it on my iPad because uh on my iPad I gotta get it out, I gotta light it up, I gotta it's sometimes it's not charged. Right. My phone is so accessible, it's right there all the time. All the time, all the time.

SPEAKER_05 19:02

Yeah, you take the credit card and the freezer approach. I like that. Yeah, make it more difficult to get to it, and then you'll see if you really want it. I like that.

SPEAKER_06 19:09

Yeah. Yeah. And and everybody makes fun of me because I go on these binges where I'm just like, no social media is on my phone ever. Uh, that's good, man.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

You definitely need a break from it. Um, it's funny because you know, they talk about people who are chronically online, chronically online. And it and what you see in in those people is a how do I put this? A distorted worldview because the algorithm has shown them what they are looking for. And so they think that the world is filled with just that thing. Because that's all I'm seeing. And it's like, well, yeah, it's all you're seeing, because that's all it's feeding you, because that's what you told it you like to look at, you know? And so that's the problem that you can fall into if you just start to just be that's why I hate that you know, they talk about that chronically online and the isolation, because you get into these weird echo chambers, like there's just I mean, I've said this before, y'all. We live in the most connected time of any time in human history, but we are the most disconnected we've ever been. Because we are all in our own individual booths in this giant landscape together. And it's really, really weird. It's really, really weird what this is doing to us socially, what this is doing to us developmentally.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah, I'm a bit of a uh I reset my my algorithm probably once every three months. When I can tell it's starting, yeah. When I can tell it's starting to give me the same stuff, uh I reset it. There's those little token things that you can reset. There's cash you can delete. There's even on you know on Google, like I delete my uh my search history and my I do too. Just delete all that, basically, just delete it and have it start all over again. The stuff that you want to re-attract, you'll re-attract it. And uh times where it's like, oh yeah, I remember I used to be watching those videos, and it'll come back to you and I'll go back like those forged and fire videos when they're making swords, that that always comes back. And but the stuff that where I can tell the algorithm started to feed me just kind of like crap. I'm like, nah, it's time to reset it. And then it it it it does resist the things you're talking about, Joseph, where you're um you're not getting just so much input all the time from the algorithm. But it does kind of keep your focus. It's like, okay, what are the things that are most important to me? Okay, I'm gonna I know I'm gonna seek those things. And now search again for those things. Uh and I want to come with mine. But yeah, that other stuff, dude. When it starts, I'm like, nah, time to reset it. Because you know, you've been if you've been, you know, like if you were, I think I think if you were like really into Computers and stuff like that early on the internet, you have a different view of today's internet. And like the internet used to be highly distrusted when it first was like, oh, you heard that on the internet? Okay, well that was online. Yeah, like you did online banking. There was so much distrust around it. And then you were cracked on installer. There's a flip of the switch where everybody started believing everything that was online. Just anything. And then we forgot that, hey, nah, there's there's still a core of this that is highly distrustful. Um, and so I've always just kind of had that view of anything. Like when I go to restaurants and they want my phone number so they can tell me when my table's ready, I'm like, nah, you know what I mean? I'm gonna be right here. You can call me. I can do this. You just do this. Yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

20 feet away, brother.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Any of that information, you dude.

SPEAKER_06 22:55

It's funny you say that. Like it slow down on that a little bit. I think that's the difference in our generation versus any other generation. We were here at the beginning of the internet, quote unquote. Yep. You know, we were here whenever the internet came in the CD. There was a transition, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

We were free.

SPEAKER_06 23:17

Get your free hours, just throw them up. Bro, yeah, like dial up when the internet was slow to get to you. Yeah. When it was when it was, oh, I'm gonna download a CD.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

28.8K.

SPEAKER_06 23:34

Let's go, baby. Let's go, baby. Uh I'm gonna go put is that is that CMOS related right there? No.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

This is already bruh.

