De-Influenced with Dani + Jordan - Generations, Chemicals & the Future of Family — Let’s Talk

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

This week, Dani is solo again to tackle the big questions: what’s in our food and water, the generational shifts shaping our culture, and what it all means for the future of family. Thought-provoking and funny, it’s a conversation about the world we’re living in — and the one we’re building. We scored some great deals with a few of our favorite brands for our listeners: The RealReal is the world’s largest and most trusted resource for authenticated luxury resale. With thousands of new arrivals daily, no one does resale like The RealReal. Get $25 off your first purchase when you go to TheRealReal.com/dani Huggies Little Snugglers, now with blowout protection in every direction* *Sizes 1-2. Huggies. Huggies.com “Cozify” your space with Wayfair’s curated collection of easy, affordable fall updates. From comfy recliners to cozy bedding and autumn decor. Find it all for way less at Wayfair.com Visit LiveConscious.com today and make the switch to a smarter sip with Beyond Brew. Use code DANI to receive 15% off. Visit sugaredandbronzed.com and use code DANI at checkout for your first month free or $10 first service or online purchase.  Whether you’re just wanting to test an idea out, or you’re getting serious about launching your own brand - it’s never been easier to get started on Shopify.com/Dani Make sure you’re subscribed to our official channel on YouTube, @deinfluencedpodcast, and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your De-Influenced fix! Stay connected with us on Instagram and TikTok @deinfluencedpodcast, and as always thank you for being a part of this journey.  We love y'all!! D + J

The following podcast is a dear media production. Hello, and welcome back to your favorite podcast, D-influenced. I'm back. I'm solo again. Jordan is super busy these days. So it's all up to Mama to carry the podcast. Oh, also our toilet that is next door is making the weirdest noise. I've never heard a toilet make this noise.

It kind of sounds like a clown is laughing, which is like every child's nightmare when it comes to toilets. I was always so scared of flushing the toilet when I was a kid. I literally could not do it. And that sound, I really hope it gets fixed before my kids hear it because it's actually like freaky. So if you hear any laughing toilets in the background, that's what it is. So yeah, I am curious if y'all are liking these solo episodes. I bet it's like 50-50.

I bet 50% are like, yeah, yeah, we love it. And 50% are like, I miss Jordan. I miss Jordan too. Hopefully he'll be back soon. You know, it's just that Q3, Q4. Things just get so busy and hectic, but hopefully we'll have them back soon. Little catch up. What's been new with y'all? The world's crazy. Hey, what's new? I had a great weekend, though. Went to dinner with Jordan and Joel, my father-in-law because Jordan's mom was out of town, like on a church retreat. And so we did dinner on Friday. We went to a restaurant called Sevies. And, and, you know,

And it's kind of like a classic, like an iconic place in Dallas and I had never been there. So yeah, it was a great night. We had a babysitter, which was nice. Saturday morning we kind of figured out this like new hack in life, especially when we don't go to the lakehouse. So we wake up like our normal hour, which is, you know, like 6, 15 with the kids. So we kind of found out this like new hack in life. We wake up like our normal hour and then we take the kids to breakfast, like super early.

and we realize that you can get in anywhere that you want to go, like into the best restaurants if you show up at 750. Like, hands down, there is no line. So we have just been like bopping around each weekend to like some of our favorite breakfast places that we never go to because they're so crowded. So last, this past weekend we went to snooze. It was a good time. We got there at a 740.

And then we did the Pearl Museum, which is a museum in Dallas that, I mean, They have it all. But mainly we went for the dinosaurs. I will say that was one of those days that I got home. My dad came with us to the Perra Museum. I got home and I was like, I'm beat. So I took a three-hour nap. I haven't napped since I got on my new medication, but that day we needed a nap.

Then we watched Texas football. You know, our boy, Manning is doing a lot better, our quarterback. He was, I don't know, I think there's a lot of pressure on him. If you think about it, okay, think about it. you're like 20 years old. I don't even know if you're 20. And you have all these like old men that are that are watching you that like you dictate their mood for the rest of the day, whether you win or lose or if you're good or bad.

I mean, it's a lot of pressure. And Texas football has a lot of money. So I just feel for these like they're like little boys. Like it's just it's a lot of pressure. We made a pizza that night. We got the pizza from Whole Foods. It was like, I don't know, it was pretty doughy. But I still liked it.

That's one thing about people. to us. Like, you really can't mess it up. As long as it's like warm and hot and not like still frozen in the middle. Even then, it honestly would be pretty good. Um, so that was a, that was our weekend. Nothing too crazy. I did actually have something crazy happen. Um, so I guess like over the past week with just everything going on in the world, I've been a little bit more like out of my DMs. Like I get in there like ever so often, but I'm also like, hey, I got to protect my, I mean, y'all get it. It's like if you're, if you got to show up as a wife or mom you're like can't be too much on your phone like reading dms and reading the news what's going on

so um so i got this dm from someone and she was apologizing for um like some posts that she made about me and i don't even know like what the post said but she went into like this big apology and she was like i'm so sorry that i i did this to you and i can't imagine the backlash and i was like girl i appreciate this apology i have no idea what you're talking about I was like, I was checked out for like two or three days. And so I appreciate it. But I was like, don't worry about it because I literally have no idea what you said and what was going on. Which is crazy that, yeah, like I have that self-discipline because usually in the past I would know every single little thing that everybody was saying about me.

