The Uneducated PT Podcast - Ep 177: Fewer Kids But More Sexy Underwear?

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

Episode 177: Are We Designing a Better Life — or Just an Easier One?What happens when there are fewer young people, more of us are staying home, and new technology starts changing everything from what we eat to the names we give our children?This week, Ger, Niamh and Rob join me to dig into some fascinating statistics about how society is changing. We look at declining birth rates and what an ageing population could mean for the future of work, innovation and who supports older generations.We also explore the rise in social isolation among young people, why Friday nights aren't as social as they once were, and whether Netflix, TikTok, gaming and food delivery have simply made staying at home too good.Then we get into the GLP-1 revolution: if millions of people start eating less and losing weight, what happens to fast food, fashion, healthcare and the wider economy?Finally, we look at the extraordinary decline of the name Karen — and how memes and the internet can take something completely ordinary and permanently change its cultural meaning.Are we consciously choosing how our lives are changing, or is the world around us quietly changing our behaviour?

First question, Rob, you're going to answer first. Do you want children? Oh gosh. Do I have to give a black or white answer? No, you can have as much, it's a podcast, you can have as much nuance as you want. I won't interrupt you. My answer to that was always yes.

And then because I was in a very toxic relationship, both ways, not just one way. It kind of made me think I need to be. in like the right relationship to bring up a kid. I don't want to just like have a child just for the sake of it. Right. So you wouldn't want to have

children in a toxic relationship but you would in a healthy relationship. Yes. So I'd love to but I wouldn't like when I wouldn't get to 40 and just think, do you know what? I need to settle down with some random person just because of random obviously but want to have a kid.

If you could here's a better question then. Okay let's say you're in a healthy relationship. Kids or no kids? Kids. Eventually. Jer? No, yes.

It's middle ground. Different reasons for, no, I said for a long time because I didn't want to screw up any children. But my own fucking issues. That's it. I wonder what your therapist would say about that? Yeah, well,

my therapist has gone into deep conversation about that. But like more, it's one is like being financially secure to do it as well right person as rob said like don't like i would have said no for years just blanket no and then i kind of like the idea but at the same time i like my life the way it is selfish not it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not minding a dog or a plant like you can't lock it outside for a fucking couple of hours and fuck off.

Like, you know, it's your responsibility. Like, my brother's just had his, what, his kid, two months. Yeah, very, two months old. And like, I think they went away there for a couple of days just, was just literally the other day to some hotel. And, like, my dad was like, well, aren't she lucky? And he was like, we've barely left the room.

Do you know? Yeah. So, kind of leaning no. I think you're, I think you're from, from the conversations we've had before, I think you're leaning more. Yes, now. Who are you talking to? Is it a knee for me?

No, Ger. you. I don't know. I think I'm not in a place to have a child. What place do you need to be to have a child? I don't know but it's not now. Give me one reason why not? Financially. Financially? Yeah.

Financially and sheneligans. Interesting. So what would the financial number need to be for you to have kids? How come all the people in like third world country have more kids even when they're in poverty. Yeah, but they're all

already in poverty. I don't want to be put into more poverty. Cereception as well, probably. Say it again, Rob? Lack of contraception. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no choice, really.

But what I'm trying to say is they make it work, don't they? I'm not saying I couldn't make it work, and I definitely have people around me that can make it work, but I don't want to have to do it that way. So that's an interesting. Okay, well, I'm not sorry.

I'm not actually getting into this. I'm trying to go in a different direction but you've you've led me down this is not the side quest I want yeah yeah yeah need need need need give go ahead kids or no kids

I probably would have always said no kids I'm kind of leaning towards the other side of it um I think give me a reason to why

you would have always leaned towards no kids um I don't know I just never seeing myself as a really like maternal person. You know, it's hard enough to look after myself and keep myself alive than having to do it for somebody else as well. And that's probably a sheety answer, to be honest. But I just see my little nephew, he's three and oh my God, the love I have for him. I'm like, oh my God,

this would be amazing. But then also, I feel like I'm, I'm not saying I'm old or anything like that, but there is a lot more fertility issues when you get into your 30s that I'm kind of of the opinion that if it happened for me, great. But if it didn't, I don't think I'd be too disappointed either. Okay. You know, like if I can't control it, I don't think I'd go down the road of IVF and all that kind of things. I'd kind of just let my life path just run its course and see what happens.

And like what Rob said, you do have to be in the right relationship and all of them things. And financially stable, like Jarre said, like there's no point having. kids if you can't afford to have kids, especially in this country, like childcare and everything. But yeah, I think I would like to have a family and I would like to get married and I would like to pass on something to the next generation. But if it doesn't happen, I don't think I would be, I think I'd still be whole as a person if it did happen. All excellent answers and all What about you? I'll 100% want to have kids.

That's never, never changed for me. So I'm, I'm very much pro, pro children, pro family. But anyway, now next question, because they're all excellent answers and all, a lot of the reasons that contribute to population decline. Now, the next question I have for you is,

do you feel like you have a, what's the one? word I'm looking for not responsibility but do you feel like you have a duty towards society to have kids no no society wants to pay for my kids then I might ever Roberts Roberts quick answer would be no but then I kind of reflected on the fact that all four of us as far as as I'm aware we are good human beings we're intelligent human beings we are considered yourself, buddy. I've seen you

all at a Saturday night. I don't know about that. For society, putting more of our bloodline out there would potentially be more likely to dilute the negativity out there. Do you know what I mean? Can I ask you another question then?

I appreciate that answer. Do you ever feel or do you ever even think about feeling grateful for your parents for putting you on the planet? Yeah. I think, I don't know if I've been super conscious of it that frequently. If someone was to ask me that question,

like you have, yeah, the answer would be yes, I'm grateful that they did. What about you? Jer? You skipped yourself there, no,

I'm so grateful to be around, you know? I'm so grateful that my father noted my mum. What's that? I saw a birthday card. It's a happy what is it?