SPEAKER_06 23:50

Bruh, like where you gotta go, all right. I'm gonna go play and I'm gonna go to the gym and download the CD and then come back, and it's just finishing. Like, oh yeah, I could, it's just finishing. Like, it ain't even cash all the way up. It's still uh doing that reconciliation process. And so, you know, and this was before you did anything online with your credit card. Oh, you you bought something online?

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Oh, of course not.

SPEAKER_06 24:22

Yeah, you you put your credit card online?

SPEAKER_05 24:25

I mean, I think it was a fucking weird quest out there though, man. Amazon changed all of that for us. Y'all remember websites now? Like, like when people used to just have websites, brother.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

Like the first one where you were able to like eBay and PayPal. Oh, eBay. Because you had to start with PayPal, and then you had to like it was two totally different separate processes. And then that kind of started e-commerce to where you you buy them from other people and stuff like that. Go get it, like us. I'm surprised. I'm gonna talk about PayPal is still still.

SPEAKER_06 24:57

Well that PayPal has um Venmo or Cash App. One of the two. Oh really? No, no. Is that right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:09

PayPal has one of them, don't they?

SPEAKER_03 25:12

I thought they were separate separate um platforms. PayPal has its own app. Zelda's part of like the banking system.

SPEAKER_06 25:21

Oh yeah, I know. I know. I know that one.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Cash app, I don't think they have cash at that.

SPEAKER_06 25:33

Who owns Cash App is uh Black. I was thinking Block does. Block owns, formerly Square. Square, Square. Who owns Venmo? Um because I I remember one of them was, I thought one of them was owned, but maybe that's what I'm thinking, is that it was owned by Block and Jack Dorsey, the CEO of PayPal owns Venmo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

PayPal owns Venmo?

SPEAKER_06 26:06

Yeah, PayPal owns Venmo is owned by Venmo. Uh they acquired it in 2013.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Ah, good to know. I thought they were two separate platforms. Two separate platforms, because essentially you do the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 26:21

I know I wasn't I know I wasn't going crazy. Yeah. And because PayPal is the desktop web-based version of basically Venmo, pretty much. And Venmo is just pay but social added to it. Uh oh, did we lose Joe? Maybe he dipped off. But man, I I need look, I'm gonna tell you, man, I need you to hold me accountable on the social media stuff because I need to like, although I'm getting some cool stuff, like a lot of my social media now is the AI tips and tricks, and you know, because that stuff is changing so much, every week is a new guess what's new on uh an AI? Guess how you can you can stack these three things together and make a super AI, like you know, but at least Facebook I don't need to be on unless it's work-related, and I consider this my job. And then Instagram. TikTok's gonna be the hard one. Because I like TikTok, man.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

This depends on the purpose of serving. Like once you define the purpose that is supposed to serve, you know, like it is at YouTube.

SPEAKER_06 27:37

Seeing booties, well then there you go. Seeing butt cheeks.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

That's that's what you sacrifice for whatever you for whatever else you could be doing.

SPEAKER_06 27:46

Well, hey hey, hey, that hey, you're right, man. You're right. You're right.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Like it's it's it's very costly. And so anything when it comes to time like that is is more highly costly than just about anything else that you could be, you know, uh spinning to it. Hold on.

SPEAKER_06 28:12

Like also what we were talking about earlier, when we're talking about improving our per per hour rate to you know to basically increase our value in order to, you know, basically outperform with with in the monetary sense. But yeah, every hour is essentially, I mean, call it $200.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Because you know who's not doing that? Um, the people that are making sure that they still have, you know, uh gameful employment, and the people that gotta make sure they gotta, you know, provide for family's like, you know, it's just I I typically just kind of see it as like, well, you know, it's either distraction or you know, sometimes I just jump on there and play this little snake game, you know, where you shoot the little balls at the bricks and they burst.

SPEAKER_05 29:06

And I like that game.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

So that's been too.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

Well, I've been playing a version of that for 35 years. God damn, well, that's crazy. Brickbreaker.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Brickbreaker?

