Entering Room 3228

Anita:  How is the adult life?

Chanel:  I can

Anita:  How’s full time adult life?

Chanel:  I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m still like living off of everybody.

Anita:  What would you guys say the age is like, when you’re fully adulting? It’s like a phase.

Annmarie:  I don’t think you’re ever fully.

Chanel:  Oh, I think I like 52 maybe,

Anita:  Huh.

Chanel:  I think I think my mom is just getting better. I think my mom was just finally understanding how to be an adult.

[Music]

Zeke: I’d like to welcome everyone to another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast. I’m your host Zeke. In this episode, I have the hosts of the podcast Room 3228. You can find this podcast on all major podcast platforms, or by clicking the link in the description below. I like to give a content warning for any strong language used in this episode. I hope you have a nice day, and enjoy the show. Guys, welcome to the podcast.

Zeke: Alright, guys, welcome to the podcast.

Chanel:  Hello.

Anita: Thank you for having us.

Zeke:  No problem so the question I always like to ask is what would your origin story be and how would you like to represent it?

Anita:  Thanks for having us.

Chanel:  Okay, hi, my name is Chanel. Um, I always say my origin story is Oh, hi, I’m Chanel, one of the girls from Room 3228 Podcast. And my origin story would be, wait, can I be a superhero or like my real origin origin story?

Zeke:  It can be made up.

Chanel:  Okay, my real origin origin story. Okay, so I come from Island. And there was like an attack on the island. And I ended up being this is gonna get deep into being kidnapped. I mean, take into the state. And then from there, I would gain powers. Like when they when they took me, I was in like a ship with cats. And while I was on this ship, I end up getting cat powers. And that’s how I became like a cat woman pretty much. And now I fight evil in New York City. My cat powers. Oh, yes.

Anita:  A comic, a movie, video game?

Chanel:  Everything all together.

Zeke:  The whole franchise?

Chanel:  Yeah. So who’s going next? Yeah, I know. It’s hard to follow up to that. But yeah,

Anita:  That was quite just,

Annmarie:  Really we should end the podcast there.

Anita:  Um, so my origin story. I’m trying not to go too far back, give too much detail, because that’ll go on forever. But I was born in 1998. That’s such a random detail. And I moved to the United States when I was nine years old. I was born in Zimbabwe. And then I lived in Seattle and California. And now I live in New York. And then years and years passed. And then I met these two lovely ladies. And we started a podcast together. And that’s my life story.

Annmarie:  Okay, I can go next,

Chanel:  What’s your superpower?

Anita:  Oh, my superpower. Um damn, Let me. Um, my superpower I can always tell how people truly feel in a situation. Even if they’re not saying it. I can read people’s energy very well and bring (inaudible) the superpower I wish I had is invisibility.

Annmarie:  Damn I was gonna say,

Anita:  Okay, Now you go to Annmarie.

Annmarie:  Okay, so my name is Annemarie. Gosh, I’m in New York, but my family is from Slovakia. And oh, man, I didn’t make it fun. But this is my real story. So

Chanel:  Your story is fun.

Annmarie:  Um, I recently graduated from Baruch College and at Baruch that’s where we decided to form our podcasts Room 3328. And it was a great experience for the three of us and we’re kind of taking it to the next level this season. So we’re happy to be here. My superpower is that I can teleport. Yes.

Anita:  Is this superpower that you currently have?

Annmarie:  Yes. Did I not tell you?

Anita:  Zeke her off the call. You lying.

Annmarie:  Chanel can have cat powers but I can’t teleport?

Anita:  But she has a mustache to vote for her. Who’s gonna vouch for your teleporting girl?

Annmarie:  Just one moment. Did you see that?

Anita:  Okay, I apologize.

Chanel:  Okay Zeke, so now that we told our origin story, what is your origin story story like? What powers do you have? Like what do you tell your guest?

Zeke:  (inaudible) somebody who is adaptable in each situation was able to out think and think all the way through. For like superpowers, like, it’s between like superspeed or like the Green Lantern Ring, Green Lantern Ring, or superspeed. Superpowers to have in real life, it’s usually like just meeting people and become friends with them. Or like, like that, you can say like kind of funny because like, I’m always around, everybody expecting me to be there. And then my friends thought I had clones in the school, because every time they see me, they see me somewhere 10 minutes later after they seen me in another place and ask how you get here so fast?

Chanel:  I can definitely see that. That is so true, Zeke. Yeah, you were everywhere, you know, everyone.

Anita:  He had like somebody bringing nightshift the day, every day. But I feel like the thing that you’re talking about, like being able to become friends with people is like a CUNY kid skill. Like if you want to make friends. If you go to CUNY, you have to be able to like force yourself into people’s lives in a way.