Happy your dad fucked your mother's day. It's for a birthday card. I was like it's fucking for that. I don't think I was planned either because I was the fourth. Like I don't think they wanted you know

another financial burden but here I am. Carl flipped through the neck. What about you, Ger? Would you not like to give the gift to someone that your parents gave to you. Yeah, that would have to be like a guarantee I'm going to pass a gift.

Like, I'm very lucky the life I've lived because of my parents. Yeah. Like I know my brother living abroad, his whole big thing is he wants to make enough money before coming home so he can have a similar enough upbringing for his child as we

as we managed to live. Let me flip this. Let's say your parents couldn't provide you all the things that they provided you, would you still find meaning in your life that you could be grateful for them conceiving you? Well, yeah. But like, it's hard to, it's hard to answer that when like, this is the upbringing I've had. This is why I know. Yeah, you go, yeah, for 100%, you can only talk about your own experience. Like, I talk about my own. Like, I often do joke with my dad that I'm like, I didn't ask for this. So you brought me into this world. So I'm your fucking problem, whether

you like it or not. Just like to mess up. Well, yeah, no, I'm, I'm grateful. Like, I'm, I'm alive. I'm here. But you don't want to give that gift to someone else, like your child? Yeah, I would, but like, I still have those. I still have the committee in my head that I'm like, that child probably wouldn't have as great of time as I did. And would also probably inherit the loads of fucking mental health issues I have. I made that sad.

I feel like because you're so conscious of it, you'd probably give a better, not saying anything against your parents, the fact that you are so aware. Or aware. Yeah. I reckon you'd be a great dad, to be fair. It's not the first time I've heard that, but like, you don't know. It could be the thing that puts me off the deep end. Oh, okay. We're going to go more into society.

So, Neve, do you feel like giving responsibility to society to pass down your genes to the next generation? No, absolutely no. Okay. Why not? what do you do you do you say you did you not say something a few minutes ago about giving back to society did I say giving back to society I think you did I said like pass on something oh then I'll clip this now when we go back into the editor

I think I said pass on like a bit of me like my family but then what's more viewed in your child I don't feel that I have to do that for society that would be more on a selfish level to like continue my family bloodline but I don't feel any obligation to society as a whole to do that. Okay. You know, that would be more for me to do it

and you know like my grandparents, my great grandparents to kind of follow on their legacy more so than anything. But like if my parents didn't have me, I wouldn't know any different because I wouldn't be here. So I kind of find that question. a bit. Not hard to answer, but I'm just like, I don't thank them or I don't hate them for it. It's just like, I wouldn't know any difference. So like, I'm here. May as well make the most of it.

Okay. All right. The reason I'm asking you these questions is because obviously we're going to peak in terms of the population and then there's going to be a huge drop in terms of decline and birth rates, right? So I was just reading a study and I shared it, which is there. And it was basically there's one projection that estimates the number of under 30s worldwide with an IQ above of 130 will continue to drop. So in 1990 there was 30 million people on the planet who had an IQ above of 130 who were under 30. That makes sense, right? So there was lots of smart young people on the planet in the 1990s. Right, today that projection is around 20 to 22 million in terms of under 30.

who have an IQ of 130. All right. Now, the projection is in 2050, that will go down to 11 mil. And by 2,100, that will go down to 5 mil. So what does that mean? That doesn't mean that there's less in like people. It doesn't mean that young people are becoming less intelligent. It just means that they're going to be fewer young people overall on the planet,

which also means that there are fewer young people with extreme high end of IQ distribution, right? So if you think about that, if roughly the same percentage of every generation has an IQ of 130, but the next generation is dramatically smaller than the actual number of intelligent young people falls. Are you with me with that? Does that make sense? It just sounds like that movie with fucking Owen Wilson's brother. You know, where Terry Cruz is the president, they're all stupid. They're there like watering crops with the equivalent of Gatorade. Well, I'll explain to you what wide is.

So there's two situations to then a reducing population, right? So firstly, less young people. So less people having kids, like the four of us on this call, means it's an aging population, right? So if people keep having fewer children, eventually that means you have lots of old people and far few young people. You don't have a lot of young people who can look after old people. you have fewer workers, you have fewer taxpayers, fewer people to fund your pension, fewer healthcare workers, fewer carers, and you have more pressure on the working age generation, basically. It also means that people are going to have to work for, like, you know, you're going to have to

retire later and later in life because it will affect all these things. Now, it also could affect innovation. So if the number of young people with high intelligence falls from 30 million, in 1990 to 5 million in like let's say 2,100, that means you have a smaller pool of potential scientists, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, researchers, inventors. So it doesn't automatically mean there's less innovation, but there might be less highly capable young people to look after human progress.

Does that make sense? So when I ask you, do you feel like, you have a duty to have kids it means do you have a duty to make sure that there's young people to inherit you know uh society and look after society in regards to you know young people pay taxes they look after old people they innovate they solve problems so there's not just less young people but there's also less young people with a high IQ of 130 to solve all the problems that will come in modern society. My mind straight to how do we know the,

like, because tests change, don't they? Like, periodically throughout time. So, like, how do we know that those kids that are getting an IQ score of, like, 110 now? 130. Yeah, but if they were getting 110 now, how do we know they weren't getting 130, that wouldn't have got 130 10 years ago

with a different IQ test. I think the IQ test is pretty consistent, but I'm not an expert on how they operate IQ. But I also think they're getting thicker anyway. Yeah, but again, that's, they could be getting thicker, but I don't like that the IQ test seems to be standard. So it's less about the people are getting smarter

or people are getting Schupider. There's less people overall, which means there's less people who have a certain IQ, which means, you know, obviously there's less. You need, there's a difference between if there's 30 million people under 30

versus 5 million people under 30, that significantly reduces the amount of scientists to work on certain problems, the amount of engineers to work on certain problems, the amount of doctors to work on certain problems. So there's less and less people overall to deal with all these issues. More people means more innovation. But also less people also means less people are needed to help in those, like later than.