SPEAKER_05 29:16

Yeah, man, that's crazy. That's wild. I'm on the card. Classics never die, baby.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Yeah, it's awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

That's that's the game I'm playing. But yeah, man, once you figure out exactly what it is, the purpose is and you know, as long as it aligns with whatever the whatever you do it for, I say, hey man, go for it.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

Yeah, yeah. Ask me what my PC gaming time is a fucking week. All right, yeah. It's like I'm never on my phone, nigga, because I'm on something else. Okay, like yeah, it's it's it's it's don't so that's what I said. Don't don't feel that way because the vice is different. You know what I mean? Most people, you know, and so that that's the thing, man. Because while you're doom scrolling, it's whoops, 2.30, and I gotta wake up at six, but one more game, one more match, one more whatever. You know, that's so it's it's just I think it's human nature, like you said, out of that boredom, out of that enjoyment, you know, because that's you know, one of the biggest dopamine dumps I get is fucking playing Call of Duty or marathon, you know, just playing these fucking games really cool and fun for me, you know. More fun than some of the other fun stuff I do in my life, you know what I mean? So it's uh it's also one of those things, it's like, oh man, I I'm rewarding myself with this uh ability to do this. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I've worked all day and I've watched the kids, I've watched. So it's like it's my time, you know. And so I I don't think it necessarily is a bad thing to have that much time unless that is taking away from something else you should be doing. Um, which I don't think you're I don't think you're prioritizing something that you should be doing under that. You know, it's just there are just other things that are probably better to do. You know what John say that makes sense? Yeah, like you're not not taking your kid to you know soccer practice because you're on the you know what I mean. It ain't nothing like that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

It's the cost part of it, it's not coming at a cost of something else that you're not having to sacrifice something that you know may it depending on how you define your value system.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Right, there's tears, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

You know, you you set where where that is. But I do know it can be a trap for a lot of men where there may be things that they don't know they should be doing and are special.

SPEAKER_05 31:48

So maybe that's the process, right? Yeah, but maybe you're evaluating and figuring out the priority list, making sure you know the priority list and seeing where that actually fits in. Not where you think it fits in, but where the time spent puts it. And then you can kind of reallocate. So maybe that's the practice, right? Okay, I like that. That's that's nice. That's nice. Okay, I like that. Because I'm I need to fucking do that. I don't I don't I hate I hate when y'all make sense because it's like I gotta fucking I need to change that. You know, nobody, I don't everyone to admit that, like, yeah, you've been doing that wrong, you know. But it's like, well, I I I like it though.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

It's it's it's all about improvement, so it's always nice to have a lot of brothers have a lot of goals and like noble goals and viable ones and attainable ones. Yeah. A lot of times it's just like one or two little tweaks here or little tweaks there. And it may not be, you know, like you said, man, it's it's uh it's it's whatever is everybody's got something, I guess, that they're spending time on and could be spending time on this. We're not it's not a hustle hustle culture push. It's not that. It is okay. Eventually you get to the point where it's like, all right, am I going to do the thing that I want to do and say that was gonna do or am I not? Yeah, you know, how bad do I want it? That's what I told my kids alive. How bad do you want it? You willing to get out there and wash that car and break up those leaves, and how bad do you want that thing? Yeah, yep. A lot of it, it just comes with the discipline, uh sacrifice.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Discipline. That's what I meant to say earlier. And I said willpower, discipline, thank you. Discipline.

SPEAKER_06 33:20

Speaking of, how bad do you want it, dude?

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Um I was just thinking it.

SPEAKER_06 33:28

The US debt numbers just came out here recently uh for 2025, and guess what? It's a record for credit cards. Um, US debt reached $18 trillion.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

Does that number even mean anything anymore? Like when you get to that amount, it can be 110 gazillion for bajillion. It sounds like the same to me, bro.

SPEAKER_06 33:50

Hold that thought. Holy shit. Hold that thought. Uh, with uh 1.2 trillion being in credit cards alone.

SPEAKER_05 34:00

Um 18.

