the zurkie show - you keep hiding behind your headphones

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

I think the first step is immersing ourselves in the world around us.sending you all lots of love and peaaaaaaaaace!https://linktr.ee/thezurkieshow

Nobody wanted to talk to me. When I was at my college apartment, nobody wanted to talk to me. Everybody went home from their classes, went to their apartment, and I always wondered why. I would hear these incredible stories from people that were older than me, like my apartment in college, we were all friends, we all knew each other, it was awesome. And even when I look at some of my family that I have in Europe, they know their entire neighborhood. I think I know maybe two or three of my neighbors right now. I have a block of probably 30. you know what's happened we've ruined immersion that's what's happened we've ruined being immersed in society

because i think we've equated it to a lot of things mainly my gripe in my life has been that being immersed in something is not productive bro it's not a part of the routine bro trash way of thinking I mean, hey, I get it if you need to lock in. I get it if you got to get things done. But man, I think that a lack of immersion, a lack of feeling like your place somewhere matters or the people that you're around matter. That is one step to creating an isolated society. And we are already there, arguably.

We are already there, dude. It was shocking, like, the amount of people that, lived in my dorm apartment thingy mobber in college and nobody wanted to be social or at least it seemed that way in reality everybody wants to be social most people do it's just that we assume we do this game of assumption where you know one person is on their AirPods so oh i can't talk to them another person is like on the phone so i can't say hello to them this person immediately goes into their apartment so like I can't even you know express to them you know I think you're cool like I'd love to hang out and it's because like we have you know so many redible easy you know distractions that

the hard thing is to actually get away from those distractions and actually address people as human beings and be like yo it's good you know what is your name what do you claim I think that I got what you knew but I'm willing to do anything that you please come on call me if you get lost for those that know they know but we've ruined immersion, not just with society, but also with, like, art, bro, and music. It really pains me, and I'm part of the problem that, like, I have not felt compelled to listen to an album front to back in a very long time. Maybe this new Dijon album will kind of change that for me, but it's just like I don't feel immersed in the music. And part of that is probably because, you know, I've out of it.

grown, maybe some of the music that I listen to all the time. And also, like, maybe my, your taste and my taste are changing as we get older and we have to accommodate that. But it just, it just feels blech. Need a vehicle that isn't afraid to make a splash? That's the Volkswagen Tauce. Capable and confident, the Volkswagen Touse is fit for everyday life. Nimble in traffic, agile and tight spots, and still spacious enough for weekend getaway. While available 4-motion all-wheel drive gives confidence in rain and snow. The capable Taos, you deserve more confidence.

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Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From Binge All Episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Dude, you should watch Sopranos, dude. I think we're getting to the root of why we've ruined immersion. It's the, it's that. That's the problem. we're very very comfortable with just being like whatever and whatever we don't even give it a chance a second thought no it's just whatever

it's done it's cooked it's uh whatever i don't care i never thought that i would live in a day and age where it's more uncomfortable and it's more like you feel the ants on your skin when you try to sit down and watch something that people have told you is really really good because it's not the thing that you have been spoon fed we've ruined immersion. I never thought I would live in the day where, like, your inclination off rip is to, is to, like, not go up to somebody and talk to them if you think that they're cool

or that, you know, you think they're attractive. It's just easier to swipe. The thing with swiping and the thing that we don't realize is that when we don't, do these things. Like when we don't go up to people, when we don't experience like the full kind of range of like, you know, hopefulness, rejection, despair. And then like we gather up and go and do it again, we don't immerse ourselves into learning about who we are. We don't feel anything. And that is the problem. It's cool to feel. Like it's cool to go through things. It's cool to have a change

in your relationship to the music you listen to. It's cool to take a break and go somewhere and not have people around you. That's cool. Immerse yourself in you. Stop distracting yourself from like how you want to live and like what interests you because it's uncomfortable

or because it takes a little bit of time. Maybe immersion has been ruined because patience is no longer, valued. We're in a society where we need everything now, and I get it. You know, there's, there's positives to that. Of course, I like it when I can get something shipped tomorrow. Of course, it's awesome. But sometimes waiting on something makes it so much more special. When you're sitting at the dinner table and you can, you can hear the pasta hit your plate and the cheese get sprinkled, salt-based style, and you have that plate in front of you, you've worked. You've

waited that like 10, 15 minutes because your parents called you for dinner, but dinner was not ready right away, so they lied, but whatever. There is that human longing and yearning, and there is that dopamine hit that you get from that delayed gratification of waiting for something and being patient and finding things to kind of tame your mind before you indulge. There's no anticipation anymore. It's instant. everything's instant every decision is is oh well nope they don't want to talk to me okay what like

the chase is gone and those are the things that immerse ourselves into into being who we are if we don't go after something if we don't spend the time you know failing spend the time just like trying you're not going to be immersed you're going to achieve things and be like all right well whatever you know it's part of the hero's journey but man i i just want to be able to feel like the place that I live is not just transient and I can I can actually feel like, wow, the people around me care about me, but nobody is immersed. At least that's what it feels like. I think that's kind of a dumerous, you know, perspective on things because I'm sure people care. It's not like they don't.