No, because there's, no, because we're still living longer. So there's still older people on the planet. There's just less people to look after the old people because people like you and me and Neve and Jare haven't had kids. But we're still going to live till we're probably in our 80s or 90s. Does that make sense? Yeah. I also feel like there's not much of,

I don't want to say like an incentive, but like it's so difficult to raise a young family in Ireland these days. Like the housing crisis, childcare, school places, hospitals, like getting... Okay, Dave, can I ask you a question off the basket? Because I had this question ready. I had this question ready for you. So if housing suddenly became genuinely, affordable, do you think you would have more children? Yeah, probably because it would just make life

that little bit easier. You know, people are struggling to even just send their kids back to school this week to afford books and lunches and I know the government do pump a lot of money into schools, especially in disadvantaged areas with like hot lunches and all of that. But I feel like people, especially like when the two parents have to work and they need. after school and all of that they're just less inclined to have more kids because they just can't physically do it. So one or two

and they're like oh that's it I'm done. Whereas before probably 20 years ago families were having like four or five kids now they're like one, two at a push and that also will contribute to I agree with your logic behind this and loads

of people have used this as the conclusion to why there's population decline but this is the funny thing about population in the client is that no one can really put a single variable on why we're having less children overall. We're actually, we're in less poverty now than we have ever been, according to all statistics.

Less poverty overall, but like that video, do you remember that video of them going around interviewing like our parents' generations of buying houses and, how there's some lady going, well, back then we didn't have as many Costa coffees or don't takeaways or Netflix and it's, you know, the equivalent of buying a 90 grand, a 90 grand house 38 years ago or 40 years ago is 250 grand in today's money. You wouldn't get a lot with 250 grand in today's market.

Rob, what do you think? I think along with the Jers point there there's been graphs that I've seen that are kind of saying the same thing like the amount of the rate that incomes going up is steady whereas like what Jers said if something was 19 a few months a few years ago and it hikes up a lot quicker

all right let me can I give you this graph then so about 200 years ago most people in the world were extremely poor roughly eight out of 10 people today extreme poverty is closer to one out of 10 people but there's an important catch escaping extreme poverty doesn't mean you're rich or even financially comfortable someone earning four dollars or six dollars a day is no longer counted as extremely poor by this definition but are obviously still living on very little this is why the graph also shows today roughly 10% live on less than three a day 24% live on less than 5 a day 52 live on less than 10 a day 81 live on less than

30 a day. So we've made huge progress against the very worst poverty, but a lot of the world's population still lives on relatively little money. So, but it's basically shown it by the standard of pulling people out of poverty basically means that they have shelved their food to eat, water, etc., etc. And like the basics. The basics. But with the basics, people were still having more children than they are today. So can you explain that? Well, like if, well, the contraception comment will be a big one there. That's definitely a part of it. But people are, people are choosing not to have children.

Not just, obviously the means you're probably going to have less children by mistake because of course. We've also talked, we've also talked on this part about like the amount of choice you have with like online dating and, you know, compared to years ago whereas you met Mary down the road and you were. 19 and you basically had a house and three kids before you were 24. Yeah. Do you know that kind of way? Whereas like, are we going to say the dating scene is great now to be building towards that kind of life?

Neve? Now, yeah, come on. Neve, tell us some. Give us some, Neve, give us some, how's your date in life going? Um, non-existence now. That's it. I'm done.

Tell us about your worst day. My worst day. day like ever in the last year last year um i don't think i've had any bad dates in the last year tell us about a great date that you've had oh you know what my best date was it was such a great day and i went to see the puffins oh that was the best day ever all right i'll stop putting you in the house see or in the hot

All right. All right. So tell me, I want just to answer this question then. So why aren't people having as many children? Is it housing? Is it money? Is it relationships? Is it careers?

Is it simply not wanting them? Is it AI? Why are people not having, is it contraception? Why are people not having as many children? Sometimes I think because the world is so open now. so easy to travel and it's so easy to like expand and go places and do things people are wants to keep doing that and then any disposable income they have they want to explore that more so you think it's a hyper individual society um not not everyone not everyone i do think that does

play like a big part because you do see couples that are married years, been together years, and like they'll go away for three months, they'll go on two weeks here and there, weekends away. And that's just the lifestyle that they want to live. Like they want to live a child free life and just the two of them and very content in that as well. So, you know, yeah, I think people just want to live their lives the way they want to out and don't feel the pressure of just having to have kids for the sake of it. They don't want it. Or accidents.

Rob, what do you think? I was going to say the same as Neve. I think there's a lot more access. And it kind of contradicts the poverty comments that we've been talking about. We choose to travel because it is more affordable. It is more accessible. It's expensive

still, but we are sacrificing financial risk for experience. bit more now, I think. And I don't know, I think our, I mean, you guys, Neve, you're a little bit younger, aren't you? I can't remember how old you are. Yeah, I'm a lot younger than Carolinger. So, yeah.

How dare you? I feel like our generation is probably partly mainly because of my sisters, evidence of my sisters, but I think our generation is starting to, we've had some great experiences. we're kind of getting to now our average age of maybe early mid-30s of potentially wanting to have kids at that age, whereas it used to be maybe 10 years earlier, 15 years earlier. I also think the younger generations are accessing travel a lot more quickly or a lot earlier on in life, so they're potentially going to experience the things they want to experience within their early. 20s, mid-20s, and then that age might start dropping back down again. I feel like there might be a bit of a wave effect.