SPEAKER_06 34:03

You said 18. And then um, so what I love to do since I'm an accountant. Trillion? So since I'm an accountant, I always like to look at the asset side of the books as well as the debt side. So I just did a quick little hop onto Fred. So if if you guys don't uh Jared, you use Fred, don't you? So Fred is an amazing resource. It's the Federal Reserve of St. Louis. Um they post all sorts of statistics. All sorts of statistics from like GDP to rain totals, like anything financial that you ever want to know, they post. So uh I went on there and the total household asset um household assets for the US is $195.2 trillion dollars as of 2025. So now explain that to me like I'm a layman. So put that in perspective. Um we are using so the household debt, even though it hit a record, it's still only 10% of household assets. So we own uh the if you take all of the so what I just did is give you the total debt number for all households. You take all the households in the United States, you add up all the debt they have, it equals $18 trillion. Right of that, $1.2 trillion of that is credit cards. Right. What what was the only 10%?

SPEAKER_05 35:55

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:55

So what I did, secondly, is I took, if you take all the households and add up all of their assets, all of the money they have in the bank, all their the houses that they own, the equity they have in their houses, all the the stocks and bonds and cash and gold and land that they own, if you add all those up, it equals 195 trillion dollars. So basically, even though we're hitting the total number of debt, oh 2% of the 30% of the of the wait no no no no it's uh it's only 10% of total assets. So literally they could pay off all their debts with pocket change, basically. And of that, 1.2 trillion of it, so less than 1% is credit cards, it's nothing. It's nothing. So I know it's uh it's a big huge number. Um like you know, actually.

SPEAKER_05 37:04

What is it mostly made of then?

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Yeah, like what's the the context around that? Because let's say, you know, let's say some of that debt is more short-term debt, and some of those assets are more illiquid. And so you might have a situation, especially post-COVID, where you're uh asset value heavy, but then cash flows short on the debt that is, you know, especially if it's consumer debt, credit card debt, uh, you know, that's a that's a piece. I'd say if you you add in like auto loan debt, because um you know auto loan debt, that's still a monthly payment.

SPEAKER_06 37:45

And then I'm uh you also have a couple I'm gonna share a cool little chart here. Okay. Because I love you know I love payout.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

Well, how would that be different from the from the credit card, the auto loan? It's still the same monthly payments, right?

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Yeah, it is. But your auto loan debt is amortized, and your credit card debt is typically also.

SPEAKER_05 38:06

Explain that word amortized to Germain.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

It's um like it's you have to pay for it. Yeah, you pay out of a month. Pay out over time. Okay, okay, I see.

SPEAKER_06 38:29

This is the total. So, Fred, again, Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis, this is the chart that they have of the total assets of the United States, 195. And if you look at COVID, it's done nothing to be. So we are getting richer and richer and richer and richer. And I say we, I mean a very few number of people are getting richer and richer. A very few uh are getting richer and richer. I mean, I mean, if you look at the slope here between you know, when I to 2020 to 20 to 2002, which the total was 51 trillion to 2008, and it was 77 trillion. So since the bottom of the great financial crisis, we have more than doubled and actually almost three times, three X the value of the assets.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

That's crazy that we have. Yeah, this is an inflation adjusted. Inflation adjusted? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_06 39:55

Is it inflation adjusted? I mean, yeah, part of that's inflation, right? So what does seasonally adjusted mean? So seasonally adjusted means where do you see that at, first of all? Oh, not seasonally adjusted.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

There you go.

SPEAKER_06 40:11

So that just means that um it's not taking the seasonality uh of the spending into effect. So makes it Christmas time or blah blah blah. I see, I see exactly your spending typically is uh oscillates um throughout the year.

SPEAKER_05 40:30

It makes sense.

SPEAKER_06 40:31

Yeah, around gift giving, obviously holidays or you got tax time, you got back to school, you got Christmas, you got Thanksgiving, right? You have summer.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

Funny enough, I bet you there's a lot of September birthdays too. All those New Year's birthdays in September. I bet you there's a higher number of birthdays in September than there is any other month.

