Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 263: What We Actually Think Of Millennials | Ear Biscuits Ep.263

Episode Date: November 9, 2020

Not quite Gen X but not quite millennial. Listen to these two Xennials break down the different generations and their thoughts on each in this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.

Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link. And I'm Rhett.

This week at the round table of dim lighting, we're gonna be talking about my generation. We're gonna be talking about generations, y'all. We're gonna be talking about what generation we come from, which might be in some dispute. We're gonna be talking about the generation that most of our employees come from. We're gonna be talking about the generation that most of our employees come from. We're gonna be talking about the generation

that our kids are a part of, our parents. Okay, boomer. And just the- We're talking about- The dynamics, man. We're talking about Xenials. Well, Xenials would be, you got millennials, you got Generation X, you got Xenials, which is in between, you got Generation Z.

Which is supposedly us, Xennials. I don't know. I can tell. No, but it's as- You can tell me or you can tell I don't know? Kiko did some boopity boop boop boop boop research, kind of pulled up some different perspectives that people have on like what makes,

first of all, we're gonna kind of go through what the generations are, just if you need a refresher on that, but we're also gonna talk about what makes an Xennial, an Xennial, and I think it's kind of remarkable once you start thinking about what makes us not really a part of Generation X and not really a part of the millennials,

and it'll bring up some memories, I'm sure, and also the way that we're seeing the relationships in our lives. Okay, I'm up for that. But I wanna talk about the fact that you got a haircut, which was obviously not self-imposed. Yeah, this is a more drastic cut because this is a professional cut. Yesterday I experienced someone else cutting my hair

for the first time since- Since COVID. Since March. Yeah. Since March. Boy, it's strange when something's been out of your life so long and then it's like, wait, this is back in my life. Now it was weird,

because it was, I mean, Ana who would always come in and cut my hair, some people call her Ana Lynn. I just call her Ana because I ain't got time for long names when you accept the shorter version. You know, one of the sweetest people on the planet. She is.

It's super talented and very gracious and she enjoys working with us even though- She works on much bigger and better things. She's like the, she works on American Horror Story. She's working on Dear White People. Yeah. She's got her Dear White People. Yeah. She's got her hands in lots of places. Lots of people's heads.

Just got back from her homeland of Guam where she was hunkered down because of COVID. So she wasn't even here, but I was like trimming my own hair. But yeah, she came up, we set up a tent outside. I'm wearing a mask, she's wearing a mask. She's been thoroughly tested. I've been thoroughly tested. She said she gets tested. Let's make this happen.

She gets tested six times a week. I mean, we get tested once a week. She gets tested six times a week because she's- The six is a lot. Well, she's working on two different shows that require three tests a week. And so she just, I mean, you show up and they test you. So she ends up getting tested six times a week. There's only seven days tests a week. And so she just, I mean, you show up and they test you. So she ends up getting tested six times a week.

There's only seven days in a week. She might be the most tested person on earth. I mean, I'm sure there's- What's that doing to her nasals? Some people are being tested daily, I guess, but she's basically being tested daily. Imagine being constantly swabbed in the nose. Constantly would get old.

Cause- But daily, I've gotten used to it, man. We get tested weekly and we got tested today. Sit down in the tent, one person at a time, just a guy in like full protective garb, shoving a, basically a bottle brush up my nose. It's a cotton swab. It's not, it's a bottle brush.

You're not making eye contact. Oh, I never look at it. It's not a pipe's a bottle brush. You're not making eye contact. Oh, I never look at it. It's not a pipe cleaner. Well, I'm telling you what it feels like. It is a long Q-tip. It's a pipe freaking cleaner. It is a long Q-tip. It is a cotton swab. Yeah, but it's got- Nothing else on it.

It's got something abrasive on the end of it. It doesn't have anything abrasive on it. I'll look at it next time. Okay. Are you telling me, do you like watch it go in? Yeah, when somebody is about to stick something in my nose, I look at it. I mean, who knows, he could get confused,

he could get it mixed up, he could put yours in mine. I mean, we got a professional outfit. That's not gonna happen. I mean, it's super professional. And there's all kinds of- First of all, watching it go in your nose has nothing to do with yours and mine. Well, I would be able to tell if it was wet.

It'd be, whoa, you got a wet one. Hold on, hold on, that's not a fresh one. You're not gonna know that. Yeah, if he's double dipping? Yeah, he's not, again, I'm not trying to cast dispersion on the person who's doing this for us. He's double dipping from my right nostril to my left. Do you have a conversation with him?

I've just quit talking. I say, good morning. I say, good morning, here we are again. Sometimes I'll say, here we are again. I feel bad that I've kinda, I mean, there morning. I say, good morning, here we are again. Sometimes I'll say, here we are again. I feel bad that I've kinda, I mean, there was one week where we kinda talked, like he saw me pull up. Small talk. In my new car.

And he was like, oh, let's talk about that. Now he doesn't talk, it's all business. I think he leaves it up to you. But I'm just like, he's so efficient, it happens so quickly that I'm just like, morning, how you doing? He's like, good. And then it's just like, whoop, whoop, drip, burp. And I'm like, thank you. quickly that I'm just like, morning, how you doing? He's like, good. And then it's just like, whoop, whoop, drip, burp.