Does that make sense? Yeah, I agree. So there's a thing called unplanned childnessness, all right? And it's essentially, it's not that people didn't want to have kids, but circumstances change, whether they met someone too young or they met them too late, and then fertility became an issue. They climbed to the corporate ladder, whatever it is, all these different reasons. They just didn't find the right person. And then there was a statistic there that showed from fertility clinics, that was a mouthful,

about delayed decision. So 57.5% of women wish they'd made the childbearing decision earlier. 46.2 of men, 46.2% of men said the same thing. Among women, 42% strongly agreed that they wished they'd decided earlier. So among people who eventually, wanted children and found themselves dealing with fertility problems, roughly one and two regretted waiting as long as they did. That's a much higher risk group for regret than someone who has consistently known

that they don't want children. So go ahead. I've lost my thought now. I was going to say something along those lines with, the great thing is women have, over the last few decades, like gotten way more rights, way more opportunities at work.

I know it's not quite where it's still, but there's more opportunities for women, which means they're getting more experiences out of life from what I know anyway, which then is obviously going to push having children later down the line because they want to make the most of their experiences travel-wise, work-wise. They want to work their way up the ladder

because the opportunities are starting to get a bit better with that. I always come back to, right, I always come back to this question in terms of culture, right? So, like, back in the 60s, you know, it was all about basically, oh yeah, the woman's role is to rare children, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

be at home, raise children. I don't think that's the message at all from modern society. I think it's being flipped the entire different way that your most important role is to climb, to have a great career, to, you know what I mean, be Instagrammable, all this stuff. And I don't, I think being a stay-at-home mum gets demonised more than being a career person

for a female. And you could even look at it in terms of, let's say, sex education and stuff like that in primary school, secondary school. Not once were people thought about the fertility window, how you should, you need to have kids in a certain timeframe or else the likelihood of having children. becomes less and less. What you are taught about is how not to have kids. You're taught how not to get pregnant. So I think a lot of the culture in institutions and in media actually tries to promote a child free life and then a lot of people, you know, get to a certain age and then they're like, well,

actually, maybe I would like to have kids. I haven't really thought about it. And by the time they actually start to have them conversations without being manipulated by media, then it begins. becomes an issue of, you know, a very small window to be able to find a partner and to get pregnant. You can either disagree? Anyone? I fucking blank there. I'm really sorry. I was just thinking there. I remember in school, like, it could be, I'd say it was probably

secondary school. We were shown that film. I can't remember what the name of it was, but it was about the Magdalene laundries. And it's all, like, it's nearly putting the fear of God into a 50 and 16 year old being like, if you get pregnant, this is going to happen to you. Yeah, that's what happened. Exactly. That's exactly. That's a great example. When you said that about like teaching people

how not to get pregnant, that you'd nearly be so afraid for it to happen that you're like, oh my God, this is the worst thing in the world that could ever happen to me, you know? Especially if you were outside of a relationship. Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I know myself, I would have,

had that fear in me grown up, you know? Yeah, I agree. I think that's a great example. All right, let's move on to the next one because this is a topic that you can go down so many different rabbit holes and get show to that for having an opinion on. All right. So, are young people becoming more isolated? Question three is before we get into the statistics on this one. Could you happily spend an entire day without physically speaking to another person? Yes. Yes. No. Absolutely. Rob, you said now?

No. I could do it and I'd be all right overall, but I'd feel uncomfortable. I think I've realized that my days need to have a bit of a tick list of there needs to be a social interaction. My hygiene needs to be looked after. I need to move. I need to obviously eat and all those things. If I got told I'm going to be on top of a mountain for three days and I'm going to be isolated, I'd be okay. but I know that I would

I'd have a much worse day than if I was at that mountain with friends or if I could do it but I'd prefer a day I'd prefer to see someone every day yeah very good Jay have I not taught you anything about human connection you've told me loads but I also think we should be able

to spend a day on our own that's something to be able to work on too yeah that's true I think isolation is important for a connection because if you can't be with yourself, then you're not going to be ideal with other people. But do you not feel, let's say you are... We spend a lot of time with people.

Yes, that's true. And we spend a lot of time with our people, that there are times, like, I don't notice when my social battery's dead. When's the last time you went an entire day were physically not speaking to another person, not one person? I couldn't tell you.

Like I'm not saying like I actually don't like in person in person maybe but I couldn't put a day how long it's been I wouldn't know and but I'd I'd act I'd probably happily do it yeah but that's I think that that's for your it's probably a bad person to ask because you're looking for like to decompress after constantly being in a social work environment like so I went was it Saturday a group session here and And I went down for breakfast on my own afterwards. And someone was like, he went on your own. And it was like, and it was fucking lovely. Oh, yeah, that's lovely. Like, I, I've awesome. Yeah, don't fantastic. But, like, obviously, you have to meet people that way.

That's different. But, like, I would happily take a day on my own. But Brian gets tired. I need a fucking break. You're doing five, six, seven days of talking to people all the time. All right. I think we're getting out of context here because I've asked the wrong person. So I'll go through the statistics first.

So among American Americans, young. Americans 23 to 29 years of age. Roughly one in 10 now report spending no time physically with another person during an average day. So before COVID it was roughly 3 to 4% and then it exploded during COVID but it hasn't returned to its old level. So basically one in 10 young people are spending an entire day, average day without speaking to another person. person. Can I make a point just to kind of go on the back of mine was after spending a lot of years using my being spending my time with people who were draining.