Here's another example. There's a girl on TikTok right now. And I only know this because I was looking on TikTok to like, sometimes I use TikTok as like research of like, what's going on in the world and like what's everybody talking about internet culture and there's a girl getting like blasted her name is um megan farina and she like made a she's getting blasted like and she had to come out with like an apology video because she made like a dancing video when charlie kirk died like not cool whatever so um like i just see her like all over my feed and i'm like uh you know what's going on so i click on our profile and the first thing i see is a video about me

And I was like, what? I was like, what do I have to do with the neepist? And so she made a video, literally I click on it. It's like, I can't believe you guys are listening to this dumb ass influence. And like, I mean, the whole video was about me. And I was like, I was just getting on here to look up, you know, like research from my podcast. I was like, this is why I'm going to put my phone away and not be on there too much because that's the word. is like whenever you're just like trying to see like what's going on guys like hey how's the party and then like you scroll to a video that's like just all about you and you're like I really didn't need to see that today um but yeah she posted it like a long time ago about like my Tylenol video where I didn't give anybody medical advice but whatever that was that was a internet culture man I mean it's rough out here it's

rough out here the best thing you can probably do is just take a little break but it's so sad because I love it too You know, it's such a love, hate. Like, I would say I love it more than I hate it for sure. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be doing this. But in like, 99% of my interactions are always so positive. But y'all know how it is. You read the one. And you're just like, ugh.

It's like, oh, you just sticks with you for the rest of the day. You have to, like, wash it off and just, like, start a refresh. So, so, yeah, you know, that happened, which I'm good now. I got really happy because I'm really not, like, a super big fan of coffee still even though it's not like with 17 weeks pregnant like I'm not like nauseous and I don't have this like huge aversion to it but I just I don't prefer it and um I saw or liquid IV sent me a PR package and they just came out with a liquid IV packet that's sugar free and also so it has like all of the um electrolytes and everything but it also has caffeine like natural caffeine I was like

oh this is what I want and it's a strawberry. kiwi flavor and it's like so good and so that's what i've been sipping over here so you know all you just need is a good drink to just kind of like cheer you up a little bit um i am 17 weeks pregnant which is so i think i am it's so funny i my friends keep asking me what how far along i am and i tend to not track it until i get into like the 20s like mid 20s because like otherwise it's like so overwhelming because i feel like i have so much more to good that I'm just like, I get kind of anxious about it. And I'm like, oh my gosh.

I'm only like a third way or whatever. So I think I'm 17 weeks. I'm either 17 or like 16. I know I'm not 15. I could be 18. But I don't know. I also, somebody asked me the other day, what's my due date? And I was like March 9th.

And I was like, wait a minute. Or is it March 4th? I couldn't remember. But I think it is March 4th, I think. Because, yeah, like I said, I'm kind of one of those people. Like I told you guys this before. Growing up, I'd never looked at my report card. Like I literally would just hand it to my parents and like get it signed because I was like, I'm doing everything I can do. I cannot do better. Like there is no possible way that the grade could be higher than what you're

about to see. So why does it matter? So I just wouldn't look at it because I was like, I'm giving it my all. That's kind of how I feel about this pregnancy. I'm giving it my all. So what why does it matter what week? But I did look up 17 weeks. And baby is five inches. Let's see. One, two, three, four, five. Like this big. Size of a pomegranate, which is so crazy.

I read that the baby can hear me. Like, it can get startled. Like when I, ah, let me yell. Sorry. Everybody probably just jumped a little bit. I can scare you too. So baby can hear me. Baby is developing fingernails and fingerprints.

parents, still working on all those organs, the brain, the lungs, all the good stuff. And so that's just so crazy. Like, it's, it always just blows my mind. Another friend of mine is pregnant, and she sent me her son-out or like the video. And her little, I don't know what they call it, not a fetus, because it was like a baby. Like, you know, I think she's like probably nine weeks. And her little baby was like literally doing like flips. It's just so crazy that.

And hers is probably like an inch long. see it like literally like rule i was like your baby we don't know if it's a boy girl is gonna be crazy like i've never seen a baby move like that in the womb it's just wild but um i did oh yesterday was charlie kirk's memorial i i i'm not gonna lie i don't think i cried that hard in quite some time i mean it was long i watched it like um so it went live and then i watched it like probably an hour or two after so i was like able to fast forward but i really liked a lot of the praise and worship it was so good It was so crazy to see like that whole stadium.

I don't know how many people were there, but to see that whole stadium like praise and worship, it was wild. And then, okay, not to mention when Erica Kirk forgives the man that shot her husband in the neck, like the father of her children and she says like she forgives. It was just the craziest example of the gospel just saying like, hey, we're all sinners and we all fall short. even this man that killed my husband publicly is like, you know, it was just wild. So I was just, I mean, she's just amazing. She has some straight to be able to set up there.

I was thinking, I was like, I really don't think I could have done that. I really don't. And she did. So it was really cool. I think it's really crazy how like when you go through grief or you go through something like so hard, it's so evident how like the only way you get through it is because God shows up or you like allow him to show up and like there's just no way. Like I don't, I can't fathom it that I could stand in front of that many people after losing my husband like

six days ago. I'm like I would I wouldn't be able to speak. I would be bawling so much all these people honoring my husband and she got up there and was able to speak. I mean it's just crazy. So yeah, I did that. You know, I went to bed with like swollen eyes. I woke up this morning, you know, when you cry before. I was like, what happened? Yeah, I'm definitely in my tired mom era. Maybe because we're pregnant. I mean, I'm pregnant.

You know, it's basically both of us, me and Jordan. But I am really starting to feel it. Like, it's really starting to wear on me, like, these early mornings where I was like, when's the last time we've been able to just, like, sleep in? And, like, you can't. Like, you literally. can't because your baby is crying in the crib and that's just like literally the worst sound ever

because you don't want your baby to be crying so you immediately pop up but I mean it's so worth it don't get me right it's just like one of the cons of life right now it's just like oh I just like I just wanted to like I just live in to like 10 a.m like oh my gosh I can't even imagine like what that would be like I'd wake up and half my day would be over like like. It's so crazy, you know? But yeah, so, you know, overall, lots to be thankful for lots of good stuff going on. But yeah, I wrote down, I got, I have some stories for you guys. I know this format's a little different now that I'm going solo.