And I'm like, thank you. And then I get up and go. He does the second swab so rapidly after the first insertion that I'm reacting to the first one after the second one's done. So he's got a good technique. Cause like my head shakes. And you don't want your head to shake

when you got a bottle cleaner. The first test I ever got was at my doctor, like my regular doctor, and they had like a parking lot kind of thing. Yeah, roll your window down, stick your nose out. That guy, not my doctor, but a doctor at my doctor's, not only did he go deep, first of all, I was like, now I have a deviated septum,

the right nostril is pretty difficult to get in. Oh gosh. But my left nostril is susceptible to bleeding if like you can irritate it. You told him all this? Yeah, because he was like, okay, well, I'll try on the right and he goes into the right. And this is back in the early days of COVID,

they were, the testing was deeper and more invasive and it's now I think they've learned that, okay, we just got to get in there a little bit. But he shoves it in there and he hits whatever the deal is. I've never broken my nose, but a majority of the population has a deviated septum naturally. You could feel him hit something? He's hitting the septum that's deviated

and he can't get through, because it is not a bottle cleaner, it is a Q-tip. I think he needs to get a hammer and start chiseling it in there. And so he's like, oh a bottle cleaner, it is a Q-tip. I think he needs to get like a hammer and start chiseling it in there. And so he's like, oh, can't do it, can't get in there. He pulls it out, goes in the left side, and I swear he hit my brain. It was, I don't, it was so far back,

it went all the way through and was in the back of my throat, and then he said, okay, now that I'm in there, I have to turn it slowly for seven seconds. Yeah, I had one of those. Seven seconds. They don't do that anymore. They don't do that anymore. Now, so when dude out here hits,

does he hit your septum? I don't think so. He doesn't go deep enough to hit the septum. That's what I'm saying, I don't think they do that anymore. I don't think they go as deep anymore. I wonder if he's deviated from the- It's uncomfortable. Procedure enough to not hit the deviated self.

Well, I had an ENT one time when I was dealing with like my onset of allergies a couple years ago and I was like, I don't know what's going on with my throat. Like the first time we went on tour and I was having all those throat issues and it was allergies and I hadn't diagnosed myself yet. He was like, okay, let me look at your throat. And he did the thing that you got done

at the plastic surgeon when we made the commercial in Newport Beach. Let's go. So he went into my right nostril, the deviated one. And I guess because the camera's flexible, it went around the deviation and he got back there and examined things.

Everything was fine, don't worry. It is the disconcerting feeling. But a year later I went to a different ENT as like a follow up, but a follow up with a different doctor. Okay. He couldn't get in. He could not get through the deviation. I think some people have the courage to just do the extra,

just like just really get it in there. We're losing people. And some people don't courage to just do the extra, just like this, really get it in there. We're losing people. And some people don't. We're losing people. And some people don't. Including me, but the haircut. Yeah, let's talk about that. It was nice, but you know, my hair had gotten so bushy that all I was,

I was just doing like maintenance on the bush. And the bush on the sides was getting pretty bushy. Everywhere, it was like, it was getting really big, but like, I just don't like doing a drastic cut myself because you know, on the back, I'm just, it's all guesswork. Now she's a pro, she did a great job, but it is, it's not just a trim, it's a little bit more. And I, you know, I just have flashbacks to like when I was a kid

and whenever you go in and get a haircut as a kid, it would be so drastic and be like, oh gosh, I have to go to school the next day. It looks so different. I hate it when people are like, did you get a haircut? It's like, well, you either know I did or you didn't. Don't ask me if I got a haircut. Just like say, you know.

Nice haircut? a haircut. Just like say, you know. Nice haircut? Nice haircut. I mean, if you- I think sometimes people are legitimately curious though. Do you get a haircut? Are you styling it differently or is it just cut? It's still longer than it ever used to be, but it now feels so much shorter.

And I'm in this transition period where I'm trying to get used to it. Well, what you've done, my assessment of it is that it is the same length on top that you used to reset at, but it's a longer length on the side than you used to reset. Yeah, I was like, I don't want it to be too short on the sides, I want it to be a little longer on the sides.

Well, but you have slowly gone away. I mean, I don't know when it was, but it's one of those things that like you watch old episodes or we see ourselves in like montages. It was so tight. There was a point where you went like full, I don't even know what you would call it. You could see skin on the sides.

Yeah, it was getting almost, I mean, it's almost like I'm a Nazi cut. I mean, honestly. What? No, I'm just like. I don't look back at montages and say, damn, I look like a Nazi. No, but I'm saying like the dudes in the Nazi dudes,

they have a haircut where they do it really, really short on the sides. It never got to that point. I mean, I'm saying you were approaching that. If you had actually gotten there, I would have said, hey man, look, there's a bunch of racists on the internet that look like this, but you never got there, but I'm saying you got close,

but people know that's not who you are, so I mean, I didn't have to say anything. I'm not doing that anymore, but now, I mean, especially with your hair being so long and shaggy, like I've got a, I'm kind of taking that into account because I mean- You don't want to be too buttoned up? The kids saying, you know, it's the businessman

and the boy on that old react video, they called you the businessman, called me the boy. Now I don't want it to be like the caveman and the businessman. But I don't think you can do anything- Caveman and the boy. I think that what I have going on is so far removed

from anything that we would have considered normal. But it makes anything that, like this fresh cut makes me seem clean cut, which in normal situation, I would just seem like, I don't have like a really clean cut haircut. Like if I had the haircut that you're talking about before, that would be too big of a contrast between the two of us.

I don't know, maybe it would be what we need. Maybe you should go full newscaster. Like what if you get as- I'm not going newscaster. No, what if you went as tight, like what if it was like hair sprayed and it was a little bit lower and it kind of swooped down? What if it was like you could see the part?

What if you just went full, like this is so locked in? That would be an interesting sort of contrast. You might want to do that one day. I don't want to do that. You might do it before you die. I might do it before you die. You can do it. Before you die.

Before I die, yeah, I want you to clean up. Well, one thing I didn't ask Ana that I was gonna ask her and I was kind of just gonna see if she was gonna say something about it because when I saw her yesterday, when she came in to cut your hair, you know, I had my hair tied up. And of course, me not cutting my hair for over a year,

the person who has cut my hair, if my hair is going to be cut, is gonna like say something. She was like, your hair, wow. And so because I know how she thinks about hair, I know that if I had made the decision to grow my hair out and COVID had not have happened and she had continued to be around. She would have said, now, when you grow your hair out,

you still need me to cut your hair as you grow it out because like, for the sake of the health of the hair and for like thickness and all this stuff. So you, yeah, I get it. So you thought she was gonna say something. I thought she might say, you know, you could use some thinning or whatever it was. Or like a trim.

