Subscribe on YouTube, please. Good grief, subscribe on YouTube, I'm begging you. Hey. This guy. [laughs] Dude, episode 33- Yeah, I'm Daniel. I'm Daniel. Nice to meet you. What's your name? I know.
I was, I was just thinking it's been so long since we've actually talked. Kinda sad. I know. I'm like, man, it's just, like, Two Dads in Tech was such a good run.
We got, we got seven months out of that brand, and now it's onto the next thing for Troy. [laughs] Dude, I was... You did a great job last episode, 32. It was good. It was a good one. Thank you. I almost- Thank you.
I'm- am I even needed? Probably not. I think you can run with this- Probably not, actually... and just go interview dads. This is an intervention, uh, one-on-one.
[laughs] For all those listening, we've decided to, uh, part ways with Troy. Um- Nah. It was good. This sucks. It was good while it lasted, but I think we're, we're gonna just rebrand to, to Daniel. Two Dads in Tech.
But, but then you can just interview dads, and it's always just two dads. That'd be sick. We could rebrand to Three Dads in Tech, where we always have a guest. Yeah.
We're moving- Or like- We're moving in the direction of guests. We've talked about this so many times, but guests make it so much harder. And we have, we have, like, five big guests who are like, "Yes, I'd love to."
I know, I know. We just have done a horrible job reaching out to them. And also, like, I was traveling, and you were traveling. I know.
And I got sick, and it just didn't ever make sense to actually have, I guess- If you're listening to this and you're just itching to
fully manage a guest portal for us with talking points provided to us ahead of time, and you're willing to do that for literally no money at all, please reach out. We do not have- Yeah...
money to pay you, but we do know and understand the value of having guests. It's just a lot more work.
Part of the Two Dads in Tech mantra is that we do, uh, as little as humanly possible to produce a high-quality episode, and a lot of times that's Troy and us, Troy and I just showing up and, and riffing.
Which we love- Yeah, yeah... which keeps us exciting, which keeps us fun. Yeah. I do think that we should... Maybe I'll hit you up after this episode. Um, I do think that we should create at least, like, a...
First, go back to the guests that have already said yes, and then, two, create some sort of a guest list that we would like to have on. Um- Yep... the bigger names, the more big names will follow. Yep.
And, and maybe this will transition into, like, a, I'd say, like, maybe half and half, half us, half guests.
It would be cool to have two guests on every month, 'cause, yeah, we can sit here and riff for the next 16 years, and we'll, you know, get our following, get our buzz still, but guests are cool. Guests are cool.
Just more preparation, and more work's not cool. And talking about more work, you were gone for three weeks. I'm sure you did very minimal work. You're back to the grind. That's right.
And your, your fourth, the fourth day back to the grind. How's it been? Fourth... Well, yeah. Or- Fourth day- Well, you got back last week, my B. I did. My B, you got back... Yeah.
I, I worked in Venice, so almost two full weeks back, but, you know, I was working European time, and so the overlap with, like, co-working was a bit different in Venice.
So I got back last Wednesday, started in the seat at home last Thursday. So I, I'm a full week back.
But yeah, it's, uh, it's been everything you'd expect for someone that leaves for nearly a month and goes all over Europe and then comes back working from home. It's fun. It's also shocking.
I deleted my routine for a month and changed my sleep schedule and changed my habits and was living with my wife's family in s- two countries and five cities or something.
And now I work in Summerville, South Carolina from my office. Uh, it, it's like, it's just kind of weird matrixy feeling. Like- Yeah... I don't know, like, the weird...
I just experienced the real world and was reminded of what the real world looks like, and now I'm back to, like- Yep... staring at screens 10-plus hours a day. Mm. So that's what it is. Kinda, yeah, yeah.
Uh, you know, take it with a grain of salt. It's kinda, it's kinda sad. [laughs] It's ki- And then you, like, kinda forget about the trip. It's like, okay, that happened. I know.
Now, [laughs] now it's time to go sell Beehive. Um, which- Like, literally-... nothing wrong with that. It's a great company, but... We went out to breakfast
yesterday or the day before, and Courtney said something to the effect of, like, "Pretty weird that seven days ago we were waking up to breakfast in Venice." [laughs] And I was like- Yeah... "Ugh." Like- [laughs]
It, it, like, it, like, struck a, it struck such a deep chord with me. Like, man- Yeah... it's, we've just so quickly went back to just normal life. A snap of a finger. But then, s- truly.
And then, but then today I met with my financial, he, I think he's called wealth planner. I don't know what he, he's a financial advisor, but- Wealth manager. Just helps me think through- Whatever, yeah. Yeah.
Helps me think through, uh, like, your, I have steady income, but then we have two businesses and, you know, just trying to figure out, like, what is, like, the next 10 years of my life look like?
How do I make sure I consider my kids and build wealth for them while building retirement wealth for us? All that stuff. And so, um, it was cool to see in front of me the blueprint of...
Right now my, my plan loosely is retire by 45. Um, ideally, I'd get out much sooner than that. Um, you know, depending on how much I make it here the next five years, it could be before I'm 40.
But retire by 45 really means do whatever I want. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. As, as far as it depends on, like, getting money by the time I'm 45. So that's 13 years from now. I just turned 32.
Um, that honestly was kind of a, a little bit of a wake-up call. Like, whoa, uh, 13 years from now I'm gonna be 45. Like, that, that was- Dude... a little weird to say out loud and to see on paper. You're getting close.