So I really just tried to like find some interesting stories that like I've found interesting that I want to talk about with you guys. most of them I just find through sometimes I ask chat chabit but honestly chat's not great at it I'll be like what should I talk about my podcast and they'll be like talk about a work life balance and I'm like okay like we've done that you know and so I kind of have to like go off on my own and just finally you know scour the internet so I want to start it's so random but it's actually been like super relevant to me because so we live near a golf course that is like just probably a mile and a half like down the road maybe not even that far and I play tennis with a bunch of moms I've

told you guys at this country club and lately they're redrained the entire um course and there's been a lot of protesters like outside of this our golf course and I'm we honest like do you ever see protesters and you're like, I don't know what you're protesting. I saw some yesterday. And they seem to me protesting outside of our church. But everything they were saying, I agreed with. They're like, love, not hate. And I was like, same. Like, you know, I was like, I think we're on the same side. But yeah, so I didn't know what these people were protesting at the golf course. So maybe this has something to do with it. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe y'all can help me understand why people were, but I think they're upset that they're redoing the golf course.

but I don't know why. But so then I saw this, like, study that I found online, and it's, like, kind of crazy because we live really close to this golf course. So, and I don't know if any of you guys, like, your husband sent a lot of time on golf courses or you live near one. So there was a case or a study that came out, a case-controlled study in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. And they looked at people from 1991 to 2015.

And they looked at people. diagnosed with Parkinson's versus other similar controls. So they found that people who lived within a mile of golf courses had a 126% chance higher odds of developing Parkinson's compared to people that lived six miles away from a golf course. Also, this is crazy, households that got water from municipal water systems with golf courses in their service area had double the risk compared to those that didn't, which is like wild. Like that's, so it's kind of like one of those studies where it's like once again, we're looking at correlation, not causation, but like those are pretty strong correlations,

you know? The only other correlation I could think of is people that live closer to a golf course, have way more money. Like, so maybe they're indulging in something that most people don't and it gives them Parkinson's, but I don't know what that would be. So I feel like it's probably the golf course. So this was like, once again, it was an observational study that just shows correlations. So then it goes on to say, what is so toxic in all of these golf courses? So it's called glyphosphate. It's an herbicide or a weed killer. It kills weeds while leaving genetically modified

crops unharmed. So genetically modified is like when they go in and they modify our fruits and vegetables so that it can like withstand are basically a poison. And so really when you're eating an apple like are you really eating an apple? Like that is the question, you know? And so it was the craziest part. This is another one that's like super okay. It's like you have all these correlations at what point does this just become like it is what it is. Glyphosphate was patented. Wow, that's a hard word. In 1974, before then, autoimmune and digestive disorders were rare. Today we all have gut issues.

Glyphosphate destroys beneficial gut bacteria, disrupts metabolism, weakens immunity, but people blame gluten, not the poison sprayed on our food, which is like so wild because I talked to my mom and she's like, Dainty, like growing up like nobody had gluten intolerance, like nobody had celiac disease. Like nobody had all of these allergies and all these crazy, whatever's. So, yeah, it's definitely got to be some external factors, some things that we're just adding to our foods and our bodies that we weren't.

But it says since 1974, since it was patented, I can't say that word patented, celiac disease increased fivefold, Crohn's disease increased sevenfold, and gluten intolerance increased 19fold. That's crazy. So, yeah, I see a lot of correlation. I also was like, okay, great, we live next to a golf course, so that's nice. But basically, I guess the bottom line is, like, eat organic. Oh, and it said that what was interesting, it said to wash, if you have inorganic fruits and vegetables,

wash them in baking soda and apple cider vinegar, which I was like, that's a good life tip. It's not too expensive. and then also like take your probiotics but I'm like we can only do so much it's like but it's like poison you know so maybe that's why people were protesting and they were upset I too feel like it's just kind of crazy because like if all these things are true I feel like when we like I don't know move into a neighborhood like we should have like a warning that we're like moving into an area with carcinogens you know because like glyphosphate is the carcinogens like it's proven to be a cancer-causing like herbicide or whatever so it's like shouldn't we know

these things or like even when we play golf you know if you play golf you're probably not you're not there i mean i don't know you're kind of there all day some people are there literally all day but i just feel like we should know so here i am telling you i don't i don't know i just read these studies and i just tell you all what i read so but i did find that that like really interesting and I'm curious what your thoughts on what your thoughts are on all of this and it's so crazy that it like linked to Parkinson's like specifically this episode of de-influence is brought to you by Shopify when I think back to the very beginning of Divi it still blows my mind how I started with just one problem and I was trying to solve it for myself I was dealing

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Start shopping now at the realreel.com slash Danny. Moving on, this kind of, I've just been kind of in one of those eras where like I'm not so obsessed with like pop culture right now. I think because everything going on, I'm like, I kind of am a little bit more serious. I've actually gotten really into politics, but we're not. I'm going to talk about that here. That's like a thing. That's like a rabbit hole that I'm like going down on my own before I go to bed.

And honestly, what's so hard about a lot of it is like, I don't even really know what I think. Like I just read about it and I'm like, oh, critical thinking is so hard. And I always try to go like watch one video from one perspective and then I go watch the debate from the other perspective. So like when I watch one video, I'm like, oh, I totally agree. with that. Like, that's exactly what I feel. And then I go watch another one. I'm like, oh, I don't know, but they had a different perspective and it's actually really good. So there's a lot of things in the world right now that I'm like, I don't know how I feel about. So that's kind of like my rabbit hole. So to go from that and then be like, oh, Glenn Powell was seen with, who was he seen with? He was just seen with some girl. Olivia Jade. Yes. So to go from that and be like, oh, Glenn Powell was just spotted with Olivia Jade at a restaurant. And I mean, that used to really get my gears going, but it's just not hitting the same way. It's just not hitting like it used to. So now I'm actually researching population decline in the USA, which I think is so crazy.