Annmarie:  True, but I don’t think everybody CUNY has that skill.

Anita:  True.

Annmarie:  I think people want to have that skill, but not many people put the effort in like like, even at Baruch there was a really small community of people that everyone knew, right a lot of other people.

Anita:  Yeah, people who like just go to school and go to school go home. This is true.

Chanel:  But this is if you want to survive and thrive at a CUNY as well though.

Anita:  Yeah.

Chanel:  Yeah, for some people, they barely survived. But if you’re sociable, you definitely thrive. I would say.

Zeke:  (inaudible)

Chanel:  How many clubs where you’re part of Zeke?

Zeke:  Clubs I was apart of in terms of in terms of on the board only two Femcode and LASO like on the board, but I thought I was friends with it was Asedom, LASO, Femcode was cool with um Bangladesh Club, USG. I tried to accomplish upon this goes on, but it wasn’t really working for me. What else EC Ecuadorian Club and a bunch of others.

Anita:  Hearing you talk about that makes me miss Baruch so much.

Annmarie:  Woman?

Anita:  No, no, I mean, like the morality of like being able to see people aside because I don’t I really don’t think I’m ever going to like log into zoom club meeting or something. It just doesn’t feel the same for me. Personally, I like the rival when contact and like, being physically there with people. But I think there’s still people who are like fully participating and enjoying it, which I totally respect.

Annmarie:  And I don’t think anyone’s enjoying it.

Anita:  Lying to themselves to enjoy it. Yeah, that’s the one thing that I miss about college the most is like the social element and learning I guess, but yeah.

Chanel:  Oh my gosh, I’ve been out of college for what? A year and a half. It’s crazy.

Anita:  How is the adult life?

Chanel:  I can

Anita:  How’s full time adult life?

Chanel:  I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m still like living off of everybody.

Anita:  What would you guys say the age is like, when you’re fully adulting? It’s like a phase.

Annmarie:  I don’t think you’re ever fully.

Chanel:  Oh, I think I like 52 maybe,

Anita:  Huh.

Chanel:  I think I think my mom is just getting better. I think my mom was just finally understanding how to be an adult. Maybe.

Anita:  I though you were going to say being married.

Annmarie:  I know, in terms of understanding how to be an adult. I don’t think you’ll ever understand completely. I feel like people are still just going with it. Trying to figure it out. I don’t think you ever have it all together.

Chanel:  Yeah.

Anita:  What about you Zeke? What’s your what’s your adult phase? Do you are you in your adult phase yet?

Zeke:  I’ll say yeah, because I just realized that I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on. Yeah, I I’m an adult now. Just kind of figure out what’s my foothold.

Anita:  It’s hard to say.

Chanel:  Maybe? Maybe that’s it?

Anita:  What say Chanel, sorry, babe. It’s a little laggy.

Chanel: I don’t know sorry. I was saying like, I think that’s what adulting is like, realizing that you don’t know what’s happening.

Anita:  Like constantly being confused by the reality of the world. I think I finally like starting to adult now that my mom like makes me make dentist appointments and like, do all the things that she used to do for me. That’s kind of like grown like oh, I’m not really a kid anymore. Which sounds foolish because I’m like 20 something and I still need my mom to make my appointments for me, but.

Annmarie:  I don’t think it’s foolish. I think everybody needs help. Yeah, my first thing about my parents or favorite is they help me like, they’ll be like, Okay, well help me with things I don’t need help with. But then in terms of like stuff I don’t know how to do like, I don’t know how to call like the doctor and make an appointment. Which apparently, I should know how to do they’re like, just go do it on your own. And I’m like, Can you show me how?

Anita:  That’s one thing they realize it’s like, I don’t want one thing. I don’t know my doctor’s name. I don’t know anything about this man. Because I’ve had somebody else in charge of it for so long. So I’m like, Oh, that’s where he works. And that’s his name. And that’s what he does for me. Yeah. I lost my I lost my my license in the beginning of quarantine. And I was like, I was so stressed. Cuz I was like, I don’t know how to fix this issue without my parents help. So I literally went, like six or seven months without an ID and I just got my license. Like a week ago.

Annmarie:  I need a new one to my name expired.

Anita:  You need to learn how to drive Annmarie that’s,

Annmarie:  Why would I need to learn how to drive I’m gonna live in Manhattan.

Anita:  Yeah, but it helps to have it still love.

Annmarie:  It’s not worth my time right now.

Anita:  It’s an incredibly fun thing to do,

Annmarie: Until you get into an accident and kill somebody.