A trim or like I noticed the other day that like- Get rid of the burnt ends. I don't know if you can see this, but like, I don't think that this is really supposed to happen because I just, all my hair was like it was and then I just started growing it and no attention to anything, right? And so like, if you see this,

so I don't think that- It's like the mullet area. There's a mullet area that's way longer just because the hair's lower on my head than this hair. But I think that she would be like, I don't think that- It's like the mullet area. There's a mullet area that's way longer just because the hair's lower on my head than this hair. But I think that she would be like, let's get that all the same length. But she didn't say anything, so I didn't say anything. But if she did, what would you have said?

I would have been like, I'm cool, I'm good. Yeah, because that goes, you can't do anything to seem like- There's no corrective measures that can be made to the hair. You can't do anything to try to make it seem prettified. Right. Because trust me, when you put it in that,

oh, you know what, I'm staying out of this. That's actually what I decided. You're trying to draw me in to give an opinion and I'm not doing it. Oh, I don't want an opinion. I know you're not, but you are, but you're tempting me. And I'm not, that's the thing I've committed to doing is I'm not going to talk about your hair.

Here's the only opinion that I'm interested in from you as it relates to my hair is when you think that, like, do you think that there would come a moment in the next months or years in which you would be like, hey, I think you should cut your hair. Like, so for instance, if I went full- Or has there been a point? Has there already been a point?

So, but like, cause it could, I mean, I don't know. You know, everybody's got a terminal length. Do I go to terminal length? I mean, that could be I mean, I don't know. Everybody's got a terminal length. Do I go to terminal length? I mean, that could be years away. I don't know. I mean, somebody messaged me on Twitter, or not messaged me, but just added me on Twitter and said, she was like, I'm sorry to say my mom

has stopped watching Good Mythical Morning because of your hair. Really? She was like, she even met you when you came to so-and-so town and like showed me the picture, like put the picture of us with them, like a mother and a daughter. She said, my mom will not watch the show

because of your hair. So the only reason she was watching the show was because of your previous hair. I guess. Or whatever's happening with your hair is not enough to keep her around. But maybe now that you got a professional cut, she'll come back.

Maybe that's enough for her to overlook whatever she doesn't like about my situation. Pulling your weight. So you're saying that you're not gonna tell me when you think I should cut my hair and that you would have already told me if opinions were open? See, you're tempting me, man.

I haven't told you what I've thought about your hair or what you've done to it because that was the decision I made. I'm just staying out of it. Oh, you made a decision. Yeah, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna stay out of it. He's got his reasons.

You know, who am I? Nothing, okay, nothing has compelled me to say, listen, I gotta intervene. Oh, okay, well, there's still time for that. But yeah, I reserve the right to intervene for the good of the brand. But I just feel like- But I'm not happy with getting a haircut myself.

It's like, I didn't know what to do with it, but like, I hate getting a haircut. That's why whenever Ana used to come, she would like, it would just be like this maintenance, a little bit of trim. And this is a bit, I don't like that type of change. Are you saying that it was on the table for you to do something new and different?

No, just not to cut as much, but. But you didn't cut as much. I feel like I still cut too much. I don't like what's happening on the sides. What do you want to happen on the sides? More? A little more, yeah. Well, just let it grow. A little shaggy.

Yeah, it's headed in the right direction. I mean, it's longer than it has been. Yeah, but not as long as it was yesterday. You know, we could continue to talk about this, you know, for the entire hour, but we're not going to do that. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers.

Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. All right, so we're going gonna dig into the generations here. So again, let's just go through what the generations are. There was a comment from a Mythical Beast that got us thinking about this. I don't think we have that anymore. Sorry.

Was there? Mm-hmm. Yeah, there must have been a comment. We'll credit it on the video right down here. The video version's gonna shout that person out. So we don't have it in front of us. Quick breakdown of the generations just for refreshing, or maybe this is introducing it to you for the first time,

according to the Pew Research Center. Pew, pew, pew, pew. There's a whole research center. They're constantly, boopity, boopity. That's what they do. Yeah, they sell it to marketers who sell it to brands. I gotta tell you that I did not know that the generation before boomers,

which my parents are technically a part of. Busters. Is the silent era. Oh, that sounds sad. Born 1928 to 1945, so they're 75 to 92. So my parents are just in that generation on the younger side. Okay.

I don't have any information about them, but they're silent, it makes sense. Yeah, they wouldn't give it to you if you ask. Yeah. Next one's boomers. Boomers, we know the boomers, that's 1946 to 64. Tell me how old they are now. Between 56 and 74.

Okay. So your mom is a boomer. She's not as old as my parents. Your dad is a boomer. Your parents are boomers. Yeah. I always thought my, I would have just called my parents boomers,

but they're actually just outside of it. Here's a couple of facts about them. You know, they grew up as television expanded dramatically, but they're actually just outside of it. Here's a couple of facts about them. They grew up as television expanded dramatically, changing their lifestyles and connections to the world in fundamental ways. Oh. They live to work, their self-worth is their worth ethic,

loyal to their employer, competitive, goal-centric, process-oriented, focused, disciplined, need to know they are valued, wanna make a difference. Hopefully retired at this point. Yeah, that's how they thought. Not really having to work, hopefully. And the population boomed after what, World War II?

Yep. That's where the boom comes from. It's a population boom. And it was the largest- Come back from war, completely traumatized. You don't know what to do with yourself, so you make babies and you hope that makes it better. But-

Until a year ago, this was the largest generation. Most people in America were boomers. Oh. Any other generation until 2019. Second boomers. And I'll tell you who that was that replaced him. Of course, Generation X, which we are technically a part of, this is people born between 65 and 1980.