[laughs] I know. But then it was like, all right, like, here's what you have to do. Like, here's the amount of money you have to spend every month toward these goals to end at X by the time you're 45.
And I was like, dang, like, I gotta s- I gotta do it. Like, I- I gotta make much more... I can't procrastinate on any of this. Yeah. No, no, I'm, I'm, I feel pretty good with, with the plan.
But, like, the plan is- That's good... the plan relies on the plan being consistently the plan.And so if I sidetrack for six months, you know, I'm so much behind, especially with compound interest and all that stuff.
Like you just- Yep... the math has to work out to be consistent over thirteen years, so. Yeah. But, you know, it's all to say, I see a future that is actually attainable where I can live,
maybe not like travel Europe full time because, like, that's... I don't even know if I wanna do that. But like Courtney and I are already talking about, "Hey, we should do this next year.
Like, we should go on a, a family trip to Europe next year. Let's start thinking through, like, what country, how long, you know, details." And I'm like, "Yes, like, let's do that."
And it's not like a, "Oh, that would be great. That would be so cool if we could." No, it's just like, "No, like, we're gonna do that." [laughs] And, uh, we're just gonna live now, you know?
We're not gonna wait until we're fifty to start living. Yeah. You actually, uh, you inspired me. My wife and I have been looking at trips for next year. Well, go. Because you're like... I was like, "Screw it."
Like, yeah, they won't remember it, but, like, we build memories, and we're not gonna be around forever, right? And so, um, we just thank that.
My wife said something though to the, to respond to you saying they won't remember it. There's some, there's some study that just came out where the most core memories of a childhood
start a-as a, as they r-regard, like, vacations, start at five to ten years old. Um, and that's, that's a very loose figure. I know neither of our kids are that old yet. Here it is. I'm gonna read the stat right now.
And, like, fact check this if you're into fact checking. I have no... This is a screenshot, no idea what the facts are behind this.
But it says, "Sixty-two percent of adults state that their earliest memories of family vacations take place between the ages of five to ten, and that they retain more vivid memories of childhood trips than school events or birthday celebrations."
And it's, you know, the whole point of the post is to take the trip. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, Everett's three and a half years old. Uh, I, I know he's developing some long-term memories.
He won't remember all the details and nuances of the trip, but, like, he'll remember going to Italy, and he'll remember probably gelato- [laughs]... and fountains and, like, very, like, specific elements- Yeah...
of the trip. Yeah. And he'll probably be talking about it for the rest of his life, like, "Yeah, I remember blah, blah, blah from the Italy trip." And he's only three. Um- Yeah... so I don't know. Absolutely.
It's, it's... And if nothing else, it's- Yeah... for you and your wife, not for the kids. At this point, it's for you and your wife. Yeah. Enjoy yourself now. Don't wait until you've made it to start living your life.
Yeah. We're trying to figure out where we wanna go, but we definitely get a... We get the itch once we get some memories on our iPhone. I wanna talk to you about something real quick. You talk about- What's that?...
retiring at forty-five. Yes. Does retiring to you, like, what you mean in this scenario mean you, like, you just completely are done working? Or more so like you're just doing something that might
also be making money, but you really enjoy it? It's not a heavy lift or anything. Does it mean completely zero work and you're set for life? Or you've got money coming in through different avenues?
If you had asked me five years ago, it would've meant zero work, do whatever I want, don't lift a finger. But, like, the older I get, the more I realize, like, that's just not what I even want to do.
I think I'd get really bored. Honestly, I could probably go a year or two of, like, legit zero work, like golf, vacation- Oh, yeah... eat out. Like, just like... But, like, I think I'd get the itch.
And so I think retirement for me, it looks like, um, we'll probably continue operating the media company we have. Uh, it's growing. There's different cities launching right now. It's just doing really well.
So I think retirement probably has something to do with that where it's not a lot of work but is really fulfilling. We, we find value in that work. Um, but then just, like, advising, um, angel investing probably.
But I don't, I don't envision I'm gonna be, like, a hundred millionaire writing, like, million-dollar checks. I, I, I think, like, writing, writing, like, five to twenty-five thousand dollar checks. Five, ten, twenty.
Yep. Yep. Yeah. Like, maybe doing ten at a time. I, I just don't, I don't know. I don't, I don't think in my life I will be able to write checks that are millions of dollars, and I don't necessarily...
I'm not aiming to do that. Yeah, same.
But angel investing in meaningful ways where I have a stake in the company, it's a bet I'm making, and so I'm not, like, trying to get rich from it 'cause I don't need to get rich from it, but I, I respect the founding team.
I re- I see value in the product. And then just being able to support founders and, and teams like that. I don't know. That just sounds fun to me. And I love advising. I love advising growth.
I love advising early stage startups, um, sales teams, revenue teams. Um, I'm doing that a little bit right now on the side, but, you know, being able to do that- Yeah...
whatever full-time looks like, you know, five companies- Yeah... at a time, maybe a monthly meeting and some, you know, different collaborative work here and there, that'd be, that'd be pretty cool. What about you?
What does, like, retirement look like to you? It'd be somewhat similar. I think it'd be helping people getting their startups from, like, zero to one or even, like, negative one to one kind of thing.
Um, I love that stage. I think it's really fun. Um, it's, like, so... Like, your creativity just has to be so, like, complex and expansive. Like, it just- Yeah... I love it. I love it.