Chanel:  No. Hopefully, if you got your driver’s license, you won’t have to do that to drive responsively.

Anita:  Yeah, driving is kind of scary, though.

Zeke:  But with the doctors note be like meme, were you still an adult but your parents are answering the questions to the doctor like Doctor asks what’s wrong with you, you look at your parents like hey what’s wrong with me,

Anita:  Don’t know your own body enough to speak for yourself. I don’t know what’s happening? Yeah, it’s not. I don’t think it’s a lot. But it’s exciting. I feel like the pros of it outweigh the cons. Like I love that I can just wake up and go and do something on my own and like, spend my own money or like, will not spend my own money because I don’t like that. But like, everyone really, without having to be like, Oh, can you take me? Can you do this for me? Or what time will you be home and all that stuff like, that part about being a kid really was crappy? Because it’s just like, your life wasn’t really your own. But now you can do whatever you want. You can go to another country, go to France and live there if you want to.

Annmarie:  Like, because right now there’s a pandemic, but until we can dream.

Anita:  True True. Yeah, I think the pros of being an adult, out weigh the cons, for sure. But like, I missed being a child, but like, I could do what I’m exactly like you and be a child as an adult as well. You can buy yourself toys as a 20 something year old and live your best life. You might sell as many Legos as you want. Not just the ones your mom would buy you here. Okay.

Chanel:  That’s true. But now I need the money to buy the Legos.

Annmarie:  Exactly.  I don’t have the time to play with the Legos because you got to earn the money to buy the Legos.

Chanel:  Yeah,

Anita:  That’s true.  Okay, I’m gonna like try and discreetly grab my charger, because knowing me, I’m never prepared for things, my computer is gonna die. But I won’t leave the frame one.

Chanel:  I was thinking about like, um, like having to feed yourself. I think I’ve seen something where it’s like a like, as an adult, like, you can’t No, you have to think of yourself as a parent as well. Like you’re the parent of your of yourself now. So like, you can’t be feeding yourself like candy and chocolate all the time. Like, you have to make sure that you’re like putting nutrients into your body and making sure you actually survive and,

Annmarie:  Also, you can buy yourself unlimited candy.

Anita:  It’s two types of adults in this world Chanel and Annmarie.

Annmarie:  I feel like we’re both responsible adults, but we’re responsible in different aspects. So if you combine the two of us in terms of responsibility, we make the perfect adult.

Anita:  True true It’s a healthy balance of fun and structure.

Annmarie:  And fun.

All  (inaudible)

Chanel:  But what what would you say like what makes you adulting now like, what has confirmed it for you like just the the phone calls to your doctor is something else.

Anita:  Um, I think more like, like, all jokes aside, it’s more of a state of mind. Like when I start to think of them myself as an adult, I can almost start to live my life in that way as well. So like you’re saying Chanel about, like making sure you’re not only eating sugary stuff and all that stuff and all like, the bad things for you like knowing that, okay, maybe I should have broccoli for dinner tonight or something like that. But then also like time management, which girls know that I’m more or less you get an A, you know that I’ve added this, but it’s my weakest thing. And being adult has like, forced me to, you know, be more responsible with how I spend my days. So like, not sleeping in until 2pm anymore on the weekends, because I have to work, you know, and get things done before I go to bed before the day is over. That for me is like, what adulting is, it’s a more of a state of mind as it more than like an age thing. Because there are people who are like 17, and really have their lives together. And I would consider them adults, because they’re like doing what they have to do. And they’re taking care of business and all that stuff. But then the people who are like in their 30s and still are like, not adulting yet, there’s no shame, just like, I think it happens at different phases for different people.

Annmarie:  I think adulting isn’t about having your shit together, although that’s what most people who are adults think they need to have. Think it’s more about finding ways to be true to yourself, and also find ways to survive at the same time. It’s like this scary phase in your life where you don’t know what you’re doing. But you have to know. And so you’re kind of just like trying things and making mistakes along the way. So for me being an adult is being able to try new things and also be okay with making mistakes at the same time because it’s inevitable. And it’s really scary. But at the same time. I think it’s more about like overcoming those fears. Yeah.

Zeke:  My guidance counselor in high school said that once you like you, when you’re 30 is when  you learn how to be a 20 year old and when you’re 40,

Annmarie:  No

Anita:  Don’t tell Annmarie this.

Annmarie:  We already wasted our youth, youth is wasted on the young.

Anita:  What?

Annmarie:  Because we didn’t know how to be teens, right? Until we became older like, you didn’t make the most use of your time.

Chanel:  Yeah, that is so true

Anita:  Now it make sense. Yeah.