So they're between 40 and 55. Okay. You know, I'm not gonna get- We're the front side of Gen X. I don't wanna get into the details of the generations until we come back and start explaining. I think it's gonna be a better conversation if, that's Generation X.

Okay. Then you got millennials. When I think about Generation X, I think about alternative rock. I think about like Eddie Vedder. Yeah. You know? Yeah, Nirvana. Yeah, it's just, I mean,

actually when I think about Generation X, I picture Eddie Vedder with a flannel shirt on. Okay. Cargo shorts. Yeah. Backwards hat. Yeah. And I've always felt a little disconnected. Okay. Cargo shorts, backwards hat. Yeah. And I've always felt a little disconnected from that. Like that's not me, which is interesting as we'll get into.

Millennials born between 81 and 96. So they're between 24 and 39. And we're just on the outside of that. And I definitely have, the interesting thing is I've never considered my, when I think of a millennial, I don't think of myself. No.

I think of many who work for us. Yeah. Okay, and then you got our children, generation Z born between 97 and 2012. So all of our kids are in Generation Z, all five of them. Your three, my two. Gen Z. They're between eight and 23.

And then you got what we're calling or what is being called Generation Alpha. Oh, the next one? The next one's out? Basically early 2010s and onward. You don't have to start talking about them yet though. You don't have to really talk about them yet. They haven't become fully fledged people yet.

So. Yeah. And then, okay. Generation Alpha. You've got the generational cuspers, the generation cuspers. This is people who are born in the cracks between the generations.

Again, this is all just observational stuff based on- Right, there's not a hard switch between- There's no math in this. So if you're on the cusp- There's no real science in this. Okay. But I think that there's something really interesting about the difference between the Xers and the millennials

and why we could be considered what they call an Xennial, which is between 77 and 83. I'm born in 77, you're born in 78. Xennial. My wife's born in 80, your wife's in 78. So like we're all right in that group. So it's a subset of Gen X or does it cross over? Well, ex-xenial means some ex, some millennial.

Oh yeah, yeah. What's the crossover again? 77 to 83. Okay. So 80 would be the cutoff point. Okay, okay. So it's around 80. Now, all right, let's talk about this.

I'm gonna come over here to the zennial breakdown. Cause I think for us, I mean, we've interacted with culture because of our jobs and our relationship with YouTube and entertainment. We've aged ourselves down. and internetainment, we've kind of, we've aged ourselves down. Like we've done a lot of work from the beginning of, when I say internetainment, like I mean, streaming video,

YouTube and all those other platforms that were competing with YouTube, we were committed to being an active part of that development, that revolution. And I think that's a big factor for us. I think you're over personalizing it. Because I think that while that's true of us and our jobs and the thing that we decided to do,

we got a job in social media actually. But I think that the reason that this is gonna be applicable to people who are plumbers, they don't have to be YouTubers, is because the way that social media and technology has impacted everyone's life. And so that's the thing that's an interesting thing to explore here. Yeah, but I think about if you're 45,

let's see, what's the oldest you can be and be considered 45? 43, 77. Okay, 43, like a normal, a 43 year old plumber is just, I just don't think that they don't, they don't use YouTube. I think that many of them do, I disagree. Well, Facebook and Instagram.

Well, let's talk about the cutoff. The thing that makes the cutoff so interesting and makes me personally not feel at home in either place, right? So, and kind of, like I said, Kiko gathered all this information and I kind of synthesize it down into this. I'm just kind of taking a couple of points

and dropping them into one. And that basically what defines an ex-xenial is your adolescence was social media and largely mobile phone free, but the onset of your adulthood coincided with social media and widespread mobile phone usage, right? So as you were becoming an adult, as you were becoming independent.

That's when you first start texting. You were getting, like I got engaged and got a mobile phone for me and my wife all in the same week. Ooh. So we're getting married, now we have to have mobile phones. Can it have that push to talk technology?

I never did the Nextel thing. Can I have the big Nextel? Never did it. Yellow and black and bloop bloop. That's what I had. But the other thing that was happening is at the same time that we were experiencing a new level of connectivity, both through our phones

and through the internet and the way that the internet was rapidly becoming just a part, like again, when did you get your first email address? When you showed up at NC State, right? Just like I did. RJMCLAUG at EOS.NCSU.EDU. Don't send an email to it because you'll probably get it returned to you.

What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect.

It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. So we were connected to the internet. Now some kids, the rich kids had a computer at home.

We didn't get that. Yeah, like Trent. Trent had a computer at home. Had a computer in high school. So he's like chatting in high school. We did, parents didn't do that. Talking shit in chat rooms. I did go into his room and get in the chat rooms and talk shit to people.

I don't know why, my first inclination was to troll when I went into a chat room. Well, that's because that's what he did. So that's what he showed you you could do. Right, I thought that was the limit of the possibilities. It was fun for him. So you got this connectivity. He also had a bathroom.

In his room. In his room. Well, not in, you know, he had his own bathroom connected to it. He also had a bathroom. In his room. In his room. Well not in, you know, he had his own bathroom connected to it. He had a freaking master bedroom. His room was so big. His room was so big. His room could have, like. He had a couch in his bedroom.

My room and your room, I don't know whose room was smaller, but both of them were very tight. Your room was smaller, cause. And you had a bathroom, it was the guest bathroom. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I had a Jack and Jill. That then, if you. Well you didn't have a Jack, I had a Jack and Jill that then if you- Well, you didn't have a Jack and Jill.

A Jack and Jill goes to another bedroom. You had a guest bathroom that could be entered- I had a Jack and exit. Yeah, it could be entered from the hallway. That is how I used it in high school. No, I would enter from my bedroom and then there would be another door and I'd exit out that door

and I could go out another door into I'd exit out that door and I could go out another door into the carport. Right, yeah. I don't know where we were going with that. You didn't even have a carport, my friend. No, I mean, first of all, you had a brick house. Yeah. That had a carport and you had your own bedroom, I mean bathroom.