But I think that we got to use the tools at our disposal to immerse ourselves into our world and to do things. It's funny because before doing the show, I rarely like went to any of the nature spots in Austin or where I lived or I just I didn't really consider nature as like a thing to explore. I was just like yeah it exists and like hiking is like cool because I get to eat trail mix but that's about it. And after doing the show it's it's given me this new perspective on nature and the importance of these spaces and the fact that like man going going we need this. We like need this. We need to interact with nature. Welcome aboard via rail.

Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Flip. Or that. And enjoy. Via rail. Love the way.

I know that that's such a granola boy thing to say. But I'm telling you like, there's a reason people do this. They like this. There's a reason we. keep this around and this isn't just a giant Walmart, you know, it's good. And when you're in nature, the beautiful thing about it is it immerses you. Like there's no, there's nothing else other than this, but there's different kinds of nature and there's different places and there's different flavors

and there's different things you can do in it. And that's, I think, the main thing too is like with immersion and with your own life, there are a lot of different ways you can immerse yourself. You can immerse yourself through reading, through learning. Learning is a big one. Learning is a huge one. Being a lifelong learner, being open to just like learning new skills, just because you're hungry to learn something that will take you so far and it'll give you an appreciation for who you are more than you could have ever imagined. But if we go back to the social aspect of things, like how do we immerse ourselves into a certain society and a certain place? I think it's a great question. I'm still trying to figure that out. I think part of it is by by creating things,

creating events, creating spaces where you can attract people. We have to be the ones to like make these spaces. I mean, that's kind of, that is what it is. Like if we want to have, you know, a neighborhood and people to be in this neighborhood that feel a part of a neighborhood, you have to be the one to throw the block party. You got to be the one that's going to be grilling the hot dogs. Like you can expect somebody else to do it. But what I've learned is the more that you start initiating that change, the more you will see it around you because you will start to open those doors and people will know that you're doing this and that you want to do this. That's how you immerse yourself into the world around you. But ruining immersion,

I think actually is kind of done, dare I say, by design. When you interact with people that are very different, it actually makes you realize how much more you can do and how much more you can learn about yourself. But we have, in a lot of ways, just like, decentivize that. That's, it's like, nah, what you're going to hang out with somebody that thinks differently than you, you're not going to get along. It's not true. You don't know that. And it does kind of frustrate me because, you know, I think that that is something that in the past maybe was kind of stock with the human experience as you just ran into more people that thought differently than you and that

dress differently and look differently. But now it's something you have to look out for. It's just, it's much easier to find the things that make you feel comfortable. It's just the easiest thing in the world now. We've ruined immersion, man. But I think we can save it. I'm very hopeful that we can save it. I think that people want immersion and they want events and they want places to go to and

things to do. I don't think that, you know, I'm not believing. this narrative that like well gen z just wants to stay inside all day like yeah maybe gen z is more socially anxious but like you throw gen z into a you know into melting pot uh you know or or some kind of awesome event you know they might stare at you but like we're gonna be chilling we're gonna be chilling but we got to do things man we got to do things and i think part of it is you kind of need to be the influencer in your own life and you got to be your own cheerleader

for doing the things that matter to you because living through other people is just not the fun anymore. The fun is actually having the experiences and going out and doing things that you like to do. You know, I think immersion also happens when you feel cared for

and you feel like something matters to you and there's more to what you do. And I think that we are very quick to not immerse ourselves into something because we don't feel cared for as a as a as a generation you know somebody can listen to that and be like boo-hoo oh you have all the technology in the world nobody cares about you wow you know but but it's like low-key do you feel a part of this generation do you feel a part of gen z like do you feel like there is a communal kind of like this is who we are this is what we do i don't feel that way i don't feel that way

I'm actively trying to build that. There are so many voices in our generation, I think, that are just, like, not being lifted, maybe in the right way. Maybe they just, they don't exist yet because they've been told, like, you're not interesting, you know? Ah, man, we need immersion. We need things. We need, I don't know if it's, is it events, you know, it's not due by chocolate. That's not what we need. I mean, looks kind of cool, but that's, it probably tastes incredible.