Yeah. It's now, it's now, I saw, I saw a reel on Instagram there. There was like, someone just goes, I finally got my spark back and I'm enjoying spending time on my own or with people who give me energy rather than take it. Yeah. I don't think these people have like, I don't, I think these types of people who are spending entire days on their own, especially young people who grew up during COVID, I think they never had a social group in the first place. So among young people in the UK, the average 16 to 21 year old still reports roughly having five close friends. So it's not necessarily that everyone suddenly has fewer friends, but the bottom percentage of people who reports. zero close friends has increased considerably from the earlier level so i think like they're still like most people are still okay but the the bottom the bottom of that barrel is becoming increasingly isolated if that makes sense they're becoming more isolated than ever

yeah i'd be interested to to have a conversation with those kids that are saying i've only got one or two close friends and like in person close friends and how connected they feel with YouTube personalities and things like that. Yeah, I'd say there's a parasocial relationship with a lot of, I'd say, I think a lot, I would imagine a lot of them are like very hooked onto the internet or onto Xbox or like just on their phones, staying at home. And I think they're probably, they probably don't have the social skills that we had if they, if, if they're, if they're, teenage years like they're

informed of years where they're trying to develop social skills and if that got taken away from them where they spent that time online that probably didn't do them any good it's like if you're already a very kind of socially awkward

person and then you know you have all these devices that can help to comfort you to stay isolated rather than forcing you to go out and be sociable like that's probably a really detrimental um contribution to your to your isolation i'm sorry to jump in but i'm going to have to run is that okay okay bounce on we'll come we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll get

you back next week yeah next week maybe the week after when i'm off all right thank you bye all right rob Hello. I'm going to go through this one as well. So next statistic has staying at home become too good. So Americans are spending less time physically with friends than they did roughly 20 years ago. One particularly interesting change is Friday night. Historically, Friday has noticeably spike, has had a noticeable spike in socializing.

So people finished work or college and went to the pub, restaurants, nightclubs, house parties, or friends. houses. That Friday night social spike appears to have weakened substantially. So this study was Netflix versus the pubs. A pub owner summed up the problem brilliantly. My biggest competitor is Netflix. 20 years ago, if you wanted entertainment on a Friday night, one of the best options was to leave the house and go to the pub. Now we have Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, gaming, food, delivery, date and apps, online shopping and social media. You can basically stimulate. You can basically your Friday night without leaving your sofa or interact them physically with another person.

Go ahead, Jarrett. I don't think we can put it. I don't think we can put it solely on Netflix or TikTok or like financially. I haven't gone out the last two weekends because I'm trying to save a bit of money. Yeah. Because the price of a night out is gone extortionate.

You also then have like your local village like the age difference. the change in age groups now that we're just going to the pub in the evenings like most most younger people aren't drinking

but there is there is I understand what you're saying so you're not going to put a you can't put it a definitive on like but these are these statistics are all correlations but there is a correlation between

Netflix subscriber growth and pub pub scene a reducing as well and if you think about it like when I was 18, 19 I used to go to the pub with like a fibre in my pocket

Yeah and like a nagging You could yeah you couldn't You wouldn't stay at home There's nothing to do at home No no There is but now like you can stay at home Yeah well I think like I think that study would have to be looked at

At different age groups Because like I have friends that Live further away that I would like to go have a drink with. Like you, too, lads. Don't like, it's not like we can pick every Friday night to go meet for a pint. I don't always want to go down to the pub.

Like, I think I joked about getting a, getting a small keg and tap for Guinness here, and someone's like, you won't leave your house. Yeah. Like, you'll have everything you need. Why would you go anywhere else? But what about for young people who do still live near each other

because they live, you know, near their neighbours? Like, 20 years ago Friday night was the start of the week. weekend and big nights for seeing friends and now by these statistics it just looks like any other week night like a Friday night looks similar to

a Wednesday or a Monday by these statistics we've also cracked down like I speak for them we've also cracked down on like underage drinking the smoking ban getting better at looking at fake my first night out in Edinburgh City was like 15 15 16

yeah you were going out to town when you legally weren't allowed to go to town You could, like, I have a young lad that comes to the gym here And he was like, we'll get together I think there's some 18th birthday And he's like, well, there's a pub that we can all get into So what's the actual biggest competitor of the pub today, do you think? I right.

Price is a big one. Price? Yeah. I feel like it's anxiety. Yeah. I think price obviously is a huge factor because there's, yeah, prices I've hiked up. But I think

a big one is I don't understand because I feel like it's really good that there's an awareness of what anxiety is and what depression is and what low mood and all those things I think that's really important but there's a lot of people

also telling themselves potentially that they have these anxieties and things when they're actually kind of like diagnosable anxiety anyway which means they're then potentially going,

do you know what, the fact that I felt really anxious about going out that night, and it is, obviously, but it's okay that I stay at home. I don't have to push myself out of my comfort zone to go and see those people because I don't want to feel those feelings. And I think sometimes you just have to bite the bullet

and feel those feelings because they sometimes turn into excitement whereas actually confusing excitement with anxiety a lot of the time. Here's a question for you, Rob. Are young people missing? something important by not being forced into situations with strangers? Until you use that last word, that last little bit of that sentence, I was going to say yes.

It sounds like a strain. Yes. Yeah. What are they missing? Um, an ability, like a situation where they can develop social resilience. Yes. Bingo. Love that.

That's, I, I wholeheartedly agree. If you think about all the wild nights out you had when you're younger because you didn't have TikTok and you didn't have Netflix and you didn't have modern game and you didn't have food delivery apps and you just went out and you went on the piss and you just met all these different type of characters and you had to talk. You also met all these different types of characters

because you were smashed. Yeah, exactly. But it's the thing like, that's one. Like, what's it? I saw one, two drinks. Two drinks is the cure to my anxiety in 88. So I feel like a normal person of that. But like people would consider me...

What's wrong with a bit of Dutch courage, Jair? No, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with Dutch courage, but it's funny, like, we, you had an event of what, I don't know how many years ago. I think it was actually the first time I met Rob face to face. Okay. And I would consider myself a people person. I think a lot of people would consider me a people person.