Chanel:  I wish I could do my teen years over again. I didn’t I wasn’t crazy enough. I wasn’t crazy enough. What would you do? If you could do it again. I think I would have been less scared to like go out on adventures like grabbing the car going to like the beach or having like that getaway weekend. Like I said a lot of my friends doing it that lived in like Upstate. And so like, I never, I don’t know, I was too cautious. That was the thing.

Annmarie:  But I think I don’t think you should regret the way you spent your teen years because I think if you hadn’t spent them a little bit of free to do those things, then you wouldn’t realize now how important it is for you to actually experience those types of things. So I think now you know that you should go out and grab a car or a bicycle, whatever, you have a friend and go on like a mini adventure on your own. And you wouldn’t have realized how important that is. Unless you had had those prior experiences.

Chanel:  That’s true.

Anita:  It also you’re still a young girl 23.

Chanel:  I know, I just, I just had more time to do it. This more craziness. We regret it just today. Maybe not doing it now. I’m doing it now. Just like I just had more time, like which i knew more.

Anita: I think my biggest fear is like my 20s coming to an end. Because I always always hear people talking about how much they miss their 20s. And I’m like, I’m in it right now. Like I have to make the most of it. But I also don’t want to put too much pressure on myself to like, do things that I don’t know maybe that I can’t afford to do yet or that I’m not ready to experience in my life. But at the same time I’m like so nervous that my life will fly by.

Annmarie: I think people always say that especially once I graduated, I was like, Damn, I miss my college years. Like people always regress to their college years like a pretty common theme or stereotype I guess. But I don’t think I think every time we hit a new decade, it’s gonna be like, Damn, I wish I spent more time doing whatever in this past decade. No, just experience it now to it. You can experience it and I don’t think we should be comparing it to anything else.

Anita: Yeah, it’s like live it as it should be.

Annmarie:  Yeah. Although it’s so hard with COVID right now.

Chanel: It’s so difficult.

Annmarie: I feel like my years are being thrown away. Just take em take em.

Anita: That’s the thing that I was so blunder about one way to quarantine is like we’re all finally 21 we all like are making some kind of money so we can actually have like a decent night out and not just like drink it fits that I love Drinking if I loved you foods that I’m like, now we can have like elegant nights at a rooftop kind of bar, you know? But now that’s not an option because you can’t go out and do the same thing as easily as you would have pre COVID. So that was one we had the most about quarantines just like not being able to enjoy doing thing, I don’t want to see what I’m going to say cuz that’s, I don’t want to go on record saying Zeke we actually cut that out, cut out my last just what I my last three sentences.

Zeke: If I remember.

Annmarie:  He’s going to release the podcast straight like this.

Anita:  But I’m like, this sucks. Like literally it just sucks. It sucks so bad. Hopefully the vaccine will wipe it out. Or it wipe us all out.

Annmarie:  Well, a vaccine won’t completely solve the problem. It’ll just make people feel better about it. Because the vaccine is not like, okay, you don’t get a vaccine and then you’re immune from COVID, isn’t it?

Anita:  No, isn’t that true?  Was it the the flu?

Zeke: The flu is different strand, so they get the most common strand? So it may help you want to say how strange he says, See, because you may have we can share a b but it’s not 100%.

Anita: Interesting,

Annmarie:  People think we think all vaccines gonna come out and then everything’s gonna be better. And then we’re just going to reopen everything. That’s not the way it works.

Chanel:  There’s no one’s shaved off situation. I mean, but is it not? Like, that’s what happened with the influencer? So why not? Not that that’s like, I’m sorry, go ahead. I’m gonna like not everyone’s gonna be better, or it’s going to be 100 some better, but it’s going to be better. Like, that’s the idea. Like, we wouldn’t have to be trapped in our house is in quarantine for it?

Anita:  For the state of mind. Right? It makes you at ease. Right? Okay, this something is like, I don’t wanna say a false sense of security, but is a system of guarantee that. Okay, cool. There’s a way to prevent it early.

Annmarie:  Exactly. Because so many people still die from the flu every year.

Chanel:  So many people, it’s, but not as many as the people who would wouldn’t die because they didn’t have the vaccine.

Annmarie:  Exactly. But it’s not like people. People seem to think they’re going to get the vaccine, right. And then they cann’t die from COVID.