It's like I don't give a crap how you get this done. You're gonna get it done, and we're gonna try a hundred different ways to get it done. Yep. Um, so I love that stage. I think the same thing. I, I...
Look, am I gonna be mad if I'm writing million-dollar checks and I'm at that point in my life? No. Am I aiming to get there? No. Right. I don't need to go be a billionaire and write fifty million dollar checks. Right.
I don't need that. Um- Yep... now I wouldn't be mad, but I don't need it. Right. Right. So I, I think it's the same thing. It's, it's like early stage startup advising is, is probably what I would see as retirement.
Um, I'd love to golf pretty much. Like, it'd be so sick to golf on, like, like, almost every country around the world. Like, that'd be really cool, but... That would be cool. Um, but yeah, that's kind of what I see. If,
if you
stopped working at Beehive today, and with what you had in your savings and all that stuff-Do you think, like, with that grit, knowing that you had no other income, that you would use that money that you have today to, like, build something big?
Like, do you think that if you took a hu- Absolutely. Full stop. Why don't you do it? Why don't you do it? No doubt in my mind. [laughs] Um, I just, I just don't want to yet. Um, I don't think I'm ready.
And I think there's- Mm-hmm... still so much more I can squeeze out of Beehive. Um- Yeah. Yeah...
like, there's things I just can't talk about because it's, you know, Beehive, I still work there, and I, I d- I can't, like, share private information, but Beehive is growing, and I think we're in the first inning.
And, uh, I still deeply believe that what I'm contributing to at Beehive and what Beehive is building as a company is going to change my life forever. I mean, it already has.
I mean, really in the last three years it's, it's changed my life, but I think in the next three years it can greatly impact the next 40 years of my life if I see it through. And so
I think what we're building is unique and different, but life-changing for... I mean, we have 30,000 customers right now, and that's, we're just- Crazy... barely scratching the surface.
Yeah, it's a, it's just a very exciting time. I wanna pay you. Um, I wanna pay you to help my wife get some automation set up for her little newsletter. So whenever you find 30 minutes, let me know.
Just let, let me know your price. I will. Um- $5 billion. [laughs] No, I, I got you with the check. Yeah.
But I, I think we're tho- we're those kind of guys where if our back was against the wall and we needed to make something happen, like, we would absolutely make it happen.
Oh, that's- And I honestly think that that's- That's 100%. It's probably why we're not where we're at in, where we want to be at in life right now is because we know that we have a safety net. Like- Yep...
I've got a cush job. I'm doing pretty well. Why would I quit now? Um, but who knows, man? I'm not that risk adverse. I- I- No, it's like- I'll take a little bit of risks, but... That's right. But maybe.
Once you have a family, I think you have to, you have to s- you have to view things just through a lens of, like, everything you do. Like, if it were just me, the risk I'd be willing to take is inhuman.
There's just- Yeah. I- Oh, dude... I feel psychopathically averse to risk, but I have two children, and I have a wife, and they're all relying on me to do successful or to be successful. And so, you know- Yeah...
um, it just have, it's, it would be irresponsible not to consider that, you know? Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
If you are, if you don't have a kid, if you have no responsibilities right now, and you want to build something, and you're not risk adverse, you're scared to go off on your own, I would highly recommend trying it because I promise you will have very small chances when you do have a kid and do have a family and do have a significant other, and you're married, et cetera.
I mean, even if you're married right now, to be honest, and you don't have any kids, I would highly recommend it.
And if you gotta pay for a mortgage, pay for rent, go Uber for 10 hours a week, and then just pay for that, and then build something. Like- Yep... this is the easiest time, best time to build something right now.
And I don't know, I wish, I wish, I always say that.
Like, when I was living in Austin with my wife, I wish I'd just started something right then and there where we had some money in our savings, had enough cash to get by, mortgage was not at a 6% interest.
Like, I wish, dude. I, I wish I could've gone back and just built something then. I think- Same, same, same...
uh, there, there's been very few, if any times in my career that I haven't been making some amount of money from doing random things on the side, and it's, it's always just because it's, it's what I enjoy doing.
I love building. I love advising. And with the internet, it's so much easier to do than I think people think it is. Um- Yeah. Yeah... go make a dollar. Go make a dollar.
It'll, it'll make you realize, like, "Oh, I can make a dollar. Now I can make $10. Now I can make $100. Now I can make $1,000. Now I can make $10,000," and it just compounds from there.
And, you know, I think that the Darren McKee, Justin Welsh model is, like, build a side hustle that replaces your income for three months, and then it'll show you and, and build some confidence in the process that you can do whatever you want and replace that income.
You know, if my back was against a wall right now, like, there's no doubt in my mind I could easily generate $100,000 in profitable income for myself in the next 12 months.
Honestly, I'm already gonna do that, Beehive aside, with Paul Meadow Parents and 2DadsInTech. Like, that's, that's what we're doing. We're on the way. And w- we're on the way.
And so it's like, you know, it's, I think you just gotta be creative. You just gotta be creative. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what I would do, but you do. You do.
Also, we're wearing the same color, which is sick, kind of. We are wearing the same color. Like, it- This is a- We kind of vibing... this is an interesting shirt. I have not worn this since Miami of last year.
We went on a little trip. Looks, looks like a Miami shirt. That's right. Ooh, yeah. It is a, it is a double XL that- Mm. That's hot... is officially so big on me that it just looks like it fits again.