I had to share a bathroom with my brother. My room was super tiny. In fact, it was actually, it had a slant in it that I couldn't even stand up in half of it. Yeah, I said your room was smaller. And we didn't have a garage or a carport and we had vinyl siding. Vinyl siding is, you took a lot of pride in that.

But we lived, don't try to act like you know. But we had a second story and we lived closer to the country club. Yeah, you do. And so it felt richer. You had steps. It felt like, I mean, we can, like I can see the country club. Yeah, you do. And so it felt richer. You had steps. It felt like, I mean, we can, like I can see the country club, so we feel rich. You had a deck.

I didn't have a deck. I had a- You had a courtyard almost. I had a concrete patio, I had a slab. Oh yeah, yeah, I was thinking about your other house where you had the nice courtyard. Yeah, but I'm talking post-divorce. You had a big deck, but you never- Spent time on it? Spent time on it.

What are you talking about? I spent all kinds of time on that deck. No you didn't. When I would go out on that deck, it would be covered in like tree refuse. Well, they didn't do a great job of cleaning it up. But I went out there a lot. Acorns and twigs. My dad grilled out there.

It was dilapidated, man. I think you're remembering it late in the cycle. You know how when a deck- A tree fell on it one time and they left it that way for much too long. Well, that should tell you something. Yeah, see, it was neglected. But see, that's why we're exennials, man,

because our parents let trees fall on the deck and just left it. Here's the thing. Not only did this sense of connectivity happen as you were becoming an adult, which we'll explore what that feels like and what that means. But also the feeling that we were no longer safe

happened when we were adults. 9-11 for most Americans represents the moment in which you're like, whoa, whoa, hold on. Like I grew up thinking that the chances of something outside of our country affecting us was literally foreign. It was like, this can't happen. What are you talking about?

We're totally safe and protected. 9-11 happened, it changed security around the world, but for Americans, there was lots of places in the world, they were already like, yeah, welcome to the party, guys. It's not safe. But for us, it was like, hold on, I just got married. I got married in June of 2001. 9-11 happened September of that year.

You know, so you're thinking, you moved into this part of your life where you're thinking about starting a family and bringing children into a world that no longer feels safe and secure. And so I think that those two things are what makes ex-ennials feel like they don't connect because millennials, of course it's not safe.

They knew that from the beginning. 9-11 happened when they were kids. They've grown up in the midst of a never ending war. So violence is just an accepted part of the way the world works, but also that violence and exposure to it is enhanced because of the connectivity that they had as kids. They got cell phones as kids.

They're on the internet. They're fluent in internet connectivity from the very beginning. They have friends- So they see it all happening. In other countries. Right. Because of video games. And we may have had a pen pal, like through school. They have friends in other countries. Right. Because of video games. And we may have had a pen pal, like through school,

but they didn't do that at Buies Creek Elementary. And it does make me think, you know, is there a pre and post COVID thing that's gonna happen with the- Alphas? Well, with our, what are our kids called? Children? Zs. Yeah, Generation are our kids called? Zs. Yeah, Generation Z.

Yeah, I'm sure. That's impacting them in some way. Yeah, because hate to break it to you, but COVID-19 is just the beginning of global pandemics happening on a regular basis. But yeah, so there's just- And unfortunately there's just, I was gonna get into the climate change of it all,

but it's just not acute enough to speak of it that way. Yeah. It is for some people in some places. Right. Depending on the connections that you make. But for, yeah, but for COVID, I mean, like I think about Lando, the youngest of both of our kids, looking at as an 11 year old,

it's like he's gonna process things as, I know what it was like for things to be taken away. I know what it was like for my school to be taken away, for my friends to be taken away. I know what it was like for my school to be taken away, for my friends to be taken away. And he's rolled with it, but it's absolutely gonna stick with him. Oh yeah. And for that to happen,

because when you know things- When you're a kid, things- It's just like, oh. Impact you in a completely different way. Yeah, it's like for kids in 9-11, it's like, oh, the world is a dangerous place. And it's a replay of that. But it still felt,

it did feel distant, 9-11 still felt distant though, as somebody who was in rural North Carolina, it was like, well, this isn't gonna happen in Fuquay. But it felt too close for comfort. I was working at IBM at the time and they were talking, because at the Research Triangle Park, there was so much technology focus there

in kind of a Silicon Valley kind of way that there were active discussions about not going to work because it could be a terrorist target. So we were talking about not going to the office because for that reason, and it really changes your thinking. But as a kid, I think it changes a lot.

I also think with the COVID of it all for our kids also translates more directly into politics. Of course, with Generation X, it was, with the experience of 9-11, there was, everything was much more partisan as a result of that. There was an understanding of politics through the lens of 9-11.

And now I think for our kids, there's an understanding of politics through the lens of COVID because it's so partisan. Right. Versus when we were growing up, politics was just like, we would have mock elections and it would be cool to like pretend we were growing up, politics was just like, we would have mock elections and it would be cool to like pretend we were voting for president,

but we didn't feel the impact of who our government, a decision the governor made having a direct impact on you as a person. In the combination of those things, like the combination of feeling less safe and then the awareness of what contributes to feeling less safe because of the access to information. I mean, I talked about it in my deconstruction story

that the biggest thing that impacted me, and this is impacting lots of people who come from sort of any kind of ideology, any sort of religious ideology, political ideology that you were raised in a certain set of principles that may or may not necessarily reflect the truth, but they are the truth capital T to you and your community. And for most of human history,

you've been able to maintain an adherence to that capital T truth for your entire life without it being challenged or examined. So you point to the internet. Unless you go to get a graduate degree in a particular thing, but yeah. College was really that place where it's like, well. And I'm talking less about college.