But like, we need to feel a part of something. And I think that the previous generations before us felt a part of dreams. They felt part of the American dream. There was something to work towards. Everyone had the same values. Well, we know about the American dream pretty well because we're living it with $60 chilies. I mean, that's what we wanted, right?

We wanted that. so it's not that we obviously know that and you know we have to find the thing that is like cool and is worth doing things for and does actually motivate you to you know be a part of a local gardening club just to help out and maybe service is the thing you know i i think that when i look at like the previous generations before us they were very service heavy and I haven't volunteered in a long time, but every time I volunteer, I just,

I learned something new or I do something really, really cool. I don't know if you guys volunteer, but, you know, that's been some of my most, like, formative, you know, memories have been, like, being at a soup kitchen or, you know, working at a art studio in Chicago with, you know, people with disabilities. Like, those were, those were really cool, cool moments.

immersion it's cool to care it's cool to fully make yourself like the main character in your life and do the things that matter to you and have the conversations that you want to have and immersion i think comes from making a stand against status quo and just being like yo nah i'm me

I'm doing what I want and you know the the common you know the common baseline is not the fact that we each have in Lubboo

and that's why we're talking to each other where the fact that we have Jordans and you know that's a cool way to start a conversation but the baseline is that you know we respect each other I think as human beings and that's another

another crazy topic that we've got to discuss one day but I don't know, Zirky Show. Do you feel immersed? Do you feel a part of your community? Do you feel like you are even like immersed in your friend's lives or in your own life?

Like, do you feel like there is a sense of pride in what you do and who you are? I think I'm learning to build that more and more, but sometimes it is very difficult. And sometimes it's just like, what will make our lives better to feel immersed? in. Maybe it's a project. Maybe it's a hobby. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's spending time just doing nothing and chilling. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Playojo. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games. What you win is yours to keep. With no wagering

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and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like habanier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. I think each of us kind of have an idea of what makes us feel alive. I love being in nature. I love yapping.

I love sitting. This is the greatest combo ever. And I love you guys. Truly, I love you guys. the Zerky Show fam is like undefeated. It's just just the goat. You know, goat, goate to your status like Jordan. Zerky Show fam.

I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm, it's just what it is. You're goaded. It is what it is. Immerse yourself into what you're doing. Immers yourself into your life. Immerse yourself into the small stuff. Like comparing yourself to people who live a life that is optimized for views is not how you're going to live a better life.

The better life is crafted with the tools that you have. You're wishing for a diamond sword. You haven't even gotten iron ore yet. You know what I mean? You got to work with the cobblestone. You got to go looking around. And honestly, maybe you get a diamond sword and realize I actually want a diamond pickaxe. Or you know what?

I don't even want diamond because it's like I'd rather use this diamond to build. an enchantment table and then do other things in my life. Minecraft metaphor, I know, but that's a way of explaining that we've ruined immersion and the world is doomed. Not actually. The world will be here. The way in which we interact with it will change. But all I hope is that, you know, we aren't going to be just all in doom and gloom.

Because, yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of BS and a lot of mid stuff, dude, and it's tiring. and Schmid, but it's gonna be fine. I don't promise it'll be good, but it'll be fine. It'll be okay. And we're gonna make it good because we don't have another choice. We don't have another choice, Zerky Show.

I wish we did, but we kind of don't. So we kind of gotta make it work frankly with what we've got. Yeah, frankly. All right. But yeah, we're gonna be chilling. Today's episode of the Zirky Show was filmed in Canyon, Lake Texas,

As the sun sets behind me, man, the ranches out here are beautiful. This is a nice little area. Canyon Lake, Texas. If you're ever nearby, come check it out. Did you know that the Zerky Show is everywhere you go? That is correct. You can watch it, you can scroll it, you can stream it. The choice is yours.

If you want to tap in, this is the best way to tap in. Do the things that bring you joy. Watch a TV show, all right? Watch something that people have told you is really, really good, because it probably is, and you deserve to watch it. I know. Committing to something. for like 30 minutes oh that's a lot of time but like you are going to burn 30 minutes anyways so

might as well watch something that you're going to remember and as always zirky show if you're trying something new just know that I believe in you and I'm sending you lots of love and I want to check out this sunset bro that is unreal that's really beautiful