You know those awkward stage where it's like, "Well, that shirt's too big"- No, I know... but then it's like, "Well, that shirt's humongous." It, it works. [laughs] You can't really see from the camera- Yeah...
but, like, it works. It's huge. It's huge. But, like, it, it's got that vibe. Uh, anyways, here's a question I have for you about the digital afterlife.
There's a lot of talk in Hollywood with, like, just CGI generated, like, even you look at Star Wars. Like, it started happening 10 years ago.
They started creating CGI of actors that had since passed, and now obviously that's just the norm. I mean, like, you have a Tupac hologram, like, all this crazy stuff.
What happens if you create an AI twin of yourself, whether a chatbot or, like, a, an actual visual AI bot of yourself? What happens to that bot if you die? That's a great question.
This isn't something that I just sit here and think about, so let's, let's talk about it out loud. Everything I'm thinking now is my first time ever thinking about it.
Now, I'm gonna use one person specifically, Adam Robinson. He has been chatting a lot about how he's created an AI clone and they left- Who's Adam Robinson first for, for those listening? Yes, my bad.
Audience, Adam Robinson is, uh, he runs two companies. He's got a LinkedIn following. Um, he's pretty-... explosive with his posts, uh- Quite prolific... I guess you could say. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It cau- he kinda caused some controversy. I don't know how to explain him, but he's, he's, he's electric, he's energetic, and he's...
Some people hate him, some people love him, um, but you can't deny that he's a great marketer on LinkedIn.
And so he talked about, I think his team was leaving for, like, three or four days, and so all of his team, I think he has, like, three people only, but they completely left, didn't do one ounce of work for, like, three or four days, and they just let their clones do the work to see how much work would get done, and it ended up being, like, more efficient, whatever it was.
So however he has these agents set up, I don't know. But I'm using it as, as an example 'cause I'm like, okay, and this is, this is kind of morbid, so again, I'm just, like, thinking about it.
If Adam Robinson passed away today and his clone was still there, right, his AI clone, his footprint, whatever you wanna call it,
I mean, it'd still be working, but I guess you would never be able to continue to train it. Now, would it go away? You would have to, right? Like, people would know he's not
around anymore, and they would have to be like, "Let's delete it," or does it ever get deleted? [laughs] Who deletes it? Maybe the company that creates the clone. I don't know. I don't know, I would just... I don't know.
I have no idea if... It's kinda like whatever's on the internet, like, lives on the internet forever it seems like, and I feel like it's the same thing. Yeah. But what do you, what do you think? Um-
Um, I think w- the first, the first thought that comes to my mind is when ChatGPT originally, this was months ago now, launched the voice mode- Yep... and used a voice that sounded eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson.
Do you remember this? Yeah. Yep. And I think Scarlett Johansson sued them and they took it down. Uh, the story is they took it down. I can't remember all the different nuances of why. But I think Hollywood and any
large, big-time creator is going to have to deal with this in the next 10 years, is what is stopping someone from using your likeness, whether audio or visual likeness, or both- Yeah... to go, like, make a movie- Money.
Yeah... or, uh, an ad or anything. And you can always, oh, cease and desist and get legal teams involved and sue, but, like, who cares? Like- Who's getting, who's getting sued? [laughs] Yeah.
Like, like, like, actually, like, if you, if you peel back the layers of a legal system, no one's prepared to actually enforce a lawsuit for someone's- Like, a fake... [laughs] Yeah. Who are you suing? Like, what...
Would you take him to jail for doing that? Like, okay, well- Yeah... if you're not gonna take him to jail, then what if they don't have any money? You're not taking any of their money 'cause they don't have any.
Okay, well, de-declare bankruptcy. It's like, doesn't matter for someone who's a nobody. Like, I, I think there's just... The actual ramifications of this are probably on such thin ice
that, like, people are gonna do whatever they want, and I just don't think there's much ground to stand on for any legal action that you could take if you are a Scarlett Johansson.
I mean, if you're going after open AI, that's one thing, but what if you're going after, like, closed AI, random, like, you know, offshore rando AI guy that has no real internet base and no real profile- Yeah...
to even attack and no net worth? It's like [laughs] who cares? Yeah, what are you gonna get? Yeah. Who, who cares? Yeah. Dude, and, and that's- I don't know... that's happening today.
Like, all over TikTok, I don't know if you see it, but it's, like, people, and it's not necessarily celebs, but it's people will create these VO3 or whatever videos, and one of the, like, AI, and you can clear- you can tell it's AI generated, but they'll be wearing, like, a T-shirt that they're selling and getting commissions from the TikTok shop.
Now, that person has to do nothing besides prompt VO and- Yes... put it on the TikTok shop. Yes.
And the next thing you know, th- whoever runs that TikTok is probably making, if they do enough videos, 20 a day, 30 a day, they're probably making- Yep...
thousands every single day just from AI generated videos, and they probably spend 20, 40 bucks a month on a, on a plan. Mm-hmm. It's absurd.
Like, I was even thinking about how can I get in on this and, like [laughs] just use AI to go- I've had that thought... do some TikTok shop stuff. [laughs] Yes.
Dude, it's like, it's gonna be the next, and I think it already is, when Amazon FBA was hot, everybody wanted to sell on an Amazon store and stuff like that.
