Is Social Media Brainwashing Us? | AI, Politics & Technology

In Part 3 of this conversation, Matt Reyna and Marcus discuss how technology, social media, and Artificial Intelligence are reshaping the way we think, consume information, and even vote. They explore the influence of algorithms, political campaigns in the digital age, social media addiction, documentaries that expose technology's impact, and why critical thinking is becoming more important than ever.

🎙️ In this episode:
• Why college isn't the right path for everyone
• Learning the value of hard work at a young age
• How social media changed an entire generation
• Cell phone addiction and technology dependence
• Running political campaigns in the digital era
• Why content creation has become a full-time job
• AI-generated videos and misinformation
• The shocking true crime documentary everyone is talking about
• The Social Dilemma documentary explained
• How algorithms learn everything about you
• Can social media influence elections?
• Why critical thinking matters more than ever

🧠 What you'll learn:
• Why work ethic still matters in today's world
• How technology has changed human behavior
• The power of social media algorithms
• How AI is making misinformation harder to detect
• Why personalized content can influence opinions
• The importance of questioning what you see online
• How political campaigns have evolved with technology

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS
00:00 College vs. going straight to work
00:45 Learning the value of hard work
01:30 Social media's influence on young people
02:30 Cell phone addiction
03:25 Technology in modern political campaigns
04:05 Why everyone is becoming a content creator
04:40 AI-generated videos and fake content
04:50 A shocking true crime documentary
11:20 The Social Dilemma explained
11:45 How algorithms collect your data
13:15 Can social media influence elections?
15:00 Thinking for yourself in the digital age

📢 About the Podcast
The Matt Reyna Podcast is all about real conversations covering entrepreneurship, business, politics, technology, current events, personal growth, and everyday life. Every episode features authentic discussions with interesting guests who share unique perspectives and practical insight.

📌 Connect With Matt Reyna
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattreyna2023/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.reyna.12
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattreynaspodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yeah, you know, at the same time too. I mean, I think sometimes too it it's just like you kind of don't know what you want to do. Bro, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

I remember I we were still kind of of the the generation to where you just you go to college because that's what you're supposed to do. You know what I'm saying? And I remember I went to SAC and no.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

We're not used to it because there, I mean, if you go to school, you go to school. If you don't, you don't show up, it's right, no one's gonna get mad at you. You're not gonna go see uh Judge Saragosa.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I I remember, bro, I just I I well, you know what was going on in my mind? I was like, I gotta get to work. Yeah, I gotta get to work, I gotta make some money. That's all I was thinking while I was in class. Oh, yeah, and I was just all like, I can't, this ain't it. Oh no, it's not it whatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Me growing up, even you know, at St. Joseph's weekends, I would be in my dad's plumbing van. You know, I would help him change toilets, faucets, install, you know, sewer lines, whatever. Spring break, same thing. Unless I was playing basketball and we had a tournament or something, but summer break, working, work, work, work, work. You know, get my $25 a day. She man, I was happy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

That's golden. Yeah, back at that at that at that age, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah, $25 a day. Shh. You know, I would buy my Jordans, I would buy my and one shorts, you know. But yeah, we we were taught, you know, you gotta work and you know, you you value the dollar. You know, a lot of these kids just just want to ask for money and they don't value it, they don't save it. They don't why is that now? Do you think? Oh, social media. We see the bling bling and the goat chains, the goat teeth.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Everybody's gonna be a TikTok star.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

That's it. Everybody's just spending it. You know, they want these fancy microphones and these cameras, and you know, yeah. That's really what they want. And they don't, you know, they're just using it just to be idiots on TikTok. But sometimes that pays the bills, man. That's I guess so.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Well, I think it's it's you know, whenever you're on social media, man, obviously you're that especially the people that are successful, you're looking at the anomaly. You know what I'm saying? Not you're looking at the exception, not the rule. Yeah, and it's just like, man, I think um, I don't know where it is though, but obviously it's our generation now that are raising these kids, man. And I don't know. I think that's what we're getting at um earlier about the the technology or or whatnot. And I don't know if they're just too dependent on it and they're just too stuck on it to where they're living just this um false sense of reality when it comes to actually putting in the real work and actually what really pays the bills, they're kind of lost when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, you know, I was at a at a field trip earlier today at a museum or dozeum, and uh what's that? A duseum? A duseum? It's like uh it's on Broadway. Okay it's like a museum, but you do stuff. Oh yeah, kids play with stuff, yeah. So I was there with my my niece and nephew and my sister, and then uh somebody left their cell phone behind, and so somebody lost a cell phone, one of the parents. And you should have seen this. Like, where's my phone? Oh my god, I can't miss my phone, my phone. I'm thinking, like, damn. I mean, sorry, I just a phone, but you know, that's how dependent we are on our cell phones, you know. That's that's everything. And I even made a comment I would rather lose my wallet than lose my cell phone nowadays, you know, your wallet, and whatever. I have all the cars on my phone, right? You could pay, you could do the the taps and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