And I'm saying that now you get access to that level of information just by going on the internet. I mean, we've got a friend who did not go to college who I consider my most educated friend because that information is available online at this point. And you gotta be good at navigating that. But like, I think that that sort of was the beginning of my personal deconstruction.

But I think that that is what, you know, I was kind of, I was doing some reading as also as like, a lot of people see millennials, and I have been guilty of this on my own, millennials as entitled, right? They seem entitled and they seem like they don't wanna, they expect too much and they don't wanna work as hard.

And I don't necessarily think that that's true, but I think they have that reputation. And I have found myself falling into believing those stereotypes. But I was reading this article in Inc Magazine and basically this person was explaining this from this perspective. The connected world has empowered millennials

to take ownership, to take ownership. Glassdoor and LinkedIn allow ownership of one's career. YouTube allows ownership of one's content. Instagram and Snapchat allow ownership of one's personal brand. Netflix allows ownership of one's content consumption YouTube allows ownership of one's content. Instagram and Snapchat allow ownership of one's personal brand. Netflix allows ownership of one's content consumption. You could go on and on. Spotify, you got your own music, et cetera.

The internet has offered millennials personalization and customization at every turn of their lives. And now they expect the same control at work and in their careers. So if you, if it, because again, if you go back to Generation X, it was like, they didn't, they grew up where you got, they had three channels. You watch the movie that your parents decided to rent.

You may or may not have had any say in it, depending on the structure of your family. I remember getting 34 channels, but still. You had cable. Brick house, cable, bathroom. You didn't have cable? No, my parents got cable when I went to college. I remember coming home after my freshman year and they had gotten cable.

I was like, what is this? And then I was flipping through the channels and I got to a channel that was scrambled. You know what, Rhett, you had a brother. Let me explain this. Okay. I went back home. I had cable.

I had Nickelodeon. And there was a scrambled channel. You had a brother. Let me explain this. Okay. I went back home. I had cable. I had Nickelodeon. And there was a scrambled channel. And there was a pair of boobies in the corner. Boobies in the corner? And it was scrambled, but I could hear the sounds of a woman. Okay.

Period, that's it. I'm not gonna say what she was doing, but you can imagine. And I was like, well, what is this? How do I unscramble? Who do I call to unscramble this? This is when you came home from college? Yeah.

And then I figured out that if you watch this particular channel at a certain time, they would put on a movie that was not family friendly and then they would scramble it. And sometimes the guy who was making the scramble decision would be like two minutes late. And you'd get like two minutes of unscrambled boobies.

If they were at the beginning of the movie. And they were pretty immediate with the particular movies that I was watching. As a college freshman. I think that was it. It was shortly after going off to college, they got cable and they got the scramble booby channel. Yeah, you talk about the level of access now.

It's like. Yeah, think about how easy it is to see boobies if you wanna see them now, right? It's just a completely, it is so different, right? And so I think, I've gotten into discussions. My dad is now retired, right? He was a law professor for many years. He retired this year.

And I really enjoyed going home and talking to him about the students. Now he had a reputation for being a very difficult, but very good professor. Most students really liked him, but if you were not on top of it, you might hate him because he was a difficult professor. But he always, you know,

from the very first time I ever talked to him about the exams that he would be grading over Christmas or around the holidays, he was always complaining about, it didn't matter what year it was, it was always like, ha, they just don't understand, you know? And every year it felt like they like, they just don't understand. And every year it felt like they just,

they really don't understand. He was getting, he was becoming an old man and his classes were staying the same age. And he was seeing the generations through X and through Xennials and to millennials. And we had some interesting conversations because I was like, yeah, you might get frustrated that your students don't seem as committed

to understanding this particular thing in this way or they don't seem as capable of this, but have you thought about how they can actually see things in this way because they're more connected thinkers or whatever? The generations just change. But I find myself sometimes thinking like, yeah, they are entitled.

They just think that they should get whatever they want, but you gotta understand, you gotta pay your dues. You gotta work for what you get. And I think this is an interesting theory as to like you live in a world of customization where it's just like my phone, if you pull up my phone, it represents my tastes and everything like my digital world is curated.

My apps are curated according to my tastes. And that's a fascinating way to think about now how does that not transfer over into the way that you see the world? does that not transfer over into the way that you see the world? Ironically, and we've talked about this recently, technology enables a level of connection, but then it also, it's increasingly incentivized

to set up a customized experience just for you that creates insulation and isolation. So it's, and that's happening more and more, algorithmically, right? We talked about the social dilemma documentary. We don't have to go back there, but it's, the early internet was, it was just more of volitional connection.

Now it's volitional isolation. Because that's the internet that we experienced. And now we're like, I mean, you set, and then you realize, oh, the ways you've been hoodwinked. Well, and I think it's, I don't, I'm just thinking out loud at this point. Becoming an adult before you had those opportunities for customization and isolation through your connectivity.

Because I'm not saying that, you know, I think that Xennials and even generation Xers and even boomers for that matter, might be more susceptible to addiction to their phones. I mean, I know everyone's kind of addicted to their phones, but I don't necessarily know, because I feel like the older you are,

the more it kind of snuck up on you, right? If you're a generation Xer, it's not that you're not completely consumed by your phone. It just means you can remember a time that you weren't. But does that mean that you're less susceptible to it? Like are our kids gonna have better tools to manage and to deal with? I mean, I was saying that every 43 year old plumber

in America is not- Has an iPhone. Yeah, but they're not addicted. They're not all equally addicted to Facebook or Instagram. But that's why it's a cusp. There's a gradient and you're at 43, you're technically into generation X. And so you may not be,

but I'm just saying that a very high percentage of 43 year old plumbers have a curated digital experience just like anybody else. Yeah, and I'm thinking about if you, like the technology has such an impact on who we are as people. It defines, it has defined these generations in a lot of ways.