TikTok shop's the new thing, but I think it's, I think it's going away next March, I think is what Trump wants to do. I don't know. Interesting. Do you think- I don't... Do you think that
countries like the United States should have the power or even leaders to delete TikTok from, from the internet or from a, a, a specific app store? I don't think so. I mean,
w- w- I know we talked about this maybe in, like, episode four. Really early on we talked about who cares who has our data? Like, everyone has your data anyways. Right. And most people- I don't care...
don't really care about it. Um, like, do, do I think that a one person can be like, "Hey, we're gonna delete this from..." And not one person, but one,
you know, le- like, whatever, legislative sector can just delete it from the entire country and no one can ever use it? I think that's kind of dumb. I think that's a little overkill. But, like, if, if,
I don't know, if China's that much of a threat to us and it's, like, taking every single thing about us, maybe? I don't know, man. I personally don't care. I don't know either. Yeah.
[laughs] I personally don't care, but I mean, I think TikTok is huge. I think it's the one of the most... I think it's one of the most innovative
and important platforms of not only our generation, I think maybe even a little bit past our generation. Um, but the ones... What's right below us? Gen Z? Or is that Gen, Gen Y?
Well, I mean, I'm Millennial, and no- Yeah, I'm a Millennial... Gen Y is, Gen Y is, like, right... Gen, Gen X is right before us. I don't know Gen Y. Gen X and then Millennial, then Gen Z, then Gen Alpha,
and I don't know. Oh yeah, that's what I meant, right after us. Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, it's of their generation.
It's, it's the most significant platform in social media platform- Mm-hmmEver in the last ten years. You know? It's huge. You know what, you know what I think needs to make a comeback? Do you remember- What's that?...
Yik Yak? Oh, absolutely. I was, I was baller on Yik Yak. I bet you were 'cause you're a tweeter.
I loved Yik Yak, and I actually, when I was in Raleigh, I tried to hit up some mobile devs there, and I was like, "Hey, just like Vine was before its time, and now TikTok- Oh, 100%... has grown. I think- 100%...
Yik Yak was before its time, and something needs to come up- Yes...
and just, like, if I'm going to Charleston or Somerville or whatever, I should be able to just, like, tap into this little, like, anonymous kind of like channel- Yes... where people just post- Yes...
whatever, and it's like, "Oh, I just went to the Burger King on this street, and I had got food poisoning." I could just read through, like, this whole thread- Yes... of what's going on- Yes... around me.
I still think that it needs to be another thing. I think- Agreed... the next Yik Yak needs to be there. I will say that- Let's make it. [laughs] The reason, we could.
The reason Yik Yak, I think, was so successful is because it capitalized on, like, hyper-localized- Colleges... not even cities, like, like universities. Yeah, like I- Yeah, yeah...
was at Clemson when they did Yik, when Yik Yak was pretty big, and- Yep... so Yik Yak was just exploding at Clemson because- Yeah... that's just what- Same with, yeah. So I'm wondering, like, would it...
Is there even an opportunity beyond universities? Probably, but certainly with universities, and then the question is, like, is anything else being built like that? Um- Yeah, yeah. It'd be cities... I don't know.
It'd be... I think it would be like, "Hey, five miles near me, just let me know what's going on," kinda thing. Yeah, I remember in college, it was like- Yeah... who's that hot guy in Room 331 and whatever.
[laughs] It's like- I mean, that's like what Gas was. Nikita, Nikita's startup that got acquired by Discord a few years ago was, like, Gas, Gas App, was like- I didn't even know that... you're, like, an anonymous...
It was more, like, for high school, but it was, like, an anonymous, almost like a Yik Yak type of things where you would almost up-vote people anonymously. I n- I don't know. It was, it was a very
at least presented as, like, a very feel-good app with good, like, undertones, but- Yeah... I don't know. I mean, there's probably- Interesting...
probably opportunity and market share for plenty of apps like that to exist. Um, I did like Yik Yak, though. I did like Yik Yak. There needs to be a new one where you just up-vote it- Yes... and it's just random- Yes...
people posting random thoughts. Yes. So I don't know. Just let me know 'cause that's, that's another one of those business ideas I have on a notepad, like, upgraded Yik Yak. Uh, but- So here's a question- I don't know.
Go ahead... a- around friend connection and loneliness. There are... You might, you... There's a, there's a, there's a show on Netflix, I can't remember the name of it right now.
It's, like, a documentary, it came out a few years ago, that was created by ex-Netflix people, or ex-Facebook people, rather, almost demonizing social medias and social media platforms like Facebook because they're abusing human connection and, like, causing addiction to social media, to internet, to scrolling on the same level as, like, a heroin addiction.
And I'm curious if we have turned th- to the point of social media and scrolling that we're, that we're gamifying loneliness. And what I mean by gamifying loneliness is that when I'm most...
I'll speak even personally. I find that there are, there is a direct bridge between the amount that I scroll and the magnitude of depression I feel on a given day, and it goes both ways. It is backwards compatible.
If I'm feeling depressed, the tendency I have to go just inundate myself with scrolling any platform just to, like, digest something. Not even, not even specifically to numb pain.
Like, you go, "Oh, you just do it to numb your depression." It's like, th- I'm not like, "I'm depressed. I'm gonna go scroll." It's, it's very subconscious. Like, "Oh, wow, I scrolled a ton today. I feel like crap."
It is absolutely connected. And so I'm wondering, how much of that is intentional from the creators of these platforms?
Like, let me get as many lonely people as addicted as possible to this platform so that I can monetize the platform from their loneliness with ad placement, with paid placement, with up-sells.