So, like, these are things that I just would have never, ever thought about. And I never would have thought that, like, a population, like, how many people live in the United States would, like, actually affect us that. much, but obviously it does. But you know, my mind has just never really gone there. And now my mind is going there. So I was looking at an article from NPR. There's this new research from the United Nations that found that the number of children born to the average woman worldwide is the lowest it's ever been. Which, okay, this is kind of crazy. Like, I don't know if I believe this. It said in 1960, like the average number was five kids. I don't know if I believe that. I don't know if I believe that. Yeah, you can look that up. Maybe fact check. It was an NPR article that I was reading.

And now the average is, okay, but this is worldwide. So we do have to remember that. Worldwide. Wait, that's a lot of kids, though. Like, I don't know. I don't know about that one. And now the average is 2.2 kids. What's so crazy is the population decline. It's mainly affecting high income countries. That's where the birth rate is plummeting. But you would would think that low-income countries would be the ones that have that are plummeting. The only way I can think about this is when I went to Zanzibar, which is like in Tanzania or an island off the coast of Tanzania, I went there for a month and I was working at like a children's camp and everybody spoke Swahili. So like I don't even really know like what I was doing there.

But I felt like God was like, you should go to Africa. And I was like, okay. I was a freshman in college. And anyway, so, but all I will say is out of all the places I've ever been in the world, like New York, London, New York, like that village that I stayed in, I've never met happier people in my life, you know, and they don't have shoes, they didn't have anything, they ate the same thing, every single meal. Literally, like, I worked in the kitchen and the cook would just like cut off a chicken's head, like right in front of me, like, while the chicken was alive like it like you know they cook on the ground literally and they're the happiest most joyful people I've ever been around in my life and so I don't know that probably has something to do with it

I feel like when you're happy and joyful you just like want to have more kids and you're probably not taking like you're not so stressed out about all the things that we are so stressed out about here in America or all over the world um so but I was thinking about this and I was like why is the population declining? Like, why are people having less children? And so I looked into it, looked at some, like, I don't know, articles online. And it said that mainly it's like a social norm now that women are deciding against motherhood. And they're deciding to invest more in their careers, more into their like experiences. And which I think that makes a lot of sense. with just like how I don't know I feel like how we were raised because a lot of us probably felt

like we had to fall into this like so this social norm of like you know get married have a lot of kids and then your husband is just going to like you know take care of you and I think a lot of us got really turned off by that idea at a very young age and so we wanted to like rebel and this was our version of rebelling was like no I'm not going to do that actually I'm going to live like the best life ever and I'm going to not ever have children and I'm going to become like the CEO of my own company and do all these things. And so we just had so many goals that were outside of family. And when you add family into like the trajectory of our goals, it just doesn't really fit, honestly. And to be honest, it didn't really fit with my goals. And that's why I blew up my life last

year because I was trying to do both. Like I was trying to be, you know, millennial word, like the girl boss and continue to grow my business and grow my personal brand and just keep on going going going but then I also wanted to have kids and like it was literally impossible I crashed and burn and so I think a lot of us are being faced with like oh wait like it's like a decision that we have to make and it has to be like an intentional decision like we have to and it has to be a decision that we like discuss when we get married because you know, it's like, does your husband also want the same things? And he's, he like, it, it takes a lot to be pregnant. Like, you need a lot of support. Like, you need a man that is going to understand that

you're going to be hormonal and they have to be steady. Like, they have to be the ones that are, like, going to be steady and love you no matter what and not take too much offense to all the hormones. Like, I literally, like, Jordan would come and say the next thing when I was first trimester. I'd be like, you smell like dog poop like i like i love you and like but you smell like dog poop like i need you to get away you know and it wasn't personal like i just that's just what was going on and like you need a husband that's like hey i love her no matter what and i know that she's just being hormonal and that's a lot like it's a lot for a guy to commit to that on the front end so but you kind of need to otherwise having children is going to be too hard if you're with a partner that's like hey i got my own thing going on and i can't really be there for you

during all these really hard tumultuous times. And so it is something that I feel like needs to be talked about more, especially with a young 20-year-olds, like your life is going to look different when you have kids, like no matter what. And you have to like prepare for it and like build these like these muscles of like giving people grace and really taking accountability for your own actions and all these things that if you can't learn to do,

do before you have kids, it's going to be hard. Like, that's, I think, what leads to divorce is people are just not ready for, ready for it. But it's the most rewarding best thing ever. But, yeah, it's just like not really talked about a lot. So I think women are deciding to, you know, they choose themselves. I just thought about like Belly and Conrad and Jeremiah. It's like belly, like, she chooses herself. Like, and I think a lot of women are choosing themselves. And, you know, I can't blame them. I can't blame them. I can't blame them. because of probably like the way that they were encouraged and they were raised in the ways that they felt like maybe not good enough or whatever it is. But I'm here to say if I found a

lot more fulfillment in my life, like just really leaning into like motherhood and just like really going for it and letting go of like the all of those, you know, aspirations for a little bit, which I know that I can pursue, you know, at the same time, maybe not as hardcore, but I know that I can pursue them one day. And I don't know, I feel like having kids, like has, has, like, fulfilled this, like, instinct of mine. And I know that's not for everyone, but that's what my story was like, because, like, you're not going to believe me because I'm going to believe me because I'm going to four kids, but, like, I was the girl when I married Jordan. I was like, I'm not having kids till, like, I'm way over 30. Like, I want to experience life.