SPEAKER_06 40:51

But um so I thought that was interesting. I I always like to look at cool statistics. It just tells you um, I mean, like, I like looking at the federal total debt because, you know, look at that. I'd rather not.

SPEAKER_05 41:08

Like I said, man, again, 110 billion is the same number to me, man. I I can't even fathom 30 billion dollars. The Googleplex of money, like that's just silly. It's just it's insane, bro. That's it's it's crazy. Why even keep track at this point? What are we doing? Are we paying are we paying that back? Or is it c are we cutting it down? Are we throwing some chunk? Hey, let me put 15 on that. Man, get out of here with that ridiculous amount of money. Who do we owe? What idiots sit there like, no, I know we I know where it's at, then but they're good for it. Like, come on, man.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

You ain't getting the money, guys. We are ourselves. But we owe ourselves. Ourselves, our future centers. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:51

You know, so it's funny. So it's so if you think about it, if we owe ourselves, right? If you think about debt, debt is if let me actually stop sharing here. So if I owe you money, uh what what's a debt to you is an asset to me, right? Okay, yeah. So if you think about it, that chart is double counting. Oh, yeah, that's it. Of that 130, 198 trillion, 38 of it is assets to ourselves.

SPEAKER_05 42:23

Actually, you know, it ain't that bad if you look at it. Like, oh stop. It's not really that bad. I like that. I like that. So you owe me money, I'll never be broke.

SPEAKER_06 42:34

Okay. But but that's it's it's just funny. Everybody talks about the federal government and the federal debt. We don't we you don't think about how much wealth is in this country. Like I was listening to a guy talk about the quantifying the amount of wealth in this country. He said there's so much wealth in this country that our economy is self-sustaining, meaning we could, in theory, never have a recession anymore because we're so rich.

SPEAKER_05 43:07

Like because there's so much consolidation of the richness there.

SPEAKER_06 43:12

Right. There's so many people with enough money to keep all of the economy going and keep the flywheel going. There's another, yeah. There's not enough, there's not a lot of money floating around trying to find a home. It's just consolidated amongst people, a certain group of people.

SPEAKER_05 43:31

Keeping the shit flowing.

SPEAKER_06 43:32

Or that can keep it flowing and they can keep it flowing. Without any input from uh, you know, the bottom 98. Well, interesting you say that. There's there was a paper out, it was kind of controversial. It said that the S P 500 only reflects the top 50 people, 50% of people in America, like as far as earners go. So if you are in the bottom 50% of the population. Population, you're not even represented in the in the thing. I wonder you don't you don't have enough spending power economically to make an impact in the any metric in the SP. I mean you think about it, a family dollar.

SPEAKER_05 44:17

So that's funny, yeah, because I guess it's not really uh an exclusion, it's just it's negligible. It's not gonna matter. Wait, what is that?

SPEAKER_03 44:25

I'm sorry, I just jumped in. Like, what is it? What were y'all saying about the SP?

SPEAKER_06 44:31

There was a there's a episode of the Simpsons went no there's a paper that was written probably a couple couple months now that said that the SP, you know, the State of Nepours uh stock market index that we we all follow only represents the spending power of the top 50 percent in this country. Meaning if you're in the bottom half of the economic spending of this country, your spending is so negligible that it doesn't even affect the SP.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

Interesting. So what does that mean?

SPEAKER_06 45:14

Like that so like take take for example American Express, right? Think of think of all the top banks in the country.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 45:23

Bank of America, JP well, Jake, JP Morgan, Goldman, um I'm missing I'm missing B of A, PNC. WAMUKE Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

And um WAMU.

SPEAKER_06 45:41

Right, right. And Wells Fargo. That's I thank you for actually using that because I prompted me to Wells Fargo. How much how many how much of those depositors do you think is the bottom 50% of income earners in this country? 10%?

SPEAKER_03 45:58

Oh, the depositors in those in those individuals. Uh oh man. Uh you mean individual or corporate?

