Phones and Social Media

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- [Jack] Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com

and welcome to this English podcast episode

where I'm good to talk about phones and social media.

So there are going to be lots of phrases

that you can learn today based on this topic.

And I'm going to give you my opinion

on social media and phone use in general

because I think it's quite an important topic to talk about

and it's something that interests me too.

Now I'm making this podcast episode

because my other podcast episode

which I produced about four years ago

has had over a million views now on YouTube.

And I've also released this on SoundCloud

but not on iTunes or any of the podcast players.

If you would like me to start a new podcast,

probably producing it in an episode once a week,

let me know in the comment section here on YouTube.

And feel free to go back and listen to that podcast episode

where I talked about my daily routine.

People seem to love it, and over a million views.

It's my most watched video here on this channel,

but yeah, today we're going to talk about social media

and phone use in general

because this has become such a big part of our lives now.

And I want to talk about some of the areas of this

and by listening,

you're going to get some great listing practice

but also learn some new words and phrases

and I'll do my best to add some of the key phrases

from this podcast episode in the description.

So something about smartphones is this, okay,

from my life anyway.

My wife and I didn't get a smartphone

until I think about 2014, 2015.

And we held off getting one for a long time

because we we moved to the US in 2011

and everybody had an iPhone

or the Google Samsung equivalent back then.

And we just held off for such a long time

because I was working online

and I didn't want to be connected to the internet

when I went out and about into the world,

I just wanted to have a simple,

what we call the dumb phone, dumb phone.

I find that funny.

We just wanted to have one of those simple phones

instead of getting something

where you're constantly connected to the internet,

because we saw other people at the time

and we noticed that they were constantly on their phone.

They got them out in certain situations.

We found it quite strange because we didn't have this.

But then we decided to get one because we had a child

and we wanted to be able to take pictures of our child

So that was our biggest reason for getting a smartphone.

And I remember getting it.

It was in December, I think, 2014.

And yeah, since then, obviously,

we have gone into smartphone use like everyone else.

And obviously, you look around today

and you think about the difference

between when people were walking around

on public transport, in restaurants, at bars,

in line for things, in their car,

and nobody really used their phone.

They were a little bit hesitant about doing it at first.

This is about 10 years ago, I'd say,

because it wasn't socially acceptable

to use your phone in public

in this way where you're constantly scrolling.

But now you look around

and it just seems like everyone is addicted to their phones.

If you are waiting in line to do something,

to buy something, your phone comes out.

When people stop at traffic lights, their phone comes out.

I see people when they drop off their kids at school,

they're waiting in line, their phone comes out.

You see people who are at restaurants,

they're on a date together.

They're both on their phones.

And you know, this happens as well.

And it just seems like it's completely become the norm now.

It has become the norm

where people don't even think twice about doing it.

They just get their phones out and start scrolling.

And I think a big reason for this

is that people love the scrolling now.

They live to go on a website,

a social media platform on their phone

and just constantly scroll down

because there's always something new happening.

There's always some type of new information, new post,

something happening in the news.

And I noticed myself doing this, especially,

and I do it now, but especially during the election.

So when there was an election here a couple of months ago,

I was constantly looking at the results,

trying to find new information.

What was this person saying?

What was that person saying?

And just to find out that latest information about it.

And there's also something called doom scrolling

which I think is a new word

where people are constantly scrolling

on social media platforms and seeing bad news.

And everything is just bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

And it's called doom scrolling.

And obviously, this isn't very good for your health.

But my thought on social media in general is this.

You can create your own experience based on who you follow

and how much you use the platform.

The issue is that if you have notifications turned on,

then you're going to get interrupted all the time

and you're going to constantly pick up your phone,

click the notification and take a look.

And I find as well,

let's say if I'm going to produce a new video on Instagram,

follow me on Instagram @tofluency.

Sometimes 10 minutes later,

I'm just scrolling through the feed

and I completely forgot about making this new video.

It can really just suck you in the feed,

the never ending feed.