I want to travel. Like, I don't, I told him, I was like, I don't really like kids. And I really didn't. I really didn't. I never was one to babysit. Like, if somebody needed a babysit, I don't care how much you're paying. I was like, I'd rather not. Like, I just, I'd rather sell bracelets online on Facebook or something. And, you know, it's just so crazy how, like, God did kind of change my heart over time. But, you know, it makes, it makes sense. You can't get mad at these people that are, like, are making these decisions. But maybe you're one of those. And I'm here to tell you, it's really awesome, like being a mom. I know I just complained about waking up at 630, but it's so worth it because like every day, it's like the feeling I always say like, you know, you have feeling like when you're

first dating and like a boy texts you and you're like so excited. Like your heart raises. Like you literally get this like anxiety in your heart because you're like, oh my gosh, he likes me and he has me on date. It's like you get that feeling every single day. Like when your kids are like mommy, like I get that heart rate. And I mean, it's just like so crazy. easy. So anyway, so I think that's probably one of the reasons. It says half of U.S. women now reach age 30 without having at least one child. In the 2000s, only one third didn't have a child by 30. So just people are having like children later on after 30. Another reason I would assume is it's really expensive to have a child. In child care, you know, buying a home,

like so hard right now. You know, having child care that's really challenging. There's a lot about parenting, even all the baby gear that, you know, you don't really need. You really don't need it all. But dang, does it help a lot? I'm not going to lie. It helps a lot to have all those baby gear and all that stuff and to have a naming that you can call. And like, it's not, that's not feasible. That's not realistic for everyone. And so that part does kind of bum me out because I agree. like it is so hard to buy a home right now and to get ahead and then you have like all the student debt or whatever it is and it's like you just can't you can't feel comfortable enough just how you are so why would you add a child to the picture like i understand that but i also understand that like

it's so crazy all like now that i've had kids i'll just tell you not that they don't need much because they obviously need a lot but and i know this is so cliche but like the craziest things like excited a child it's like all the expensive toys that you buy for them like those AI toys that speak back to you that Jordan bought for them that he was like on a wait list for for years they don't touch them but then like you go to the lake and like they want to play with all the spoons in the cabinet and like build a tower like you're like you know it's like the simplest things like really excite them and I'm like so honestly with this fourth child I'm not even doing a nursery they're going to sleep like in the hallway outside of our bed.

Like I, because that's really all they need. They really don't need too much to start out with. And I know like you want to have the picture perfect like nursery and everything. Trust me, I did too. Um, but I'm just saying if that is like really on your heart, like it's,

they don't really need all those things. But yes, they need a lot of diapers. Diapers are expensive. They need food and formula or breast milk. And those are all very expensive. So it's hard. And I think that's probably one of the reasons.

reasons why people don't feel financially secure, so they're scared to have kids, and I totally, like, empathize with that. Let's see. Education also, I feel like this was my own personal opinion, but I feel like education fails us. Like, I don't feel like, and I don't know, because I went to school so long ago, so maybe it's different now, but I don't think so. But sometimes I feel like education kind of fails us, and we are not set up in, like, the right way when we graduate to get like the right type of job so then we don't get married by the time that we were intended to because it takes us longer to get like on our feet and to be independent and I have so many friends that like their kids are moving back in like after going to college because they

can't get a job and maybe maybe there's something I don't know about with Gen Z and maybe they're just like really picky and they don't want to have a job that's also a possibility I don't know but it does seem like more challenging and and sometimes I feel like education doesn't um like it's not totally caught up with like the times and what you know uh the society or like economy really needs and so i think that just kind of like pushes our timelines back because you know you don't want to get married before you have like a career you can you obviously you can like me and jordan i mean i was blogging when we got married. But yeah, like a lot of people want to feel that security and they want to find that like who they are independently before they go like rely on somebody

else. And so so yeah, I feel like education even like kind of plays a little bit into it. And then oh, and then I just think that men have too many options when it comes of dating. Like honestly. Like I said, I am just so thankful that we didn't have all the apps because like that one time that I went to a bar and then threw a peanut butter jelly at Jordan's face. Like he probably like if we would have had the apps, he probably would have gotten on it that night and be like next. But we didn't have it. So he was like, I have to stick with her crazy. And here we are married with three children, fourth on the way. So now there's just so many options. So it's like if you have a hiccup in your relationship or somebody gives you the ick or like

you don't like something, it's like on the next one. The options are endless. Let's just keep going and going and going. But then I think what you figure out is like there's not a perfect person and everybody's going to have like at least one ick. Like he probably has icks with me too. Like I never flushed a toilet when I go pee like, you know. And so there's icks and things that we're not going to always like and that's part of like the relationship is like loving each other through it and working through it. And then that's whenever you love each other so much more because you did work through all these things. And so but yeah, I just feel like I have a lot of friends that desire to have a family like a lot of female friends that want to get married and they want to find someone and it's so hard for them

to date because the guys are so picky. And this actually, like, I just thought about this. So there's this account on Instagram and TikTok and I'm obsessed with her. Her account is called El's Beats and y'all should go follow her. But there's this like really popular running trail in Dallas, like all the young people, like, run and bike. And they have, like, a couple of, like, restaurants where people will just, like, sit out there and drink and have it. So it's, like, very young, youthful. Her Instagram is called Ellsbeat on the streets. And she calls herself a dating journalist, real talk, hot takes, and then hashtag sober courage. So she has these conversations with men that are running on the trail. And she's like, what makes you want to approach a female?

like what are you looking for in a date or like when's the last time you asked her girl on a date and you just kind of get into like the guy's minds these days and like and the whole thing that she's trying to encourage is for people to meet in person again and to like it's take it more traditional and not just be on the absolute time and um but it's so interesting because then she's also doing this and then you're like scrolling and you see somebody that's single and then you can like DM them and like date them whatever like I think it's great I think it's great she's kind of like a little matchmaker but y'all just have to follow her because it's also like really interesting to see like what single people are looking for these days like one guy was asked and she was like what is like your

one thing that you're looking for in a woman and he was like um and he was like dead serious he's like uh probably like a really strong um jaw line like chiseled jawline and like all the girls are like roll my eyes like really really it couldn't have come up with like a better like more like heartful felt answer. So anyway, yeah, I just, I feel like dating has just gotten out of hand and it's just so hard. A lot of women want families and they want to settle down and get married, but it's harder. Also, this one's kind of like, you know, a little touchy subject, but it's just the truth. It was saying that abortions are like a huge factor in the CDC said that abortions are a huge

factor in the population decline. So I looked up like, I was like, okay, how many abortions we're talking about? Like, I don't even know. So it said in 2020, there were 620,000 abortions, 24, 625,000, 2022, 609, and then 2023, 1 million abortions, 2024, 1.14,000, sorry, 1.14 million abortions last year. So I added all those up in the last four years. That means 4.3 million babies died. And so that's a lot of people. That's a lot of Americans, if you think about it. I feel like it would have changed the population, like massively.