SPEAKER_06 46:08

I mean collectively. Collectively.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

I'd say the top would be institutional customers and institutional clients.

SPEAKER_06 46:14

Hey, if you took, if you took, but institutional is just code word for you know, corporate people, basically. Corporate people's money. You're you me, you, Joe's, our stock options, our former cases.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

Or do you mean corporate depositors? I'm just saying like the customers of Chase are like other, you know, is like Visa. You're exactly Oracle. Those are that's Chase's big customers, Procter and Gamble.

SPEAKER_06 46:44

But who but who is the who is who is I'm trying to think of how to ask this.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

Yeah, that's what I couldn't understand. I wasn't sure what what it was you're actually doing.

SPEAKER_06 46:55

Well, so it was saying that basically, can you think of any stock in the top in the SP 500 that reflects the bottom 50% of income earners in this country?

SPEAKER_03 47:07

Uh Johnson Johnson. No.

SPEAKER_06 47:12

First of all, first of all, J and J isn't even doesn't even have a consumer packaging piece of it anymore. It's Kenvoo. Well, actually, it's owned by Okay, Netflix. Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Costco.

SPEAKER_06 47:27

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_03 47:29

What do you mean? You talking about from a consumer standpoint? I'm not sure what you mean by representative. What's the Costco Oh, I see what you're saying. I gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_06 47:40

Um customer.

SPEAKER_03 47:43

I'd say uh Google, um Facebook, uh Walmart.

SPEAKER_06 47:52

No, no, no, no, no. Is that what you're the no Facebook okay? Take Facebook. People are the product, they're not the they're not the you say represent.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

Do you mean they're the customers?

SPEAKER_06 48:05

Yeah, they represent like like if I if if the bottom 50% of the income bracket of this country stops spending, what companies would be hurt?

SPEAKER_03 48:19

Um I'd still say Walmart.

SPEAKER_06 48:23

In the SP 500.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Walmart to the city. So Walmart, maybe.

SPEAKER_06 48:26

You take Walmart, okay. So one out of the 500?

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Uh I'd say Visa to a degree. Because they do a lot of like because Visa does a lot of no, I got you.

SPEAKER_06 48:41

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean Visa everybody has a Visa card. Yeah, visit cards, like those little in those little pay buy, those types of games. Uh let me look, let me look, let me look. I still say Netflix.

SPEAKER_04 48:55

Um Amazon.

SPEAKER_06 49:05

No, no.

SPEAKER_03 49:09

Amazon wouldn't be hurt if 50% of the bottom income bracket all of a sudden stopped becoming the customer. Who's what's the that's what you're that's what you're saying, right?

SPEAKER_06 49:23

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I'm saying that the top 50% dispro are 80, 90% of the spending that's going on.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

I mean, dude, that's that's not a okay, yeah.

unknown 49:36

We know.

SPEAKER_06 49:37

That's what I'm saying. So but but that's but but you're me. Joe's even laughing because Joe even gets what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

You were 50% was was was negligible in in in the middle.

SPEAKER_06 49:50

I'm saying it's less than 10% of total spending of the SP.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying. Because yeah, you got like NVIDIA in there.

SPEAKER_06 50:01

And and I'm not even saying that. It was this article that was written. That said Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 50:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:07

So it said basically the the the premise of the article was basically that you don't need to know how the whole econom how everybody's doing. You just need to know how the top 50% of earners is doing to know if the economy is doing well.

SPEAKER_03 50:23

Or that's now not even representing industrials.

SPEAKER_06 50:27

Exactly. Exactly.

unknown 50:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 50:30

Anyways, that took a deep uh dark turn, actually. A little darker than I thought it was looking.

SPEAKER_05 50:37

It pivoted in a way better direction than I wanted to go earlier. So I'm uh we'll yeah, that's good. That was a way better conversation. Am I messing up? Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 50:53

But Jared just cut out for me, so maybe I messed up because I lost my uh you changed your device, so that's the reason why. Because your background's gone.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

Yeah. Uh shouldn't I change the device?