Yeah. I think you had one thing we were like, right, I wanted you to get up and go talk to someone you don't know. And I was like, oh, fuck. that. I was, that's all. But like, I've even had it where a friend has brought like a new girl into the group. And I said this to a guy recently.

I was like, oh, I get really anxious like around that stuff. And he was like, you're the one person in the group that I don't think is anxious about it. Yeah, yeah. Well, people will always have their perceptions of you and you're going to feel differently about yourself. Yeah. But like, well, you see most young people going to drop up anyway. They can't afford to get that level. of drunk that they'll just go up to random people.

Can I ask a question? Have they gained anything by staying home more? Maybe physical health. Yeah. Do you think? Well, you're not drinking excessively, man. You can't fucking argue that.

When you're more comfortable and you're at home more, like I'm, I've worked from home, I've that on the sofa after work and I've been less active because I feel shy, yeah? I'd rather do, I'd rather do 20 details and steps on the dance floor.

But also I think, yes, alcohol initially gets you confident enough to kind of step out the house and go out. Yeah. But does it actually help you longer term socially? Is it not better to kind of go into a situation, feel like you're absolutely shitting yourself? There's absolutely a conversation for becoming a coping mechanism and never dealing with your anxiety or your insecurities and stuff like that, 100%. I don't feel like alcohol is like the overall arching solution.

But as a young person, like, isn't that what like college used to be about? It's like you went off and, you know, you found yourself by getting smashed with a load of, like wasn't that more like valuable thing about college rather than the actual degree? Like, I have a cousin in college and they were like, we go out like, you know, maybe once a week,

or once every couple of weeks and I was like, what? I was like, Tuesday, Thursday was a designated night out and the other nights were fillers. That was what you do. And you did meet loads of people. You met loads of random people.

But like, it's, I do, I actually do think affordability is a big thing. Going back to the decline in birth rights, do you know what I mean, how are you going to meet your girlfriend or your future wife or the person that you're going to have kids with

if you don't leave your house? How are you going to have an unplanned pregnancy in the cubicle of a jacks exactly to that a bit like that like the them it's all i think it's all correlated yeah yeah but anyway we've we've spoken enough about isolation and wanting teenagers to drink oh hagen and have sex and fall into a ditch we'll move on for all right i think this is an interesting one so he's again these statistics are obviously correlation not causation so I think it's really important to say that but the the correlation between gLP ones and Victoria's secret chair price is

rising dramatically over the last couple of years meanwhile Domino's has roughly dropped by 24% over the preceding year so do you think that there is some sort of correlation between GLP ones obviously reduce appetite for many people and help many people lose a substantial amount away. And while this has been going on, there seems to be a huge rise in Victoria's Secret share prices. So more people, more women obviously, or maybe men are buying them for their new skinny wives, I don't know, are buying more Victoria Secret underwear or whatever the fuck they wear. Do you think that there's a correlation between that? I think there's a correlation

but not as, it's not a majority like you might think it is. Yeah. Like people are looking after their health anyway. So that'll look at your decline of dominoes and maybe feeling better than themselves. So that's your rise in Vittoria's Secret. Also sexual awakening, all that, like a more sexual freedom for like women. So like probably buying more lingerie and doing all that stuff.

The last three years, yeah. Yeah, why not? I mean, like sexual freedom came in the 70s really. Do you know what I mean? I was like, yeah, we're not, we're not part of fucking, we're not, we're not chained by, you know. Certain generations, not more as a whole. You know, I'm sure you got a little zoo magazine when you were 10 years of age. Sex, sex is always being around.

But like, like, I can't help but see a huge correlation between the amount of people, like obesity reducing the amount of people losing, way and, you know, people probably feeling sexier and now being like, all right, I'm going to get myself some, some Victoria's secrets. And also domino's pizza dropping by 24%. Domino's is shit. Yeah, I agree. Well, that's, that's the other side. Like, I like, cookies. Yeah, yeah, we won't, but we're not talking about the cookies. We're talking about the pizzas. The pieces are shit. And like, look at all the pizza places we have now. We're like, good quality pizza. That's, I think people are looking for more quality. You could make the same argument for lingerie if gl people if glp ones become completely mainstream and everyone can get

their hands on them and it's affordable and maybe you don't have to like take it for the rest of your life or whatever um which industries do you think gets absolutely hammered by this i think personal trainers and stuff temporarily really will no no way i did i found that i've been getting more people in the door who have been on gLP ones because they've lost weight and they finally feel like they have like we all know that a lot of people who are overweight feel like they don't belong in the gym yeah or they feel insecure about getting into the gym i need to lose weight before i stand exactly now i feel like i belong in this space and everyone knows then as well that if you're going to take jlp ones you need to lift weights and consume enough protein so you don't

lose muscle mass so i i've always had the argument with people the opposite way that actually like Because there's a lot of insecure personal trainers that think that these drugs are going to take their jobs where I'm of the opinion that actually it's going to give you more business. Like gym clothing I think will go up. Gims will pricing will go up. Personal training will go up.

Travel will go up. It's takeaway. It's like takeaways and restaurants and sweet companies and stuff like that. I think we're already seen. A fast food companies will will reduce. You're seeing more kind of healthy options in like bougie places.

I think like even if you go into the into garages now especially in Ireland Hills garages and stuff like that see they have like pre-workouts and all that just on the on the stores where they never had it before you have your hule shakes you have um what else do they have electrolytes a pre-workout they're like they never sold them in garages before there's there's not too many shops around the country now where you won't find your energy drinks, your protein shakes and all of that stuff. They're everywhere. They're also, like, a lot of the bigger shops then,

like, we'll say centres and stuff, are selling protein powders. Yeah, yeah. It's not just going to test. I always get, I always get my protein powder out of little, and it's actually great. I'm doing a set up. I'm going to say with the PT stuff, I was more mean and like those people

that would initially possibly seek out an online coach, because they're not confident enough to go in the gym just yet. might be more swayed to initially go, do you know what? Easier option might be JLP ones because I've heard they're good.