So, I mean, that's another huge, huge factor that's going on. And then also fertility decline. fertility is like obviously a huge issue and what's so frustrating about infertility is that there's so many like people don't know why but it's definitely something I asked my OB last time I was in there I was like do you feel I asked her how long have even practicing she was like 30 years almost 30 years and I said do you feel like infertility is like when you first started practicing versus now like And I wasn't asking for like a study or whatever. I was just asking for her personal opinion with her.

I mean, she delivers like, I don't know, like five to 10 babies a week. Like she knows what's up. And I was like, do you feel like infertility has increased? And she was like, oh my gosh, Danny. Like it's, she's like, I never used to deal with infertility. And now it's like, it's like everyone. And I asked her, I was like, what do you think it is? And she was like, I really think it's external factors.

It's like our food and our air and all the things. And, you know, she didn't say a specific one. I wanted to, I wanted her too. But she didn't. I kept digging. I was like, like, what kind of external factors are we talking about? I mean, honestly, probably like the pesticides I was reading about earlier that they're putting all over our foods, genetically modifying our foods.

Like, that's probably a thing. If it's causing Parkinson's, it's probably causing other things. You know what I mean? But, yeah, fertility decline is like huge. And then the COVID after effects. I think COVID is still the after effects of like mental health and how that has affected our mental health is like really, really scary. And I don't think that people have been able to like get back on their feet just yet. They might start getting back on their feet, but it's hard to recover after like a year of like such like mental kind of torment or like just.

throwing off your life so much. I think about like the kids that graduated during COVID and they didn't have like, you know, their graduation or they didn't, they weren't able to go to school and classes. And like, that's like such a formative like year of your life. I mean, for all kids, it's so crazy. And so I think that that's still, like people are still like a little fearful there. And I don't know. I guess what I was saying in this article, what's so scary about the population decline is that, you know, like we're just not going to have like the workforce or the infrastructure to like support our economy. And, and it's going to be like, it's going to be wild. Like it's going to be, it's going to be bad is basically what they're saying. But yeah,

I don't know. I think all of those things are just interesting to think about. I think that's why, like, me personally, I kind of wish I would have started having kids sooner. I kind of was like, what was I doing with my life? And I feel like if you start having kids sooner, then you're not as old as a mom. Like, so then when your kids go off to college, like, you kind of do, you can do all the things that you wanted to do, you know? Like, you could still do them, but like you also could bring your kids or your kids are kind of off, like, living their own life. And so it's not like, I remember people just to say, I'm not saying I think my parents used to say this. I feel maybe not say this exactly, but like insinuate.

Like when you're, when you when you when you have kids like your life changes like and it was like negative. It was like your life changes like for and it does like don't give me wrong. But it's like been such a good change. And I was like what was I doing before? And honestly like have kids when you're young because it's tiring. Like I'm so tired all the time. And so like I think people should have kids in their 20s when they're like so I don't know like. like resilient and like have so much energy and you know you can change like 18 diapers a day

I don't know it doesn't make so much more sense to me and then like when you're older and your kids are in college and you're still in your 40s like go live life like yolo and like do all the things that you always want to do plus you'll probably have more money that you saved up and actually be able to afford the things that you want to do um so I don't know that's just kind of my take on it So this one's interesting. Have you all heard of the term bed rot? I know I have. I love bed rotting. I just love to get in my bed and just like be in my pajamas and no makeup on eating Cheetos in my bed watching the summer I turn pretty and just no worries in the world, which is really never happens. But when it does, like mom's going hard. I'm going hard with that rot. So, but this is what's so crazy. I saw this article and I actually said, saved it a long time ago, like months ago. And I thought it was kind of relevant to the population decline that I wanted to read about. The Wall Street Journal reported on the sex recession. They said it's worse now than it was during COVID. IFS, whoever that is, analyzed data on

sex and intimacy and the latest general social security produced by NORC, where that is, at the University of Chicago. They found 37% of people, 18 to 64, report. reported having sex at least one time a week, down from 55% in 1990. 24% of 18 to 29 year olds had not had sex in the past year, which that number doubled since 2010. Sorry. Also, if you're 18, you don't need to be having sex, okay? Like, just you're too young.

What is it? No dating until after you're married. That's what my dad used to say. So this kind of like related to the other the population decline because obviously we all know how babies were made. But the question is why? Why is this happening? The article didn't actually have any reasons why. So I had to like kind of come up with my own and I would love to know y'all's feedback like why you think that this is happening. So none of this has any like. evidence behind it, but this is just why I think that sex is declining these days. Pornography, I think pornography is like a huge factor in it. And just like the access to it, I think is really harmful because you can like literally get it

anywhere. And then now with only fans, all of this, it's like, why have a girlfriend when you can have many on your app and online, I guess? I think that this is happening because, obviously of declining marriage rates. Like that makes sense. There was a study in there that said like married people have the most sex, which makes sense. Yeah, so guys, if you want to have sex get married. And then obviously people are addicted to screens.

They called this in the article. They talked about it as bed rotting. And now people are kind of getting like their dopamine hits from their screens. and it's just disconnecting people and they're like, you know, think about it. Think about it back in the 90s or the 80s. Like you get in bed and you got nothing else to do. It's like, oh, I might as well. Like, you know, you're just like, and now there's so many options, like so many apps that

you can get on. Like, I don't know about you, but when I'm watching a show, like, I'm straight up on Wikipedia. I want to know everything about the time period of the show. I want to know everything about every single actor in it. Who's married to who? And I'm just like scrolling for hours. I love to learn on my phone.

