The age of artificial relationships.

When I say artificial relationships, I'm not referring to the tinder hookup culture of today. The artificial relationships I'm referring to is actually micro celebrities. It has been said that our population is growing more and more isolated. I can see signs of this isolation in that millennial in general are overburdened by debt and have to work as much as possible just to get a head above water. Sometime ago, ZeroHedge linked to an article stating that the average work week is now 47 hours a week rather than the standard 40 hours for full time. In my case, Monday through Friday, I spend more time in the office then I do at home. Outside a skatepark, I only get to see a friend once every month or every other month on average. On a daily basis, I interact with the same 6 people.

While working, I'm lucky that I can listen to my own music via earphones while I work. However, I'm never really listening to music, I just put on podcasts to listen to. Thankfully, because of youtube, there is a treasure trove of stories, anecdotes, and lessons to listen to. I had the realization that I listen to these men on the internet more than I listen to people in real life.

It has only been since 2005 or 2007 since this content has been available. Before this content existed, there was still the artificial relationship but to a much lesser extent.

Talk radio has been on for as long as I can remember. Reality TV has existed since the beginning of 2000. Biographies have been around forever. All of these have limitations though. Radio and TV isn't always available 24/7 and the content doesn't always get rerun. Books can last much longer but they take a long time to create. Lastly, these 3 forms of media aren't compatible with doing your work in an office.

With podcasts, you have access to content from years ago and the content is relatively easy to create which means much more content can be created. Best of all, you can enjoy it with working.

I love listening to the content for the personalities of the content makers. Because everything is recorded and available, I can look back in time and watch the personalty react to different current/past events.

Lately, I've been going through all of Davis Aurini's podcasts. I think I've got another 50 or 60 videos to go. I regularly listen to Bernard Chapin's content and Stefan Molyneux's content. I really don't think I'll go back through time to watch everything as Bernard has been on his channel since 2007 and has more than 3000 videos and Stefan has been around since 2006 and has more than 1000 videos.