TikTok Shop great- gr- I mean, I always think of, like, Robin Williams. Like, the happiest people on the surface are sometimes the most depressed. I'm like, how many of these- Yeah...
super successful creators are actually just living in total shambles behind the screen? How many takes did they produce before they actually got that one?
You know, 40 takes of them walking up to the camera and their little, like, l- day-in-the-life video of their morning routine. Like, like, guys, like, what are we doing here? Anyways- Yep... back to the question. Yeah.
Like, is this right? Like, what are the m- moral ethics- Yeah... behind this? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so I, I kind of heard two questions from that.
One is, do you think the people that are creating this is creating it purposefully for people to get addicted and capitalize on their loneliness? I think that's one that I heard.
Uh, the second one is, do you think that the, uh, many of these creators are actually kind of depressed or lonely under the surface? So I heard two different things.
I 100% believe the creators of TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, all of them have one thing in mind, and it's, "How addicted can we get people to our platform?" The more addicted people... Because
I, I'm one of those people that does believe that, like, money kind of rules the world.
It's a sad thing, but, like, if we can get m- them, as many people as addicted as possible to our platform, we can make way more money, and our business could be way more successful.
I don't think there's many platforms out there that, like social media platforms out there, that genuinely care about the end user's health, mental health, physical health.
I don't think they care or they would do something about it. There'd be some sort of regulations, like you can't be on this app for more than two hours a day. Like, shut, shut this person off.
Um-So I absolutely think that. And then when it comes to, I've actually been seeing a lot of creators lately. Like, have you noticed that many creators, like, move out to Miami?
Like, that's like the hotspot for influencers these days, like, versus LA. Okay. I'm like, I'm like too- Oh, um, yeah... I, I like- I don't think LA is like the place anymore. Yeah, it's not really the place anymore.
I'm like too deep into like the, these little, like, TikTokers kinda. And I, I don't know why I shouldn't be, but I am.
And a lot of them move out to Miami now, and I'm noticing that many of them are moving out to just like random areas, North Carolina, South Carolina, uh, Texas, even though Texas is pretty hot too.
And a lot of them, like, openly speak about like, "I hated my life as an influencer. I was depressed, I was lonely, I was fake. I wasn't myself.
I was just putting content out there that people liked, and it made me a lot of money." But, you know, at some point, money does not always buy happiness. And so I do think that a lot of these creators are, are pretty...
I wouldn't say all of them, of course, like, that's stupid to say that. But I think that, I always think that, that the, the creators are probably a little bit more lonely than what they appear to be.
And I also think that a lot of these, call it happy moms, happy couples, are actually also probably not as put together as it looks like on TikTok.
Like, if they're like, "Oh, dream couple goals," whatever, I also think there might be some kind of skeletons in the closet behind the scenes there too. Oh, yeah.
I mean, 'cause nobody's life is perfect, and they make it, they make every single thing seem perfect. And I don't know. But yes- Yeah... to your, to your question,
creators of social media platforms are definitely gunning after addiction, like, for sure. Or else they, again, they would regulate it. They'd cap it at something. Yeah. Is social media just bad, then?
Should, should social media just... Would we be, would we be better off without it? That's an amazing question. 'Cause obviously there's lots of good that comes out of it.
Like Facebook, there's lots of, there was lots of good of, like, connecting with friends and families when you're not physically with them, and that's kind of how it started, to be honest. Um, I would, I would say,
I think we talked about this a little bit, maybe episode 15, and that's a random, random episode number. But I would definitely say, and definitely is, let's put an absolute to it.
So I, my opinion is social media has caused more harm to society than it has helped it overall.
General paintbrush, overall from a mental health perspective, from, and this kind of bubbles into mental health, but, like, comparison perspective, like, "Am I doing as well as this person? He's younger than me.
Oh my goodness," or, "She's skinnier than me." Like, it all bubbles into the mental health stuff. Um, but I, I do personally believe that it does more harm than good. Do you think- Hm... social media is bad?
I don't know. I'm gonna tweet this later and ask, see what, see what the world thinks, which is the irony of tweeting it to ask, uh, on social media if social media is doing more harm than good. Uh, I don't know.
I, like, a part of me thinks that if we were all... Like, I think globalized
a- advantages, like traveling and connecting with people all over the world and stuff, like, all that comes from having internet and being connected beyond just your immediate neighborhood.
Like, if we remove all aspects of social media, it bleeds into distribution of information and all that stuff, and I think everyone just kind of goes back to living in, like, their fairly close quarters of just their very localized societies.
And I'm like, I don't know that that would be better. You'd almost have to, like, remove all internet for it to- Yeah... maybe scratch the surface of, like, better mental health. But then it's like, I don't know.
I mean, you start getting to, like, there, there's gotta be a Black Mirror episode of this either already or, like, coming out, where it's, like, having a forced limit of connection.
Social, like, social network internet connection, like, if everyone in the world could only use the internet for 30 minutes a day.
Like, it existed, social media existed, distribution and channels existed, all that stuff, but you could only use it for 30 minutes a day. And it's, like, impossible to hack around that.
Would everyone be better off, or would addiction still rise, where you're, like, in withdrawal until the next 30 minutes starts? I don't know. I just don't know. I mean, there's so many questions I have.
