Is the Pandemic Enabling Phone Addiction?

I think it's going to be incredibly hard for us to resist the temptation to do that. And that's going to create a literal physical barrier between human beings. I think we're all going to be living in our own little universes eventually if things go the way they've been going. Well, if I was conspiratorily minded, and I kind of am, but only for fun, I would think that someone has probably set that ball in motion with COVID. And the lockdown, it's almost like if you wanted to make a movie where artificial intelligence wanted to figure out a way to hook us deeper, artificial intelligence would release a virus. And they would force us to stay inside. It doesn't kill everybody, but it makes people scared. So you stay inside and it connects you even deeper to computers and maybe more importantly, it creates you even more from the human experience of touching and being around each other in social cues and social gathering. And it makes it even more compelling to do things virtually, more compelling to be on your computer all the time and messing with applications. And then while this is all going on, something far more immersive is released when you're already accustomed to it. Yeah, I've got to say, I mean, life in the last decade in particular has got way stranger than fiction. The real world right now, there is so much about it that just seems like it can't be real. You know, if anyone wrote a movie with the script of the last five to 10 years, how about the last four here? The last four, let's pick the last four people would say this is this is yeah, it's not it's nonsense. Like what it's kind of B grade Hollywood stuff that we're looking at here. But you know, the interesting thing about this pandemic period for me is I think it might have a weird backlash effect where we've all been forced to spend time on screens. It's instead of going to the screen because we we love it and we're attracted to social media and whatever other things we're doing on screens. A lot of us are being forced to use them. And one thing that's changed is sentiment towards screens. I think a lot of people are just over it. And so when we are past all of this, I think there's a chance that's going to be the catalyst to push people away from screens a bit. Because if you know before this, if you were you speak to especially younger people, they'll say and then this is true for me, too. I would rather just use the most remote form of communication possible. Whatever is easiest. I don't want to have to speak on the phone. I don't want to have to see people. Let me just send a quick text or an email or WhatsApp or whatever. And I think there's a shift now where people are like craving that that true face to face time, where you're actually sitting in front of a person having a real conversation. And that's that's been, I think, a shift in the last roughly eight or nine months. I think there's people like you that are craving the experience of being around other folks, because I think you're aware of the repercussions of this virtual experience that we're all engaging in and the addiction to screens and screen time and phones and games and applications. But I think there's plenty of folks that are happy to just get lulled to sleep and sucked into it. And I think that's my real concern. My real concern is mindful, thoughtful people like yourself that are that are saying, listen, we need just a real experience with human beings and we're revolting and leaving. But if you look at the numbers in terms of human beings, like what the average screen time, all that stuff is going up. The use of these things is all going up. And I think there's folks like you that would like to think that we're rejecting it. But I think it's a it's a minority that's rejecting it. I think the minority, the majority are embracing it. I think I think that that may be true. I mean, I think one of the big drivers of screen time is, you know, if you take psychological needs away from people, the things that are really important to them to function psychologically, that's when they turn to screens, that's when they turn to drugs, that's when they turn to alcohol, that's when they turn to all the things that soothe us. And screens do that. They are a kind of a non-substance way to to be soothed. That's what happened with me on that flight for six hours. It's what happens when you're on social media, scrolling mindlessly, when you're watching tons and tons of videos online. All that sort of stuff is is a way of soothing you. And I think people need to be soothed more than ever right now, because this is a hard time for a lot of people. It's hard financially. It's hard because you're socially distant from people. It's it's just it just creates this kind of pall of uncertainty that sits above everything we do. And humans hate that. We don't like uncertainty. We don't like not knowing what's coming around the corner. And not just about the pandemic. I mean, politically and a lot of different ways, there's a lot of uncertainty right now and for the last while. And when you put people in that state, they're going to turn to screens. I don't know if that's an enduring thing, but any time you rob people of well-being, of some sort of psychological need, they're going to try to find it elsewhere. And one of the ways they do that is now the easiest way to do it is to turn to a screen. Episodes of the Joe Rogan experience are now free on Spotify. That's right. They're free from September 1st to December 1st. They're going to be available everywhere. But after December 1st, they will only be available on Spotify, but they will be free. That includes the video. The video will also be there. It'll also be free. That's all we're asking. Go download Spotify. Much love. Bye bye. Bye.