That's true. Yeah, it's it's kind of like uh your link.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

That's it. Yeah, everything everything, everything, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

It's it's getting so crazy, man. Uh, like talking about like the technology curve and stuff like that, too. Um, is there any part that comes into that when it comes to the campaign?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yeah, tech, yeah. Technology, it's it's crazy because you know, back then on campaigns, all you would run were ads on CBS, Fox, you know, cable. Now you gotta do Paramount, Netflix, uh Prime. You gotta, so everything's technology now. Now we gotta, you know, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, tick tocks, all that. You gotta have someone just doing that daily, which we're about to get somebody on the campaign just doing that daily, recording me everywhere I go because there's things, you know. I I get out of here, I'm too tired, I don't want to put nothing on Facebook, I don't want to do stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah. So now that I have the the podcast, obviously I have to edit the podcast, I have to put it out, I have to do the TikTok thing, I have to do this and that. And then with real estate, now everybody's like a um a content creator when it comes to that. You know what I'm saying? And and that's a whole nother thing to kind of keep up with as well. But I guess the you oh, you know what the currency is now? It's um views, the views is the currency, you know what I'm saying? So that's what that's how everybody's kind of you know at the same time, too, man. It it's um, I don't know, man, it's kind of scary too. Um, whenever uh technology is influencing people like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, and with AI, these fake videos, you see them where it's like somebody talking, and it's like, is that even are they talking or who's talking?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yeah, exactly. I uh so I watch all the documentaries, right? I to watch them all, bro, on Netflix, right? That's just my thing, my thing. It's true. You see that new one? Which one? With the baby? I was telling him about it, bro. I was oh my god. Okay, so it's funny too, because we're always on our way. Yeah, we're we're always we're always on our way to a thing, uh, to a job, right? And I'm telling him the story. He don't watch any of them, right? So he's gotta live them through my my chat description. Yeah, yeah. My chat description of the get this one, X. All right, ready? I'm gonna I'm gonna put it in a nutshell, right? Real quick. This girl, man, she's uh correct me if I'm wrong, Mark, uh, because I always mess him up too, right? I always kind of give this this broke ass version of it. This girl's after this guy, right? And and she's just uh she's they're from a small Texas town. Um, I'm gonna make it quick too. Oh, spoiler alert, too. So if y'all don't wanna, uh yeah, it's murder or something, murder baby, or what is it?