I've seen the evidence, blah, blah, blah. So I'm going to say temporarily a bit of a drop in that. Well, I think if you're smart and you can follow trends, you'll be smart enough to be like, oh, because I know a few people who have done this who are specifically trainers for people who were on GLP ones and explain and what they need. because like it's it becomes not just either drugs or lifestyle it's it's a compliment of the two of them right because if you're using these drugs then you're more inclined to want to engage in the lifestyle as well true but i think there's also probably a high population of people that are just like i can't be bothered with all that but this is going to be easy so i'm just going to buy that instead but then what there is there is i know i know people who are taking them that it's i just not our students

gym or changing my diet. It's, I'm just going to take this. Yeah, but you're going to have that side of it anyway. I still feel that of what I've seen, um, that the people who have, the people who have the approach that I'm going to take JLP ones, but I'm, I'm not going to engage in the, in the lifestyle. Firstly, they're not thinking about the lifestyle. They're just thinking of, all right, I'm desperate to lose weight.

I, I feel stuck. I don't feel like, um, I know what to do. They take the medication. If they take it on a long, term basis and they actually stick to it like because you're taking and you're spending this money on it now you start to become more curious about well how do I maximize this and then you start to like understand nutrition a little bit more understanding that I need to get more protein in understanding calories then you start to kind of engage in well actually what else do I need to do or maybe I should

maybe now that I'm lighter on my feet I could go for a walk or I could go for a run because I'm not carrying 20 KG on me now or you know maybe I feel like I actually could walk into a gym now without feeling as self-conscious as I did before. I think the lifestyle actually gets forced on you through taking the medication, whereas I know a lot of people think, or a lot of people argue the point that, oh, people take the medication, but they don't engage in the lifestyle.

I think I don't, it comes. I don't want, I'm not trying to make an argument for that. It's more just experience of different people I know. I agree with you that like a lot of people who take it eventually, it'll get to a certain point where that's not going to be enough. Yeah. To improve, like, keep improving your health.

You're going to want to look at your actual diet overall. You're going to want to look at weight training, everything like that. But I know people then that I would consider do not need to lose weight that are using it so they don't have to change their diet or go to the gym. They've actively said it. Yeah. They've actually. You'll get everyone. But what someone says because they're ignorant and, um, uh,

where they fall down the line because of where it leads them are two separate things. Yeah. I was going to get to that point eventually. Was, yes, people might start off kind of avoiding the effort aspect of it. And then once they're confident enough, because I know people personally, I won't name any names, but people that are just completely avoidant of going out and walking, going out and exercising, and going to the gym and stuff. And yes, if they then started taking these,

they probably wouldn't, to be fair. Yeah, I suppose I'm going to do a bit of a 180. It shows intelligence to be able to change your mind when you're... But I hadn't completely... Good argument against you. Halfway through. So I didn't actually get to finish my point initially. but yeah people might take it as like right

I can't be bothered to pay for a coach I'm going to do this because it means effort I feel better in myself because I physically have lost weight I can move better oh shit now I feel more comfortable great I'm going to go into the gym because I've realized the main thing that was holding me back from the gym was how I looked and how I'm so yeah I completely agree with it I think it's a

potentially a temporary substitution at the beginning of the journey doing JLP ones instead of a coach, but it might long term improve online coaching and things like that. Well, speaking of markets, what else do you think? So let's say it becomes available to everyone in society. It's universally available. You can get prescribed off your doctor.

Your medical card can get you the medication that you need. It would be great if it was the death of one. Weight Watchers and Sliming World. Well, this is what I was got. Well, I think Slim and World all right. Did Weight Watchers close down already? I think they did. And that's what I don't know.

All them, all them weight loss gimmicks that actually don't work. They'll all disappear, I would imagine. Because it's incentives that drive all these companies. Yeah, well, like, there's a new enough one that's a, there's a new enough one around here. And it's, it's basically just starvation. It's Sliming World wrapped in a different package. So if you can do that by. the amount of money you spend on that business to just get your GLP 1,

then you're probably more inclined to do that. I think, you know, what else will continue to rise? Jer, listen to this one. Fitness. Fitness holidays. If we create a fitness holiday, I take, what did we, did we have this discussion before about? Yes, we're having our own fitness fire festival. I mean, fitness festival.

Did we talk about fitness holiday? hostels, did we? We talked about that scam in what was the influencer scam. Oh yeah, that was the Fire Fest, doesn't it? No, it was the fitness one that was going on where they were... Oh, Marbeah.

Yeah, in Marbeah. And then we related it to like a fire festival. I think we thought about how the hostels went around Bali, didn't we? We did. We were talking about how we... It would be nice to like have a... Like a... somewhere where you can travel. Where you can travel on the cheap, but also it has like gyms and stuff like that in and class.

going on, whether you want to do yoga or a high rocks class or just like a bodybuilding gym and like you then lay by the pill. I mean that like that could still be on the cards if JLP once come universal will people people will want to train one their way. It's less it's less hostile more hotel. Well at the moment Jack because you obviously it would need to like you need to be able to pay for them kind of things so you need to you need money in the door but we'll see we'll see maybe more people who who are engaged in that then you could reduce the price you know anyway it's just a business idea nobody anybody listening to this don't take our idea all right all right we'll go on to that

we'll go on to our last one and then we'll leave it so this is a good one so this one is about Karen okay so in 1965 Karen was reportedly the third most popular girl's name in America now what do you think it is by 2024 well the most popular name It was the third most popular name in America in 1965. It's probably not even on the scale. It's now it's 2163rd on the list. All right.