SPEAKER_06 51:10

Man, anyways, we've we we've shot enough here for today.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Yeah, you didn't that was an interesting one.

SPEAKER_06 51:18

You brought it up, I brother brought up the economics.

SPEAKER_05 51:23

Well, you know I don't know if I'm back or not, but that was. No, you are back. You're back there. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 51:29

No, I I'm always thinking about how we're gonna. I know this is again, we're talking shop a little bit, but we're doing mental health in the next over the next 12 weeks. And then when we get to money, we have to think of a way that we're gonna communicate to the you know to the uncles and the nephews out here so that when we do our 12 weeks for money, that we can um, you know, help educate and you know, try to help people, you know, leverage their their economics. You know, we wanna we want to build the complete man. We want to help inspire the complete man, you know, mental, physical, relationship, emotional. So spiritual. I think spiritual as well. Yes, exactly. So that's all I'm thinking about.

SPEAKER_05 52:22

I think that's gonna be really fun, too. Spirituality is such a powerful and wide and uh Yeah, yeah, I'll be ready for that conversation. Informative, yeah. It's it's gonna be that's gonna be the one that I like because we're gonna come at it from different I'm gonna come at it from a very different angle than I believe you two will be you know Christian men of God. You know, that that's uh Hey, oh, oh men of God. I mean, yeah, I think y'all are trying, brother.

SPEAKER_06 52:58

You know, but uh men of Shiva.

SPEAKER_05 53:02

But um so uh I think uh I think it's gonna be really fun. I think that's gonna be a really informative uh and helpful conversation.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Uh, figure out how we want to approach it. Um I you know, again, you gotta kind of meet people where they're at, uh be open-minded. Those is definitely some of the things I've been I've been like telling myself, okay, well, because that's something I appreciate about you, Joseph, is you there's more of a you definitely have areas of open-mindedness where I I can reflect and be like, okay, have I been closed-minded about that particular thing, or have I been short-sighted in a particular area, but definitely that that call will be good. Um hopefully for everybody.

SPEAKER_05 53:52

I think it will be, yeah. That's it's gonna be so informative, man. And that's again, man, boys, this this episode is gonna be called Shop Talk. But it's um I just I because I I need people to understand that it's okay to approach the same thing from from different places, man. I I I can learn from lessons from any place, any religion, any person. It's it's uh I don't know. It's gonna be so good because I hope I just hope people can will be able to see and understand that that I don't have to I don't know how to say it. We'll we'll we'll let it we'll let we'll we'll we'll do it when we do it. But um yeah, I just I just I don't have to believe to agree. Does that make sense what I'm trying to say? Like it's anyway, we'll we'll get there. We'll get there and I'll be able to explain. It'll be really fun.

SPEAKER_06 54:55

You have your homework.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Uh it's it's our that one is we're doing that after mental health. Or I'm sorry, after physical health.

SPEAKER_06 55:05

Uh I'm not sure. I think it's the third section.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

We do have a it's in the it's in the it's in the Bible doc. Yeah, it's in the doc, but I'll get back to spiritual.

SPEAKER_06 55:17

It's countdown till to record day. We have, I think, what are we the 15th? So we've got 15 days, two weeks. Two weeks. Get your number. Two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 55:30

Two uh yeah, you uh so do you know what you what's the plan? So like I said, I can scoop you there. You know how you're getting back?

SPEAKER_05 55:36

I mean that yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got my way back.

SPEAKER_06 55:39

So uh let's do our outro and then uh oh yeah and we'll we'll uh we will uh we'll we'll talk we'll talk shop. So uh man, it it's been a wild one today, but uh this is Uncle Talk Podcast where we're seeking to inspire uncles and empower nephews. Um your boy Mr. Get a Job, aka J staff. The Joe from work.

SPEAKER_03 56:04

Hey, he's Jared.

SPEAKER_06 56:06

Man, we'll see y'all next week for another fun episode. Peace. And I love you, brothers. Hello, bro.