Completely Conspicuous 489: Social Distortion

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss social media dependency. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- Back from a little hiatus
- People who use their phones at the urinal
- Matt: Detached from social media while in Canada
- We're online all day for work
- Jay: The kids love the Instagram
- Twitter can be a cesspool
- Let Me Google That For You
- When Star Wars nerds get ugly
- Twitter can often be a license to be a jerk
- People can be "rock stupid"
- The compulsion to tweet
- Arguing with family members on social media
- The mute function on FB is helpful
- Matt: Writer Twitter drives me nuts
- Don't click on the comments!
- Anime geeks solving their arguments in a civil manner
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 319: Dumbing Down

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss whether the world is getting dumber. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- There are studies that claim humans are getting dumber
- Our IQs are supposedly dropping
- We rely on smartphones for a lot of information
- We're cramming so much info in our heads
- Smart TV: True Detective did it right
- Disney Channel sitcoms hark back to hacky TV crap of the '70s
- Movie industry favors bigger, louder, dumber
- Sometimes it's good to watch dumb stuff
- Anonymous online comments are a prime source for idiocy
- Wasting time online is so easy
- People are so self-involved
- Reality TV is a haven for dummies
- People will do anything to get on TV
- The Onion keeps fooling people
- Beauty pageants
- Our ability to self-incriminate
- To be continued

Music:
Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me
Eagulls - Possessed
The So So Glos - Lost Weekend

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Cloud Nothings song is on the album Here and Nowhere Else on Carpark Records. The Eagulls song is on the band's self-titled album on Partisan Records. The So So Glos song is on the album Blowout on Votiv Records. Download all three songs for free at NPR.org.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.