I know for me personally, I can think of so many negative things that come from how hyper-connected I am. But I can also think of all the good things, like my job. Beehive wouldn't exist without the internet. Um,
2000 Tech wouldn't exist. Let's take away the internet. Let's take away the internet and focus- Okay... specifically on social media. Social media. Internet's still there. ChatGPT, internet's still there.
I was gonna try to name something else, but I don't know anything asides from, [laughs] aside from social media. Google, still there. Yeah, no, it's a good question. No, no, no. Uh-
I, I guess what, what even is the internet without social connection? It's just an abi- the ability to research and know and, and- Yeah... gather information.
But, like, the distribution, I think distribution is what makes the internet such an effective tool.
Without distribution, which is social media, I think you, you start splitting hairs if you d- you know, don't call distribution social media.
Without distribution, it's like, what purpose do you even have to go to the internet? I don't know.
I can't think of a single thing I would do on the internet that doesn't relate to distribution of information in some facet. We're cooked. [laughs] Dude, we're cooked. I know, we're s- Um- So [laughs] fucked, dude...
we're so cooked as a societyI got, I got a question for you. We actually kinda talked about it really early on, but you talked about a TV show where, like, ads follow the person or whatever.
Do you-- How far away do you think we are from a world in which ads follow us?
So I see an ad of Nike on my phone, and then I walk outside and there's a digital ad of Nike right there in front of me, and then I go get on the subway, there's Nike.
But for somebody else it could be something completely different because it's just- Hmm... it's just, it follows that person.
And of course you can't change everything and then make everything different for everybody, but a world somewhat similar to that, how far away do you think we are? I,
I mean, it's in our lifetime, maybe in the next 10 years. I think it just... I think it requires some wearable that is going to change your reality- What's around you, yeah... like an augmented reality.
I just don't know if everyone's going to adopt something like that. Like, the reason- I don't think so... cell phones are so effective and so widely adopted is because it changes nothing about your visual appearance.
I think once you start widely pushing... I mean, you see it with, like, with smartwatches already.
Like, a lot of people have smartwatches, but they're nowhere near as widely accepted as a, as, you know, an iPhone or, like, a smartphone because not everyone wants to wear a watch.
At the end of the day, like, it's something you have to wear. I think, like, Oura Rings and some of those things are, like,
like, an in-between where it's purely data gathering and something for the person, but you still see it, but it's so passive it doesn't really affect your appearance that much. I don't know.
I mean, I'm thinking, you, like, you have, like, Meta Glasses, and Google Glasses came out a while back, but then they kind of scrapped them. I don't know. And Apple's Vision Pro. Where'd that go? [laughs] Who knows?
I mean, I haven't heard anyone talking about Vision Pro. Same thing with Luigi Mangione. Where did he go? I, yeah, right. Isn't he in prison still? I don't know. We've heard nothing. But yeah- I don't know.
I don't know... I, I agree, and that's why I, that's why I don't know what the next iPhone will be because I can't imagine a wearable being so widely adopted. Like, it's gotta be something else.
I feel like it's gotta be something handheld that you can put in your pocket and move on with your day. Speaking of iPhone- I don't know what the- Yeah, I have, I've deeply considered leaving iPhone ecosystem- Ooh...
more in the last- I love this... couple months, more in the last- Same... couple months than ever. I'm just so unimpressed. Like, like- They're not innovative at all... they haven't changed- At all...
a single thing in maybe five years, maybe 10 years. I'd even say, like, 10, yeah. Besides the cameras going up to 48 megapixels, like, there has been no change. Nothing. No change.
And I'm like, the on- Literally, the only thing holding me back now is I don't wanna be a green bubble in people's texts. That's- That's the only thing, and I'm like, "That's such a, such a idiotic-" Isn't that dumb?
Yeah, [laughs] that's such a dumb- That's so idiotic. And- And okay, so one other thing that someone brought up is Notes. I have, like,
5,000, maybe 3,000 notes in the Notes app, and I'm like, "Yeah, I could push those into some other random app," but, like, I use Notes all the time.
Android obviously has a replacement for that, and I could use anything for notes. It doesn't have to be Apple Notes. But I do use Apple Notes for a lot of things. Why wouldn't you transfer it?
So I'm like, between iMessage... What's that? Why wouldn't you transfer it? My assumption it probably lives on your laptop as well. Why not just transfer it- It does... to, like, an Ever- Evernote or something?
No, I know. And then- That's, that's what I would do. But then it's like, oh, but- But you don't wanna go through that. It's a- No, I-... annoying process... honestly, that's easier than the iMessage thing.
Like, I'm in a group text with my family in iMessage, my wife's family with iMessage, tons of iMessages. I hate when I'm in texts with someone who's green. I'm like, "Get out of here." Like- Yeah...
you're ruining- Yeah... you're ruining this group text. But, like, I don't like iPhones enough to maybe just get over that. Yeah. I- Like, maybe I just don't care anymore.
Dude, it's so funny that you're saying that because I was just... And maybe you made a post about this, and that's why I was just thinking about it. I probably did. Dude, I was just thinking, like, I don't know.
Apple has completely lost their innovation. I don't think- Completely... anything that they're doing is innovating, and we talked about it. Like, Siri dropped the ball on AI. I think, honestly, yo, love you, Gong.
I think y'all are dropping the ball on AI. Y'all have so much data. There's a lot of companies out there that I think [laughs] are just dropping the ball on their data sets, Apple being one of them. I just think that
there, there's nothing innovative, and I've, I have considered, like, getting one of these cool new Google phones or cool new Samsungs. Like, they are consistently innovating. But I also hate...