unknown 5:42

I don't know the name.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

They're gonna know us. Murder infant, or yeah, something like that. So anyway, so then uh she gets with this guy, or she's she's she's getting with this guy, right? And she's just like striving for his attention, right? Big time. This guy's like a rancher guy, he's a cool dude, whatever. He's like kind of a big deal in that town. I guess he's very popular, whatever. So she starts um just she's after him or whatnot, and then she starts telling him, Hey man, I come from money too, right, Mark? Yeah, she's like, I come from money, and he's like, How much money are we talking? Then she's like, dude, I'm gonna inherit like nine million bucks, you know. I'm saying you already know where the story's going. What do you think? Off the rip. Like lying. So so anyway, right? And it's usually right, like the guy that's lying about something like that, right? But anyway, so then so she's like, Yeah, man, like this and that. And then everybody's like, I don't know, there's always about something like her, like it's always something that it always comes out that she's not what she seems, type of thing, right? And this dude's like, I don't know, you know. So Hey, the dude that bien como menso, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Like, believing it. Like, I was taking the whole time this dude's talking, I'm like, Oh, you didn't see the red flags?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah, I'm gonna get there too. So, check this out, bro. So then what ends up happening is she's just all like, yeah, man, and go ahead and like search for your dream ranch. Like, and he's just all like, hell yeah, like I just hit the jackpot, right? And and then so, okay, so so then looking for a ranch out in Oklahoma, 400 acres, bro, four million dollar ranch, bro. So it's time to put the earnest money down, bro, 200,000. And she's like, No problem, right? So it shows the realtor from from Oklahoma, too, and he's just all like, Yeah, man, she's real put together. Seems like she's like, Well, long story short, like the checks start bouncing, and then there's like, well, talk to my attorney, and my attorney will tell you this and that. The attorney gets on the phone, yeah, man, she's good for the money, all this stuff, right? And they're just all like, Man, I don't know, something's not adding up. Well, then she's like, Well, I'm pregnant now, you know? And it's like, damn, man, like, okay, well, I guess this is this is they have a party and everything saying, Hey, this is gonna be our new life, you know, we're gonna get this ranch, yada yada, this and that. And then people start saying, like, hey man, I don't think she's really pregnant, even. Like, I think she's really like pulling the wool over your eyes, like, like going all the way with it, you know, type of thing. And then and what you end up finding out is they say, dude, she had a procedure done low during her last pregnancy, right? She can't have any more, she can't have any more kids. From the the the I she was like from another side of town, what like you know that she's most of us on the other side of town are like, you know, she can't have other kids. That's impossible. She's lying to you, bro. She's got a baby, uh, she's got a little a bump. Everything Amazon, Amazon bump. She bought the little fake uh no, bro. So then too, watch, and then like she's like, Oh, look, and then it's like like like bro, they're like like a kick, and they're like they're like, Oh, snap! Like, yeah, like bro, everybody's all happy for her. This and that, bro. She's dying with the lie, bro. Like, she's going, she's going for it big time. Gender reveal, gender reveal, everything party, everything, dude. Well, after a while, and then Estependeco, too, right? He's like, you know, like, you know, we haven't had sex in five months, and this and that a little bit here. I haven't seen her naked. I'm like, bro, what are you doing? Come on, bro. Like, what are you doing, dog? He's like, every time she goes to take a shower, she's in the bathroom by herself, this and that. And he goes, I'm starting to kind of think it's just like oh yeah, yeah, go for it, bro. Bro, okay, and you ready for it? You ready for it? Doug, so she makes friends with this this girl, right? This girl is this this this girl that she made friends with is pregnant, and she's very involved with her, too. This and that. Well, bro, it's yeah, it's time to have the baby, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

And then she's already like 15 days, like over her pregnancy.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

She's still slow playing it, bro. Like, I'm sick and this and that, I can't have the baby, and they're like, and every bro. Everybody who's who's following along with the story, they're like, What's she gonna do? What could she possibly do? Yeah, the jig is up, yeah, it's it's over. Dog, does she not go? I think a town over, if I'm not mistaken, kills that girl, bro, and takes the baby out of that girl and rushes to the hospital, dog. Rushes to the hospital, and and they're like, gets pulled over, gets pulled. Oh, yeah, she gets pulled over, and then the cop is like, hey man, and she's just like, I just had a baby, this and that. And then, bro, the cop's like, uh, you know, I need ambulance over here, this and that. Infants out of her mom, you know, umbilical court, everything, bro. This and that. Doug, yeah, Xavier. Exactly. So I'm telling you, dog, these stories are crazy, bro. Xavier knows, like, I always tell them all the stories, bro. They end up going to the hospital, and then the doctor says, She never had no baby. Like, I he was like, I could go down there and I could tell you if she had a baby, like the voila. You know, it was what I do all day, every day. She ain't never had a baby, and she's like, Yes, I did. She's like still saying she had a baby. Uh bro, well, obviously, the girl that she, you know, she killed or whatever, the baby ends up dying as well. Bro, she goes down for double murder, life in prison now. Oh, uh no, death row. I'm sorry. Death row, yeah. Death row in Texas in Texas, bro. One of the one of like nine women on death row in Texas.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

The judge was like, take her to death row.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I was like, Oh la mad. Well, she deserves it. Bro, an animals. That is, that is, that is crazy. Um, I don't know how I got on that damn story, but um I think it was on the documentaries, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