I love to use chatchip T to ask like, you know, questions about history or whatever. So there's so much for me to do on my phone. But it distracts us, like from our intimacy with, you know, our husbands. And then I think a big part of it is I think a lot of people have moved away from like traditional values, like Christian morals and Christian values. so I think that that's like also causing them to like not get married like not find someone to be intimate with try to fill that gap with like something else and traditional Christian values encourage you to like fall in love with someone don't have sex until your marriage then find that intimacy like once you're married and it's like such a progression in a relationship

and it's like when you fall in love with someone and you respect them and you love their character, then you're going to want to do it more. You know what I mean? So I think people are like finding their dopamine rushes like elsewhere. And then I think this like normalization of like just focusing so much on like self. Like sometimes I feel like self care, which I like am so into self care because like you really do have to take care of yourself, especially as a mom. But like it sometimes like I don't know it's too much. Like it's a little bit too much about self. And it's like what are you doing for someone else? And like what are you doing to serve your spouse or what are you doing to like you know what I mean to create that intimacy in a relationship?

And I think when people are focused so much on themselves, like once again like you have all these people like that are just like so worried about sharing their lives online or pictures of themselves online and like you know like guilty as charge like and um and they're not you know they're not concerned about relationships and like building that intimacy and so you just do it less like that's just probably what happens but um i thought that was crazy so maybe the population decline is also because of bed rot there's got to be something there this episode of de-influenza is brought to you by huggy's little snugglers. Okay, parents, let's be real.

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the only way to survive mornings with kids was bottomless coffee, and honestly it worked until it didn't. By lunchtime, I'd already had two cups. Instead of feeling energized, I was anxious, jittery, and wide awake at 11 p.m. wondering why my toddlers couldn't sleep, could sleep, but I couldn't. That's why live-conscious created beyond brew. It's a clean coffee alternative designed for real sustained energy without the crash, the sugar, or the shaky hands. Here's what makes it so different. Every scoop has fiber for gut health and immunity, plus six functional mushrooms. Two of my favorites are, our Lions Main, which supports focus and memory. And wow, does that help when you're juggling three kids in a business? And Rishi, which is amazing for immunity. And let me tell you, when your kids are basically bringing home a new virus every week, they'll take all the help you can get. What I love is how easy it is to fit into my routine. Some days, I'll mix it with hot water like a latte. Other days, I'll stir it right into my regular coffee for a little upgrade. And the flavors, caramel macchiato and vanilla latte, honestly, tastes like a treat. But with you,

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Like, I'll always be, like, in with it. Like, I remember asking my parents, like, about, you know, a band or whatever. And they had no idea what I was talking about. And I was like, I'll never be like that. like always know what's going on. You know, I have no idea what's going on these days. I look at what Jen's used, right? I'm like, they speak a different language, you know?

And, but it's so funny because there's so many millennials on the internet that, like, they haven't taken over because, like, we created this thing. You know what I mean? Like, we're the ones that gave you all the apps that you're using now. So we're still here. Everybody finds us so cringe, you know, like, because we're so millennial and we still dress this way and we were wearing skinny jeans and side parts and all the things. I'm like, but we made this place. So I looked up like some of the differences. Oh, sorry. I just wrote this.

I looked up some of the differences between Gen Z and millennials and I wanted to kind of get y'all's input. And if you're a Gen Z listening to this podcast, like, that's crazy. Like, wow, thank you. I feel so honored. I had a girl come up to me at. Highland Park Village the other day and she was like nine and she was like hi I love your videos and I was like I was like but I love you like you're so young it's so crazy um so millennials are born between 1981 and 1996 okay see I'm not far that far off I was born in 1992 so it was only four years off okay um we grew up during the rise of the internet we grew up during 9-11 and we grew up during the 2008 recession. I remember that, like, so well. We were kind of like the digital pioneers.

We created MySpace. We had dial-up internet. Like, you had to, oh my gosh, getting on internet was like such, it was like such a thing. Like, like, they're weir-w-w-weer-wee-like. It was crazy. Like, you couldn't get on the internet like sneakily because like it was like, this noise was throughout your entire home. It was crazy. You know, we developed. We developed. up Facebook, well, thank you, Mark. Millennials built all the apps that everybody uses to this day. You know, it's crazy because like I used to have to fax in my doctor's notes, like, whenever I would be like, or either wait to school or if I was like missing school, I had to fax them into the school. And like, Jency probably doesn't even know what that means.

We also are like the pioneers of hustle culture. So we're kind of like the ones that were the burnout generation. Personally, I think it's because, like, a lot of our parents were boomers, and, like, therapy was, like, a, like, you were a loser to our parents if you went to therapy. Like, my parents always, like, made fun of, like, the kids that had to go to therapy. It was, like, a joke, and she would, like, they'd be like, well, at least, you know, so-and-so was in therapy. Like, it was, like, the way that you, like, insult someone. And I put, therapy was for losers. And let me tell you, mental illness, like anxiety or depression did not exist. Like you told your parents that and they're like, okay, you have a lot to be thankful for.

Get up. We're going. Like we did not have mental illness or anything. And I think because of our parents were so, a lot of them were so like into like the American dream or like this traditional way of like raising a family. Like it was like our parents raised us to like if you want something, you go after get it. You prove yourself. I don't care if you stay up all night. Like you just work for it. The harder you work, the better off you'll be. And so that's kind of what we were taught. So then we come out here. We start making apps and working our booties off. And then we burn out and we have all these mental illnesses. But because we don't know how to handle our emotions because nobody ever taught us. So yeah, we're heads of household culture.

We were really into job security. That's literally because of our parents. Like in benefits. like my dad only cared about benefits he never asked about the salary or like where I was working it was like well what benefits do you get do you get health insurance do you get you get you get you get you dad but like I don't want to work for anyone else like I want to work for myself and be a YouTuber and he was like absolutely not there's no benefits job security was important to a lot of us that I think it's just because like our parents kind of instilled that and as like you you like if you're going to be successful, you can be a doctor or lawyer. Like, that's just who, that's what's up.