But like I said, if you take some time to think about, okay,

which platforms have given me the best experience

and who am I following that I don't need to follow anymore?

Now taking this from an English learning perspective

because I want to talk about this in a positive way,

social media and the phone

is the the most revolutionary learning experience

that I think has ever happened that I can think about,

where you suddenly have access

to endless resources of English,

whether this is English that is just produced naturally

like politics, podcasts, or sports videos

and also English that has been created and crafted

for the English learner in mind, like this podcast episode.

So when you think about it,

it is just an incredible resource for you.

And you can connect with people from all over the world,

people who are learning English and also English teachers.

You can connect with them online

through your phone just effortlessly.

At this stage, I just want to ask,

what type of so you currently using to help your English?

And what tips do you have for other learners

when it comes to using a phone in general,

for learning English?

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

So please leave a comment below if you can,

if you're on a platform that allows you to do that.

But again, that there are many disadvantages to phones.

And I think people at this time stage, they are addicted,

where they can't go an hour or two

without picking up their phone.

My wife and I have done experiments in the past

where we put them away for the evening,

those experiments don't last long.

And we know that we need to do better with our phones

and not pick them up so much

and not rely on them so much, but they are useful.

They are super useful.

Just things like being able to listen to music in the car

through Apple Music and Spotify,

being able to connect with people and family

in a very easy way, reading the news,

watching videos that you like to watch, watching sports,

all these kinds of things.

The phone can be such a useful tool

but it's also important to think about

what it's doing to our lives.

And just thinking back, a lot of people say,

"I prefer the time before smartphones came about.

I prefer the time

when people weren't on their phones all the time,"

and it can be annoying.

And it it's just a thing that happens now.

People get distracted, people get notifications,

messages, phone calls.

Well, fewer phone calls these days

'cause most people text or send a message.

But I would love to know your thoughts on this too.

Like, do you think people are addicted?

Do you think that the time before smartphones

was better in certain ways?

And how do you use your smartphone in a way

so that you're not using it all the time?

So that you're using it as a tool to better your life

rather than being addicted to it

and just constantly being attached to it.

So please let me know again, in the comment section below.

Now, I want to share some stats with you

from the website, Review42.com

They have some fascinating facts about smartphone use.

Listen to this, okay.

The average user will tap, swipe, and click their phone

2,617 times a day.

So think about all the times you tap, swipe, or click,

2,617 times a day.

95% of adults in South Korea own a smartphone.

The average time spent on smartphones

is about three hours a day.

I thought it would be more than that.

Worldwide, more people now own a cell phone

than a toothbrush.

Whoa, more people now own a cell phone than a toothbrush?

It's pretty incredible, isn't it?

And then it says there are 5.1 billion

unique mobile users worldwide in 2019

and 2.7 billion of them use smartphones.

81% of Americans own a smartphone.

I thought it would be higher than that

but I guess children as well, maybe children.

Yeah, and also, I think it's worth talking about children

and smartphone use, children as well.

They're using different types of apps.

That's what always surprises me.

So people of a younger generation,

they aren't on sites such as Facebook,

but I believe they're on sites

such as TikTok and Snapchat.

And this is something else interesting,

that TikTok has taken over the world this year.

And this is a new app that…

It was around for a little while before.

I think it used to be called Musically,

but now it's TikTok and it's just taken over.

And what I find funny is when you see people

doing their TikTok videos out in public,

and you can just see them dancing into a phone

and it just looks very strange, but this is massive now.

And I'm really intrigued to see

what is gonna happen in the future

when it comes to smartphones and social media in general.

So just to finish up, I would like to say,

feel free to go back and listen to this again

and just get some of the key words and phrases

that we talked about.

If you've enjoyed it, like the video,

and then also share it with your friends

and then go to the description

if you are on YouTube or Facebook,

or if that is a description below and then get my book,

"The Five-Step Plan for English Fluency."

And yeah, thank you so much for listening.

I will speak to you soon, bye-bye.