No, Netflix, because I was talking we're gonna have to advertise on Netflix.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's true. Oh, speaking of another documentary, well, this one's gonna tie into politics. No, but check this out, man. And let me get your let me get your thoughts on this. Um, it's called the social dilemma, right? I don't know if you've seen that one. Okay, so everybody's feed is different, right, Mark? So your feed is different from my feed, yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Depends what you search and you look up, yeah correct.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

So, according to that documentary, there's 500 data points on everybody. I didn't even know those 500 things about me.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

It's just like damn it.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

I mean, it's just like spurs, what I drink, what kind of water I drink. There you go. Yeah, yeah. So, so everything, right? I mean, if you like some certain shades or whatever, right? Obviously, there's more things that are dominant, but there's 500 points on everybody that social media. I mean, you know, Facebook, bro, it knows everything about you. Your phones know everything about you. Yeah, everything. We're talking about stuff that's gonna pop up right now. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you know what's crazy? I always say, you know what's what like what would really freak me out when I'm thinking something and about it and I'm bro, I'm like, call me crazy, bro. It happens, and they're like, everybody's like that. You probably mentioned it the other day, and I'm like, nah. No, I did not. So, anyway, the social dilemma says, and I kind of might be messing it up a little bit as well. It's 500 data points on everybody, right? So then it could, it can uh separate you. Obviously, it's gonna it's gonna say, well, Marcus is is Democrat, you know. Obviously, this is what he looks up, this is what he believes in based off of his searches, comments, everything, right? And then so and so's uh democratic, right? So then I'm just like, okay, big deal, right? Well tell me something I don't know. Yeah, cool. So then what your feed is gonna be too is anti-Hillary, anti-whatever, right? You know what I'm saying? Obviously, feeding a uh a more Republican um kind of thought or what or whatnot, right? Well, what it says is that's not the point. The point is the people in the middle, the people that aren't one way or the other, and there is the batch of those people. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

There's way more of those people in a district than there are one side or the other. Correct. You know, I think we have like 745,000 registered voters in the district. And if you look at like the heart dams and heart Republicans, the middle outperforms both of them combined. Like it's exactly it's because they're middle of the road, they're gonna listen to the candidate, they're gonna look who's been there for so many years, what have they done, and they'll vote for the other person. Those are the ones we're gonna target, you know, the ones in the middle of the road. Because you go far over here, they're gonna vote Republican no matter what matter what. These are gonna vote Democrat no matter what. Like they're just they're both setting their ways. We gotta get in the middle. That's what this race is gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Exactly. Yes, sir. So well, during that documentary, it's saying that the algorithm, you could start manipulating the algorithm to start giving certain people that are leaning one way or the other more information, whether that information's true, not propaganda, whatever, you know what I'm saying? And then it could lean you, and they think that that's how elections are swayed, or like rigged and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Because of and we heard it with like you know, they said about the Russians and the Chinese going into Facebook making these fake profiles, all that, bro, and feeding into certain profiles, and they're fake, but they start believing it and they start sharing these fake profiles, and yeah, so I I believe that.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

I think it is true. Definitely, yeah. Have you seen those people too? It's funny, man, because they go up to some people and they're like, Hey, uh, tell me about like whatever, and and and they're like, Oh, they'll just say like a policy or whatnot, and they're like, Yeah, you know, President Trump did that, and he's like, How do you know? And he's just not like, I read it. I just I just know, yeah, I read it, and they read it. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? They might not, yeah, yeah, and they're just like, Oh, you know, without even doing the proper research and stuff like that. And it's crazy, man, like the times that we're living in now, because you could get heavily influenced. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Oh, yeah, and you know it's a brainwash of the masses, it really is. That's how these, you know, dictators brainwash their whole countries. You know, you look at Adolf Hitler, uh, Omar Gaddafi, even uh North Korea, where they believe this guy is a god, you know, because they only have one TV station, they watch it every day, they're getting brainwashed. Same thing with these Middle Eastern countries. They they have dictators, they just believe them because they're not they don't have internet access to show them otherwise. So they are they're brainwashed. They're doing the same thing with us. You know, if you talk about, oh, you know what, I want a I want a Ford F-150. You're gonna get nothing but Fords in your thing. You're gonna get zero interest for 60 months, come visit, you know, this Ford dealership. They start telling us what to think, what to do, and