Anita:  Oh, no, I know that that part of it’s not true. Like, definitely, if you get the vaccine, it’s not guaranteed that you won’t get a brand mean, in terms of being able to be in environments with other people. I think that’s people’s biggest hope is like, once you have the vaccine, it’s less risky for us to like, go out to brunch and all, you know, be sitting closer to each other, as opposed to now when we don’t have anything at all. And it’s like, you just have to have a strong enough immune system to either not get it or to be able to fight it off. And that’s, that’s like my hope. But the thing is, like, I don’t want life to go completely back to normal, because I don’t think like going clubbing and stuff is going to feel safe to me until it’s like been maybe another year or so. But just like being able to hang with my friends and not be like, so scared that somebody has it or like to take off my mask and stuff. That’s a phase where I want I’m hoping it’ll be by next year.

Chanel:  I was watching. But now go. You know, no, it didn’t it does not matter. It doesn’t matter. It does matter. Not anything. I’m just going to say like getting the getting the vaccine isn’t the same thing as getting a cure for it, like getting a vaccine is to build immunity for it from like, whatever the standard is. So not that. Like, like, if it’s just about false security, then us doing this in the first place wouldn’t make sense like, and then, like us leaving the house after the vaccine comes out what it makes sense. So I don’t know, does nothing Make sense?

Annmarie:  I think that both of you have good points. But I also think when I think about the vaccine, I think about how other people will interpret it. So once the vaccine is created, people are just most people will just assume that it’s like okay, well, life can go back to normal now, right? Like it’s this false sense of security that now there’s a vaccine, so things will be 100% better. That’s not the way it works, but they’re still going to have to like, test the vaccine develop the vaccine, like especially as more strands come across, like they don’t know what the most common covid strand is yet. So it’s like a process and a work in progress. And I think a lot of people don’t quite understand that. I’m not particularly saying YouTube but I think overall, it’ll just be like this false sense of security for the overall public but the media won’t report on it as much which is also like a huge problem in terms of like spreading fear. And then just also I think just there’s there hasn’t been much talk about progress or people’s mental health I think that’s another huge problem coming out of this. It’s kind of like how are people that are suffering from like depression anxiety going to react like life returning and like people thinking like can return like hundred percent to normal Are people going to react to being in big crowds to having to go do all these things they thought they couldn’t do for almost a year. It’s also a huge issue.

Chanel:  Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to move on from this. But I just I’m just really confused why like, this is seems like a new thing when it’s happened in the past before, like, we’ve known what’s happened in the past. And I just don’t understand why we just don’t do better I

Anita:  Have ever had to deal with,

Chanel:  Like, literally the Spanish influenza like,

Annmarie:  I think most of us live for the Spanish influences. That’s why people are kind of confused. So I think it’s like one of the biggest pandemics to hit our generation. And then also, I’m not sure if this is how the Spanish influenza was, but I was talking to a couple of my friends that are nurses. And they said, the scariest thing about COVID is that usually when you get a disease, when you recover from it, you have antibodies, and the antibodies are supposed to stay in your system for a long time. With COVID they wash out within like a month, Max. So that’s one of the things that was scaring people was like they can’t treat it because the antibodies are going away. Yes. And if you’re not building up an immunity to COVID but also to anybody watching this, we’re not scientist or nurse. I hope what I’m saying is accurate. Like I’ve I’ve read like factual sources and stuff. And I have like some, but

Anita:  Anything that we say we all this is all,

All  (inaudible)

Chanel:  And Miss audited a Google MD Ms. MMD, where you like, if you like have like a Blue Tongue and you Google it and one site comes out. Yeah, Web MD for your Web MD.

Anita:  I’m gonna be dead tomorrow.

Zeke:  Anytime.

Annmarie: Disclaimer, please do not sue us.

Chanel: Yeah, do not drink bleach, like you don’t need any of those things.

Anita: Like, slightly change it. So it’s not so sad. What is everybody’s things they’re most excited to do once, like, goes back to

Annmarie:  Nothing,

Chanel:  Nothing. And the fact that there’s a court order for me to stay in my bed and not do anything. I know you’ve been living your best life in this quarantine. So, um, I know that people have lost a lot. And I’m sorry, but I get to stay in my bed. So I guess seeing coming back home. I’ll miss come back. Oh, my God. Yes, I will.

Annmarie:  I’m definitely most excited to travel. I think that for me, it’s been really difficult during quarantine, because I’ve felt like I can’t do the things that make me me. I can’t travel, I can’t go out. I can’t experience new things in person. So for me, I’m not I don’t want to sit in bed all day. Like it’s just it’s not good for my mental health. And so I’m just excited to be able to go where I want freely and not be afraid, or like get anxious in large crowds around the other people. My goal is like, so hopefully I’ll apply for law school, this the end of this year. And then all of like 2021. Or at least like the first half before I start law school, I’ll just like travel, just go from country to country, and explore. make up for lost time. Although I do want to say one thing, even though like I’ve been trying to make the most of time. So it doesn’t feel like last time because you can never get time back. Right. So I think the one thing I’ve been really appreciative of is since I’m at home with my family, I think I’ve spent more time than ever with my family. And I think for a while not that we were disconnected, but we didn’t have as much time for each other because life is just so busy. And so I think it’s been nice to kind of reconnect and be able to spend time with my family because I know that as we get older, we’re only gonna have less and less time for them. Right? Like it’s we like, don’t get married, get move out, do whatever. We won’t be in such close quarters again. So I think it was nice to be able to reconnect with that aspect of my life in my mid 20s. Early 20s?