You know, I think about, even if you look at something like our parents, trying to teach our parents about using a phone or even like using computers, they didn't have computers in the house. There was this distrust of it. Like, I'm not gonna put my banking information on there. I'm actually not even gonna click on this thing because what if it's messed up? It's like, and it was like, well,

anything you click on, you can undo. It's like, they didn't even understand that. So there was like this suspicion associated with it. But then with our generation, we were the ones who had to make the decision to start trusting and to give more of ourselves over to the internet and now the generation after us, the problems and the benefits of once you do give yourself

over to it completely, what can happen? And then there starts to be, I think there's now another wave of hopefully pulling back and saying, okay, maybe I'm not gonna accept all these cookies and I'm not gonna, you know, I'm gonna know how these ads are working and I'm gonna get beyond the magic of this in order to know what proper boundaries are for myself.

In terms of, there's a level of skepticism that I think is coming back in now. But I don't think that, I mean, is that skepticism coming from the millennials or the Zs themselves? I don't think so. I think like if you watch the social dilemma, most of this pushback and sort of gut check

that's happening around social media is happening. It's from us. It's happening from the millennials and the Xennials and the Generation Xers who developed the platforms. Yeah. And are seeing what's happening to their children and getting very worried about their own children and just getting worried about the state of the world.

But yeah, I can't remember where I saw this, but somebody was talking about how there's this sort of trope that these Generation Z-ers are so tech savvy. And then this was like a millennial who was saying this and they were like, actually, they're not. Being able to make a TikTok video and operate an app on your phone is not tech savvy, it's app savvy.

Tech savvy is knowing about the underlying features of the thing that you're interacting with, knowing how to write code, that kind of thing. And obviously that's happening across all generations, but there was this little bit of like, guys, they're not actually that tech savvy. They actually don't care about specifications and technology as much as people

who are a little bit older than them. They are just basically, their apps and their phone is an extension of themselves. Think about the way that you interact with your kids. If there's a computer issue at home, who addresses the computer issue, you or your kids? Who is the most equipped to deal with something happening with a computer at home?

Lincoln started building his own computers and then he broke his computer. Like he fried his motherboard. And I was in the room when he did it. That was quite a learning experience when it's like the sound that he made when he realized that he had touched his motherboard and fried it.

Did it smoke? It didn't smoke, no. It just ceased to work entirely. When was this? And he was like a month ago. And he was, he's like, looks at me and I'm just like, I'm just in here to pet the dog, dude. I got nothing.

So he's building a PC. Yeah. Like a gaming PC. But he had to figure that out on his own. Yeah. I was like, but I had to, I still had to teach him a little bit. Like you have to Google what just happened. I think I just fried my motherboard, Google that.

You know? Yeah, Locke almost got into the computer building phase. I don't know if I encouraged it or discouraged it. I don't remember, but he thought he was gonna do that. I was like, okay, good. Well, just let me know when you want to do it. And it never came to fruition. But I did.

Lincoln's saving all his money for like the next component now. As this what he's into. Okay, well. And I thought that was a good thing. But yeah, for sure. Because that is, because I can't help him. And he's so into it that it's like,

he's got to figure it out himself. It's ironic because I worked for a company that built computers. When I worked for IBM, and we would refurbish every type of computer that they made, some that, I mean, they would refurbish Dell computers and then resell them to like businesses. It was strange.

Laptops, servers, desktops, everything, even like peripherals, it's peripherals. Did you learn anything? Is that what you're getting at? Like all the tests and stuff, like, you know, I just designed like the conveyor belts and stuff. I didn't understand, like computers were still so new to me. I didn't understand how, like what is,

I didn't understand how to like, they gotta zap the RAM and then they gotta clean the hard drive. I had no clue what this stuff was. Well, I guess what I'm saying is if you have an interaction with your parents and I have an interaction with my parents about a computer, there is clearly someone who is the expert and someone who is not.

Yeah. But when it comes to our kids, I just don't think it transfers. It's not as clean cut. It's not like, oh, they're younger, so therefore they know more. I thought that's what you were getting at, but you're not, yeah.

I'm saying that's not the case. That's one of the things. We're still burdened with IT issues, like you and I in our homes is what you're saying. Yes, whereas my dad will call me and I literally talk to him for 30 minutes about- You know what it's like? Him, his cable internet.

I talked to him, when I was 16, 17, 18, I got my first truck. It's like, I didn't know how to fix anything in it, but it seemed that like my dad and my granddad knew how to fix everything with the car. And so if something went wrong with the car, I'd be like, well, you're supposed to take it to a shop and they're supposed to fix it, or you just get it.

I mean, we get a new one if it's too messed up. That's how our kids are with computers and phones. My phone doesn't work anymore. It's like, well, have you reset the computer? Have you restarted it? Have you wiped your phone clean? How much, you know, things that we know how to do because we came up having to figure out

all that stuff ourselves. Just last week. They just want to throw it away and get a new one. Locke came to me. But our parents could fix cars. They could fix cars in the same way. Well, so Locke did the same thing. We go comes to me, my phone screen is just blinking.

It won't turn on. And of course he ended up getting a replacement because we've got insurance on it. But like the diagnosing of that issue and getting on the phone with tech support, that daddy's job, right? Again, I think that that's a generational thing that my parents would have made me figure it out probably.

And I probably should have also done the same thing, but I digress. I think that another thing that I saw in- Like we had to learn how to change the oil. You changed the oil in your car yourself, right? A couple of times. At least a couple of times. Yeah, but the point you're getting at is- There's an observation that somebody made,

which is one of the things that has, and I don't know exactly the cutoff for this, but for the majority of human history, your parents, the generation before you, was wiser about everything that you could be wise about. Everything, you know what I'm saying? Like you were basically an apprentice to the next generation because technology was introduced so slowly

that there was certain exceptions, but it wasn't moving like it is right now. There were not these seismic shifts in technology and the way that people live. And so as a younger person, an older person had all the knowledge that you could ever hope to get was contained in a person who was older than you. Now, you get an app and then all of a sudden

this app becomes kind of the center of your life and- Well, the source of the knowledge is not a person. The source of knowledge is not people. The source of knowledge is the internet, is something that you can access. And so that's why, again, I mean, I feel this way about like the way that I interact with my doctor, I respect my doctor.