So that's what we were taught. And then because of the recession, like, I don't know if a lot of y'all, if a lot of millennials, like, were, if you remember the recession, like, but when your parents were working, like, I remember the recession happening. And I remember walking in the kitchen and my mom and dad were praying. And they didn't know it was in there, but, like, my dad was like, I don't know how we're going to like make it like so fearful about the recession and um and i remember being like oh my gosh we're going to have to move out our house like what are we going to do and everything ended up

being great and okay but like that i think if our parents struggled during that time that's probably why we valued stability because we were like we don't want to go through like what our parents went through because that was scary um our obsessions are harry potter marble movies avocado toast brunch minimalism. We loved experiences over stuff. And I think the reason that happened is also because our parents were hoarders because they didn't know when it was going to leave. And so we like were so sick of all the crap in our homes that when we left and wanted to live on our own, we're like, we're not going to have a lot of crap. We want to pay more for experiences because we saw how having all the crap didn't make our parents happy. So maybe we'll find happiness in experiences.

And so I think that's probably kind of war we're at. We created meme culture. That's right. meme culture. We created viral content. We created, you know, Airbnb, Airbnb, like experiences over things. We created food trucks, music festival culture, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates, side hustles, freelancing, Etsy, and Shopify. Basically everything that everybody uses these days, so you're welcome. Music we liked, emo, pop punk, fallout boy, Paramore, Alva Levine, early Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, you know, all the good stuff. Backshy Boys. We became obsessed with authenticity. We killed magazines. We literally killed traditional advertising. Like our generation killed it. We just killed it. Like it doesn't work anymore. And that was because

of us because we hated traditional ads and we wanted more authenticity. We wanted to see normal looking people on ads in commercials on TV, on YouTube. And that's why we like took off with like content creation. Like we were the ones that were like we're sick of seeing the perfect girl wearing mabelian makeup. We're sick of not seeing diversity. We're sick of seeing a size two everywhere. That's not realistic. And so we changed that. It's true. So then you have Gen Z. They were born 1997 to 2012. They are now teenagers to their mid-20s. They grew up with smartphones. They grew up with social media, you know, all the apps that we created. from day one. And they came up during COVID, which is scary. They had 24-7 access to information.

Gen Z, they're the digital natives. They grew up with all of the luxuries. And the only downfall of all of that information is it created probably a shorter attention span with Gen Z, which just means that like authenticity and like getting your message across like is really important to them because they're not here for the fluff like they're not going to put up with it and honestly they don't have to because they can go find something else to do like something else to watch um they're more entrepreneurial than millennials they are more open to freelance um to like just having gigs like gig work they prioritize mental health over and flexible work hours over you know their careers in climbing the corporate ladder so a lot of them are actually mentally more healthy

I don't know all of them, but like they, as a generation, they prioritize mental health, which I think is great because like then when they raise kids, they're going to be able to help their kids recognize their emotions. I think it would be awesome. Their consumer habits, they hate polished anything. I mean, they want raw. Like, they just want it straight up how it is. They don't like anything like that feels like an ad.

It's inauthentic. They will cancel brands that they do not. like so you better watch out because they are outspoken about brands that they do not trust and they have the time to cancel you so um they love thrifting they love sustainable products probably because they're just so sick of like all the consumerism and seeing everything because they've seen it since day one all of us are like I'm still I'm still shook about the fact that I can Amazon Prime something like it's still to this day like shooks me to my core because like I remember going off to college and not having Amazon Prime. And like anytime you wanted something, you know to drive all the sketchy

Walmart or wherever you're going and like go find it and they never had in stock and then you had to go order online and assemble it didn't work. So you'd go stand in line at the return. So I mean, it was like a nightmare. And so like they're just really used to instant gratification. And like we, I think we still are like, oh my God. I'm like, I get on an Uber. I'm like, this is so crazy. Like this is wild. Like I'm riding in a subway car. Like it's just wild. So I think that they, they love the novelty probably of thrifting. They like, they like the sustainability because of the story behind it too, because they're just like so over all of the things. They value creators that feel like friends and they love short form content.

Their values is they expect brands just take a stand on issues. They want you to be outspoken. They're outspoken and they're inclusive, which I think is great. They're open about mental health, depression, anxiety, burnout. When it comes to pop culture, they love trends. They love messy, messy, unfiltered photo dumps. They're really into DIY, learning online, gaming, creating content. And they're so good at naming micro-aesthetics,

like the core culture, like Barbie core or coastal core or clean girl aesthetic, like they're just very savvy because they've always had all of that like digital influence and so they just know how to work it and I think a lot of us are like the millennials we're still like oh my god I can't believe what we have this and we're kind of just like thankful for what we have online but yeah I really think like I know that each generation kind of gives each other like a hard time but I think it's really cool how Gen Z has kind of taken what millennials kind of started off with. And I do feel like, for the most part, they're trying to use it for good, you know. I think the downfall of growing up with their smartphone, like, since day one is just probably building relationships with people has to be probably more challenging because, like, we were kind of forced to do that.

Like, we didn't have anybody to talk to. So, like, we had to run over to our neighbor's house. But overall, Gen Z, I respect you. I like you a lot. I think you're going to do great things. And I think it's cool that y'all prioritize mental health. That's cool. Okay, guys, let's see. What else? I have like five more topics, but I don't really think I should go over them because I've been talking for an hour and four minutes, and that's pretty dang good. So maybe I'll save some of them for next time. I would love for you guys to check us out on Instagram and TikTok or a D-influence podcast.

You know, let me know if you like these solo episodes. It actually is really helpful whenever you guys tell me like topics that you want me to cover too. Jordan will be back. But right now, you know, it's all up to mama. I got it, though. It's all good. Okay. I love you guys.

We'll talk to you later. Bye. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest. and products or services referred to in this episode.