In 1985, a media theorist named Neil Postman warned that television was turning American public discourse into entertainment — no algorithms, no smartphones, just TV. Forty years later, Leron "Big Ellie" Gaskins picks up that argument and points it straight at our phones.
This episode dives into Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death": his debate over which dystopia we're actually living in — Orwell's surveillance state or Huxley's information overload — his theory of "Now...This" news (stories that vanish before you can process them), and how the 7-hour Lincoln-Douglas debates became 2-minute soundbites. Big Ellie connects it to real, personal stakes: getting demonetized for speaking on the war in Ukraine, the DARK Act's rollback of GMO labeling transparency, and the daily brain rot of infinite scroll — plus practical tools to fight back.
If you've ever wondered why you can't put your phone down, this is the episode that explains why — and what a book from 1985 got right about it.
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📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com
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Ever dig into a story online that made you upset — and just couldn't stop? This episode is about what that does to you, and why walking away from it was the best decision I ever made.
In this episode of Broken Traditions, I break down five things that happened to me from overconsuming negative content: my mood changed, I became more prejudiced, I fell into echo chambers, I got angry at people who didn't care as much as I did, and I lost focus on my family, goals, and work. We also dig into why negative content is built to keep you hooked — the psychology of negativity bias, and what the algorithms are actually optimizing for.
If you've ever felt like you couldn't look away from something online, even though you knew it wasn't good for you, this one's for you.
Try the 72-hour challenge at the end of this episode and let me know how it goes.
📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com
💛 Support the show: brokentraditions.com