So Karen was already declining as a baby name long before the internet made the meme. But it does sound right, doesn't it? Like, I don't be a Karen. She's born in 1965. So what would she be now in her 60s, 70s, early 70s? My mum's a Karen who was born in 1967 and she's 60 next year. There you go. Perfect example.

Perfect example, right? But her name is Mary. My nan's name is Mary. So obviously we can't say that the internet caused the entire decline of the name Karen, but I feel like I want to say that. I think Karen's did the decline of the Karen name. Rob's mum did the decline.

Yeah, it's all Rob's mom's fault. Please don't give her to us. I was just going to say the funny thing is she's the complete opposite of a Karen. Yeah. Actually, I know two, I know three other Karen's who kind of fit the bill. Yeah. Percentage wise, I think overall, sorry, Karen, you did it to yourself. Yeah.

That's even worse, though, isn't it? Being called Karen and being a Karen. Yeah. If you're a sound, Karen, you have to go, my name, she's not a Karen, she's a Karen. She's a Karen. You know what I mean? You just... Or most people now, if they're actually called Karen, their sound, they just go, my name's Karen, I'm actually nice. It's usually, any Karen I've met recently, it's always followed up with something like that. Yeah. So do you think, do you think that, like, the internet can completely kill a name just because of one funny meme? Like, before social media culture was, like, much more. of like a top down thing or you had TV stations that decided you know what millions of people

watched radio would decide what songs people heard you know magazines and celebrities decided what was cool and what wasn't but now you know a joke or a meme on the internet made by people can you know turn Karen from the third most popular name into the 126th I think it definitely has a bit of power in that regard yeah I mean I think Karen has become the name to avoid at the moment, hasn't it? Do you think is internet culture more powerful than people realize? I think people realise it. To people that don't realize it, yes.

To the people that, so the people that are kind of ignorant of the power of the internet, I think they are heavily influenced by it. I think people that are questioning the power of the internet are probably less likely to be swayed by it, if that makes sense. like if you genuinely loved the name karen would you would you avoid giving that to your daughter purely because of the meme yes i'd i'd be inclined to do it because of that really I've cracked it to kind of be a bit. Well, I think you're, it's, it's, Johnny Cash.

That's different for Rob. A boy named Sue. Yeah. That's different for Rob, though. You can't really, you're not really a good person to answer that question because your mum's called Karen. I'd be, yeah, okay. So if I didn't have anyone in my life that I respected that was called Karen,

I probably, I'd probably subconsciously avoid it because it's easier. It's an easier pathway to process. Do you think that user are manipulated or controlled by social media? Why did you do that? I'd say so. Yeah.

We are influenced. How often do you think you look at your phone? Well, my screen time of late has been fucking terrible. You know, the average is two and a half months a year, and that's the lower end? That's the lower end. My average screen time for the last while has been about 11 hours a day.

Yeah, and the two and a half is like four and a half hours a day. Two and a half months is like four and a half hours a day. Now I blame fucking Anna. That's why my phone screen time is serious. Oh yeah, I'll clip that. I think even if I'm not spending a lot of time looking at stuff, I check my phone way more frequently than I should. Even if it's just for the time or a tick,

like I'll just get it out of my pocket and just have a quick look. Do you ever get phantom vibrations in your pocket when your phone isn't even in your pocket? Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. It's the internet. It's a clever thing. It's just telling you you might have a notification.

Yeah. Or it's telling you your phone isn't there so you need to go find it. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe use could become like an embarrassing stereotype in 10 years. You never know. So could you. I'm probably already one.

Carl. Carl. Oral. We could make that happen. yeah right Karen and Rob is easier chair I don't think it'll happen I think we'll fine close the question then so if the internet can change how we feel about a basic name what else do you think it's changed your opinion on without you even notice it what six sorry maybe politics yeah yeah definitely politics what else I try to

I try to avoid all that now on social media I'm sure there's other things that look maybe you're Ooh, I think I know what it's changed Chair's opinion on. Okay, go on. So I believe that your algorithm was probably a lot of like dark humor and therapy humor. Yeah, I found, yeah, it is.

And I've found a bit of joy and happiness, which I'm not happy about. So I think that could be, that could be something that, like, not changed your mind on, but it's, like, influenced probably a lot of let's say, I mean, like even you touched on now, right, I'd be terrified that if I had kids, that I would, I would ruin them.

So, like, you might be even engaged in your dark therapy humor in regards to, like, I don't know, being a father. Yeah, maybe. That could be a thing. Not to keep going back to it, but I think anxiety is a big one for a lot of people. Like, myself included, I'm definitely not immune to it. just the word anxiety being plugged everywhere. 100%.

Symptoms of it being plugged everywhere. It's great again, like I said, to have an awareness of it. But when you're constantly getting fed that information, it's like, oh, anxiety is 90% of my vocabulary now. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a huge thing that therapists talk about in terms of like Gen Zine and stuff like that.

They all, because of TikTok, they all have the therapy language and they're all saying stuff like, oh, this person's gaslighting me. And now they're just disagreeing with you. Like, there's a different. I what is this I'm always I'm always super my anxiety is always super high after I drink rather than just you're hung over you had a big long night you haven't slept you're dehydrated you probably ate like shit you haven't moved and you're locked in a dark room for the last eight hours yeah exactly you're not depressed you just have a come down because you were on the back yeah so that's it yeah anyway that was I thought they were really good statistics don't know about use we'll let the we'll let the listeners decide also I never do this so I should start doing it if you enjoyed the podcast if you love listening to handsome

rob and handsome jare unless you're on Spotify make sure you subscribe or like or share so we can you know just get that fuzzy feeling that people are listening okay all right lads pleasure as always thank you very much