I remember I tried one way back, way back when, um, probably, like, iPhone 6 days, and I just hated how, like- Ooh, iPhone 6... cor- Yeah, how corny it looked. Like, it was, like, very in, like, an- Yeah...
animated background and, like, everything, like, the font was kind of ugly and stuff. I don't know. It's... I do. I do wanna try a new phone. Will I actually do it?
That green bubble, it's so, it's such a dumb complaint, but that green bubble is what's ke- [laughs] what's keeping me here. If you, if you leave iPhone, I'll leave iPhone, and then we can be green bubble buddies.
Green bubble buddies. [laughs] How about we just... We can try it. Let's go green bubble buddies.
[laughs] But let's, um, I mean, I'm down to do one of these things where it's like, "Hey, let's go buy one for a week, and if we don't like it, return it, get our money back."
Um- Hey, if you're, if you're considering leaving iPhone and you wanna give Troy and I the reassurance that we're not morons for thinking this way, please email me, daniel@twodadsintech.com, and say, "Hey, if you do it, we'll do it."
Uh, we need, we need some of the reassurance here that we're not- Yeah... just, uh, going off the deep end here.
But, like, I can't think of a single thing Apple's done for me via iPhone that is keeping me around other than iMessages. Yeah, that's changed. That's changed- Yeah... literally in the last 15 years.
I don't know what the iPhone specifically has done for me. Yeah. Even when I get a new iPhone, it's like they, they make the migration process so easy that it doesn't even feel new.
I'm like, I, I almost yearn to, like, try something new now.Just because- Yeah. Yeah, yeah... every iPhone iteration is not, there's nothing new to learn. I'm just like- Yeah...
click a button and it's done, and then it's an exact copy of your last iPhone on your new iPhone with, like, a couple new random features- Yeah... that are usually annoying, if nothing else. Yeah.
If anything, it's like the clean screen makes it feel- Ah... such, like such a nice phone for the first day. I know. And then the next day, it's like, dang, it literally...
Like, when I got this 15 or whatever it is, I was like, "Whoo, this is nice." Mm-hmm. That day later, I was like, literally nothing is different about this phone- I know... from my last. I know. Um, whatever.
I've heard, I've heard some good things- And, and also-... about, like, Google Pixel and all that random stuff. I, I just gotta, gotta look into it. Yeah.
Make this, make this LinkedIn or a tweet or whatever, but if you have left iPhone recently, last 12 months, to an Android or Google, do you like it? What do you regret? Like, give us some insight.
Again, make us a tweet or put it on LinkedIn. I'm putting it on LinkedIn. I wanna know...
Yeah, I wanna know what people, in the last 12 months, what they think about it, what they regret, what they miss, like, all of that stuff, so that I can weigh out my pros and cons, and I will, I will next week get a new phone if the pros outweigh the cons.
I will do it. Ooh, yeah. I'll, I'll, I'll write that. [laughs] I'll write that. 'Cause I, I'm like, I, I literally am getting texts almost every day from AT&T, like, "Did you know you could get $1,000 for your iPhone?
Act now. Click the stupid..." I'm like, "Shut up, AT&T. No one likes you." [laughs] I'm paying, like, so much money- They-... to steal my information. Anyways. [laughs] Uh, good stuff. I know we're at time here.
Troy, where do they find us, and tell, tell them about our newsletter that goes out every week as well. Yeah. Twodadsintech.com. Um, and our newsletter that goes out every week is...
I'd say it's an extension of the podcast. It's a completely different product. It covers way more and more in-depth information than we talk about on the podcast. Um, it's incredible.
Daniel, you've done a great job with that. He's the, he's the newsletter guy. Do they go... Yeah, they go to twodadsintech.com to subscribe to the newsletter. Twodadsintech everything. Yeah.
You can get everything at Twodadsintech, including our shop. Go get a, go get a dad hat. Treat yourself to a dad hat. Maybe a dad shirt. Maybe a dad polo. What about a mom hat? We got some dads... We got mom hats.
We got grandpa hats. We got all, we got all types of swag. Shop at twodadsintech.com. You can find it all at twodadsintech.com. Please subscribe on YouTube.
Like, good Lord, it's so hard to get you guys to subscribe on YouTube. Just go. Just click the subscribe button. Yeah. You literally are doing... You're losing nothing by doing that. We're gaining everything. Please do.
Do- Find us at twodadsintech.com. I feel like we should, I feel like we should record a quick snippet and put it at the beginning of, like, "Hey, before we jump into this, go subscribe- We should... on YouTube."
Whatever. We should. So... And this is live. This, whatever we're talking about right now is going on the podcast, so [laughs]- That's right. That's right...
so when we're done, when we're done, I'll let you record, or let you record that. Love it. Um, also, if you want us to have any guests, let us know who. I want them to be big names. Let us know who.
People who would be hard- Big names... for us to get, but, uh, we can do it. Troy and I know how to get into people's DMs. We've been doing it for 10 years. There are no people off limits here. Jeff Bezos, you say?
Jeffrey Von Bezos? Done. He's a dad probably. We'll talk about his wedding that he just had. Does he have kids? I actually don't think he does. Anyways, yeah. Oh, well. I was in Venice right after him.
I almost shook his hand, kind of. Ooh, close. [laughs] All right. Uh, sweet. Anyways- All right... amazing job, Daniel. Twodadsintech. Episode ends now