Anita:  I would say,

Chanel:  Early 20s 25 26.

Anita:  Yeah, yeah, you can have It’s okay.

Annmarie:  No, I don’t want to remember 20s thinking back to the early years.

All  (inaudible)

Anita:  You’re gonna see something Annmarie?

Annmarie:  No, I just thought almost 23.

Anita:  Oh no I was gonna say when I think it was Chanel or Zeke talking before about being like in your teens I feel like it’s weird but I’m so sorry I keep having like a horrible brain fart just forget it somebody else go I was my mind blank.

Annmarie:  No you always do this you have to finish your thought

Anita: I can’t

Annmarie:  You have valid things to say and you need to express them with us

Chanel: Okay we’ll come back and Zeke what are you looking forward to after Covid?

Zeke:  Just making money (inaudible) to see the squad to see friends. To hangout with them more often and also making money.

Chanel:  Yeah,

Anita:  Shit go get that bag.

Chanel:  Yep what is making money for you I want to know what are you doing to make money Zeke? I want to make money with you.

Zeke:  Scams doing credit card scams.

Chanel:  Don’t go on the record saying that.

Anita:  I do no know this man I do not know this man.

Annmarie:  I mean if you are like looking to scam I think like COVID is the right place.

Anita:  Okay that’s (inaudible) my friend about it and like people who scam.

Annmarie:  Do not scam anybody especially the elderly do not scam anybody because of COVID

Chanel:  Do not mess with the elderly please do not. You will go to Hell you will burn.

Annmarie: Also they’re just some of them are nice like just let them be you know I don’t want to get scammed when I’m old. Let me live my life.

Anita: But like I don’t think people who scam realize how big of a risk it is.

Annmarie: No they do that’s why they scam.

Anita: No, I think people scam because it’s like, it’s easy money. Like you can just have whatever you want like that.

Annmarie: You definitely realize the risks associated with it. That’s why it’s so bad. Especially for like credit.

Anita: I don’t think the majority of them realize how bad the risk of it is. Because of how how many risks they take while they’re doing it. Like some people will scam numerous people. And by numerous I mean like 10 plus one. Because and because people do it so often. And so many people do it. It feels like a normal thing. They’ll never get caught but if you get caught scamming is, Chanel just like disapproving.

Chanel: I’ve before I’ve been scammed, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It was, um, it was so I used to do like, I’m backward back. Like, the been the background of movies and stuff.

Anita: Extra?

Chanel: Yeah, I used to be extra. And this little like a website you would sign up to to do this work. And on this website, they would also have people like, I’m telling you like, oh, like I’m a part of this agency or part of that agency, and I’m gonna send you some money and then cast a check. Yeah, I was done. I was stupid. I did it. Oh, that’s big. I know. I’m not in the bank called me like Chanel. Um, yes, please. And then the counselor involved and other people got involved. And I was like, Yeah, well, I got got, I got got,

Annmarie: When did this happen? Please tell me it was in high school.

Chanel: Yeah this was in high school.

Anita: Thank God, if this was college now I would be like,

Annmarie: A week ago, I got this email.

Chanel: It’s funny, because I was checking my emails. And somebody else emailed me to, like, very similar situation. I was like, Nope, I know what this is.

Anita: No, thank you.

Chanel: I know better.

Annmarie: It’s like the most common scam. Like, in the early 2000s. It was a really big thing

Anita: Chanel got got.  There this company. Um, you guys probably heard of them. They like sell knives.

Chanel: Yes I got got. Huh yes.

Anita: That’s right right? And they said,

Chanel: I had a friend

Anita: Almost got me, like, send you a letter saying because we know that you you’re, you turned 16 and you’re the legal age to work. So they send you a letter your house and they’re like, Oh, are you looking to make extra money? And then they like to cutlery cutlery, right? That’s it and they’re like, oh, apply to this and come to the training. And I think they asked you for your credit card information as well. So then they give you a bunch of like knives and forks to sell and you go door to door selling them. I almost, because I was so broke. I was like I might do and then I apply for an everyday and my mom was like, what are you doing?

Annmarie: You give them your credit card?