And I think my doctor is schooled and intelligent. And I'm not one of those people that goes in and thinks that I know more about medical things period than you, but there are times and I'm a hypochondriac. So if there's a specific thing that I'm experiencing, I have this temptation to believe right or or wrong, that I might know more, are you okay, do I need to diagnose you? Do I need to take you to my doctor?

I'm sorry. It looked like you threw water into your mouth and forgot to swallow. Like that was my experience of what happened. It was like this and then- I'm sorry, I coughed and then water came out my nose. Oh, glad I don't have a deviated septum. Well, actually it could protect you in that case.

I'm just gonna wipe my face. As I was trying to say. Did I break your concentration? I tend to think that I can know more about a specific thing than my doctor because I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if he's done this particular research that I just did, right?

And that's a, and I could be wrong about that, of course. And I'm sure it's annoying at times, but that's why your kids can seem more knowledgeable and smarter than you. And the point that the same article is making That's why your kids can seem more knowledgeable and smarter than you. And the point that the same article is making is that it creates this interesting sort of contradiction because as a millennial or as a Generation Zer, you can have access to this knowledge.

But what you don't have is you don't have the lived experience that somebody older than you has, but you have the knowledge that they don't about a particular thing. That creates this weird dynamic, especially between employers and employees, because you're like, okay, as an employer, technically have authority over you, right?

Within to a certain degree. Like I can say that you get fired, or I can say gets hired, I can change your job description or whatever, but you're coming from the perspective of in your particular, I mean, this is the case with us. It's like by design, most of the people who work for us

know more about the thing that they're doing for us than we do, right? By design. Yeah. But we're older, we've been doing this for longer and we're technically their boss, right? So it just creates this, and I don't think it's that big of a deal

because in our company, because I think we sort of just, and this is where I think what you were talking about earlier comes into play with us being in this particular business, that we sort of move in the world and function day to day within our company as if we're also millennials, right? Right, yeah. We don't walk around like Generation Xers, whatever that would be.

But I think that there's just this reality that probably comes out more in stuff like personal discussions like this, which is we grew up without technology. We had to say, I'm gonna meet you at 3 p.m. at the graveyard and you just better be there at 3 p.m. And if you don't show up, I wait for you and then I go back home and I call your landline.

That does something to you, right? I'm gonna go camping tonight. I cannot get in touch with my parents. My parents do not know where I'm at. I cannot call them. I cannot contact them. I did not wear a helmet on the way to the river while I was on my bike.

And my parents don't care. That does something when you grow up like that, it does something to you. They just couldn't care. They worried, all they did was worry. But they didn't worry that much. They didn't worry as much as we would worry. Like if all of a sudden you found,

like if Shepherd's like, I wanna go walk outside in the neighborhood. It's like, I'm like, sure, go do it. But while he's gone, we're thinking about the fact that he's gone. You think my parents were thinking about me when I was gone? No. It does something to you.

I don't know what, we're discovering it as we go. And now there's this, with the constant barrage of new technology. I mean, tomorrow could present something that's like, okay, and I'm not just talking about like, all the TikToks of it all, but yeah, there's just kind of this spry interaction with anything. Anything could happen that could change everything. this spry interaction with anything.

Anything could happen that could change everything. You know, it's like the stability is, I think much, is much more of an illusion. But from a technological perspective, it feels like the thing that will usher in the most change the thing that will usher in the most change is a physical connectivity to the internet. So like what Elon's working on with the neural link, which I don't even really understand, you should know, cause it's got link in the name.

I don't really understand how it works and what the potential is and like how clear that, when that kind of thing could happen. But I just feel like the moment in which you're interacting with another human and you don't know whether or not they're accessing information from their own brain or like immediately accessing like the hive or the cloud. Again, I don't know if that's a hundred years away the hive or the cloud, again,

I don't know if that's a hundred years away or whatever, but I feel like that's gonna be the- That'll be a big, great divide. Yeah. All right, hashtag Ear Biscuits. Let us know what you think. Well, I gotta make a rec, man. I know you gotta make a rec.

I'm just saying, I wanna know what you think. Well, I gotta make a rec, man. I know you gotta make a rec. I'm just saying, I wanna know what you think. And you know, if you're, especially if you're not an American, I think a lot, you know, we filter all of this, all these labels like are very, Oh, for sure. It's very Ameri-centric. Yeah, if you grew up in a place

that there was no stable government and you didn't feel secure from the beginning, it's like this is, yeah, this is a very, you got different labels. And then there's lots of people who just, who never got access to the technology. I guess they have it now, they're listening to this podcast,

but yeah, that happened at different times in different places. Let us know, hashtag your biscuits, what you think about that. Give me a wreck, baby, wreck, baby, one, two, three, four. I'm gonna give you a one song wreck. Oh yeah, okay. And this is a band that came up,

you know, the thing I love about listening to music with some AI and built in like Spotify is the suggestions, man. You get a band that you like and the next thing you know, you find in another band that you didn't know about that you like. Discover the band, Mount Joy. Were you using Spotify or Apple?

Cause have you switched? Spotify. You've switched. Yeah. I'm surprised they haven't come up for me because I have not listened to Mount Joy, Empty Space Joy. Okay. And Philadelphia is where these guys are from,

but I think they're LA based now. But the song that I'm going to suggest as a nice introduction to the band Mt. Joy is Julia. Or Julia, as they say in the song, Julia. It's not their most popular song, according to Spotify. It's their sixth most popular song. So that's actually good. Okay, yeah, listen to the sixth most popular song

from Mount Joy, Julia. Julia. All right, I'm gonna add that to my thing right now. Talk at you next week. Add it to your thing.