Anita: No, I didn’t give them for the training. And I think after the training, you give them your credit card information. And my mom was like, do not go to that.

Annmarie: I would have been considered the training they were going to kidnap you.

Chanel: Too much, that too much work that too much work we don’t have the resources for this.

Anita: The thing is the letter and like think about being 16 really broke and like wanting to make money. The letter is so convincing. They’re so welcoming the way they write it. And the thing is other people that I knew were also getting letters. I was like, Oh, so this is like a collective like, useful thing that people are doing. No. Like how would I sell knives door to door.

Annmarie: Yeah, who did you know that was gonna buy cutlery from you?

Anita: My neighbors?

Annmarie: You’re gonna walk around selling them knives?

Anita: Yeah. Yes. Zeke did you get this letter in the mail?

Zeke: Nah never heard this.

Chanel: Yah same.

Anita: You guys are the fucking worse. What boroughs do you guys live in?

Zeke: Brooklyn.

Anita: They must have missed your house Zeke.

Chanel: No, I never got this letter. But my friend he got the knife set and everything. And he was selling the knives. And he definitely upped his his sales people skills during this and my mom was considering buying a knife from him. It was a nice knife.

Anita: It was legitimately (inaudible)?

Chanel: I don’t know cuz things he ended up quitting later and (inaudible).

Anita: Girl you’re gonna see the whole sentence again.Oh,

Chanel: It probably was a scam. But he did get some knives out of it.

Anita: We missed your whole,

Chanel: Line. They say it’s my internet.

Anita: Yeah.

Chanel: Okay. I’ll give the short version. I had a friend who had the knive and the knives were,  nice, but I’m pretty sure it was a scam. So

Anita: Yeah, I feel like, I get that. I’m like, Yeah, we got it. Did they have to be like a part of it? that’s legit, because then nobody would do it. So obviously, they’re able to send that many letters. And they’re people that are like falling for it. And like being successful, I guess.

Annmarie: Just because you can still make money from it doesn’t mean it’s not a scam.

Anita: What?

Annmarie: Do they is it just because you make money doesn’t mean it’s not a scam?

Anita: No, I think that’s the reason they are still able to do it, like still in businesses, they’re people who are still, you know, giving into it.

Annmarie: Yeah, of course. Well, it’s a scam.

Zeke: Yeah

Chanel: I don’t know,

Anita: A tasty scam.

Annmarie: Yeah, that’s just like reminds me how in quarantine. I don’t know if you guys have seen this, but there are a ton of people on Instagram that were like joining pyramid schemes. That was like the number one trend. I think there was one. It was like haircare and beauty. It was called Monet or something like that. And everybody in Staten Island was like getting in on this. Not realising that it’s literally a scam. It’s a pyramid scheme. Like we’re all selling these like products and they’re all becoming like influencers on Instagram, selling Monet products.

Chanel: We can even have people reached out to me about like being an influencer on Instagram during quarantine. I was like, this is a lie. I don’t have enough followers. Don’t want me this is I listen. And then you click on their things like the person who sent it to send it to you is the person who actually like whose company it is. So I was like,

Anita: Wait,

Chanel: My dream.

Anita: Oh my god. Yeah that so true. Now that you say that, you know, and like you experienced something, but you think you’re the only one that experiences so then you somebody else says and you’re like, Oh, this didn’t just happen to me. What you explained is exactly what that for me right now. Because there’s this girl who’s like, dming me, and it seems so legit. I I won’t even lie. I gave it to her. I was like, Oh, yeah, I was like talking to everything. And that’s exactly what she was doing to me.

Annmarie: What do you mean? Can you explain in more detail?

Anita: She was like she was this girl like trying to promote a business. As if I guess she worked there the name they should ask for them. And so she was like, kind of get me to I don’t know what exactly what she called it but trying to get me to be a part of like, helping sponsor them or something. I don’t know, whatever. And it seems so legitimate. Like she had full Instagram account. She had like a good following. She didn’t seem scammy at all. And the companies you’re talking about was legit as well. So I thought like this is real. But now that you want to follow us for somebody to be dming me like this, too. Yeah. It’s like it’s so random. And she didn’t I don’t know. Because you saying that clarified for me.

Annmarie: It depends, the company. You can always check it on the Better Business Bureau. If you Google it or business bureau, I forget what it is. The thing is BB. you Google it and you put the company name and it’ll tell you like if the people have like recorded it. And if it’s a scam if it’s actually like something you’re interested in. But a lot of the things are sketchy also, like if it looks like they have a good following you have to look at their engagement. So you can buy Instagram followers, you can also buy likes, but if all the posts like for instance, if you see an account and they have like 40,000 followers But they’re only getting like 50 likes on each photo or less. That’s not legit. It’s totally a scam. They probably just like bought followers.

Anita: No, I’m looking right so I can show you guys, but she like had comments of like people that were definitely her friends and like legit people come and I’m gonna send this to all of you Zeke you can check it out too.

Annmarie: It might be legit. Was she asking you for money though.

Anita: No, she said Hi, I just wanted to follow up with you to see if you’re interested. Oh, she DM me a while ago I deleted because I was like she’s just wasting my time. Or, what does she want? She was trying to get me to. I don’t even remember.

Zeke: Law right here just like client give me more information I need more.

Anita: I don’t want to expose her though. Should I just do it?

Annmarie: No, don’t.

Chanel: Okay don’t expose.

Anita: Okay, I’ll show you. I don’t know how to do without showing you too much.

Annmarie: Not just read us the message. Don’t tell her attorney.

Anita: Oh, no, no, I deleted on thread. But then she messaged me again after she was like, Hi, I just wanted to follow up with you to see if you’re interested.

Annmarie: Interested in what Anita?

Anita: The, it was like it was Instagram account for people who I don’t know what it was, I completely forgot. Oh, she tagged it in here. International Loops. Oh, God, this looks so fake. But then she has another thing in her bio that doesn’t,

Chanel: Loop?

Anita: It does look fake, they both look fake.

Annmarie: It’s probably a pyramid scheme. So the way that pyramid schemes work is that they attract people I met on the main feature, but they’re attracting people who seem legit because they are legit. And they just keep making more and more like legit people fall for the brand, or for whatever the company is saying. But even sometimes their pyramid schemes with the products might be solid, but like the goal is to keep looping more and more people in so usually you have to pay a certain fee to get like some sort of product or something to be introduced into the program. And that fee is like non recoupable and then you end up having a sales component where you have to sell stuff to other people.

Chanel: What she’s doing right.

Anita: I remember freshman year someone someone tired to get me into a payment scheme which was sales. Like this is a pyramid scheme. I seen my friend also. Ah, yeah, me that person I don’t trust you anymore.

Chanel: Okay, okay. Yeah, maybe I may be wrong. I may be wrong, okay? So this person, according to Annmarie’s, I don’t know, bullet points. They have about like 36,000 followers, and their engagement is pretty high. They get about like, a good 300 likes per photo. But why would they be interested in me like that’s the problem?

Annmarie: Well, okay, so first, what are they asking you for?

Chanel: My address.

Zeke: That’s too much.

Anita: Your home address?

Annmarie: But did they tell you they want to send you something and then ask for your address?

Chanel: Yeah.

Annmarie: What they said they want to send you?

Chanel: Peach slices.

Annmarie: The fruit?

Chanel: Has to be some like skincare thing.

Annmarie: What’s the company?

Chanel: Peach Slices.

Anita: No, don’t do it. Even if it’s legit don’t do it. This is some.

Chanel: It’s too late. It’s too late. This was sent to me in May.

Annmarie: Usually, the only asking you to pay something then it’s not real. Like if you’re an influencer, they’ll send you products for free. Like that’s usually the way it works with like brands that are legit, they’ll send me something. But like I wouldn’t pay for it or anything if they just asked for like promotion or the like pay for the sponsor post. But if they’re not asking you for money, it could potentially be legit. I’m not really sure I’d have to look at the brand. But I feel like there’s so many scams that came out of quarantine there were like three that I kept getting. So it was like the influencer scam. Then there was like a, like the sugar daddy scam. I kept getting so many messages about that. And then the third one was like just like religious people telling me like, oh, like if you’re looking for Jesus like blah, blah blah like here. Like here’s like our support group.

Chanel: Like, come find me.

Anita: I didn’t get any religious spam, which I’m kind of offended by.

Annmarie: They realize you’re too far gone.

Anita: Not her. But now that we’re coming down,

Chanel: I got into one, Oh, go ahead.

Anita: I’m gonna change the subject. So it’s up to you. I was gonna ask. Yeah.

Chanel: No, go ahead.

Anita: I was just saying because I didn’t want I want you to finish getting your thought out.

Chanel: Oh, no. Oh, did I say I got into one religious scam, I guess and my pastor was then he got upset with me. I was it. He realized I didn’t read my Bible enough.

Annmarie: Your pastor was in on the scan.

Chanel: No, he was just standing next to me while I was being scammed. You Yeah, maybe. Okay, maybe could take us (inaudible).

Anita: No, I want to know Zeke have you ever been scammed?

Zeke: As almost always almost. One time I was working at um my internship. Guy emailed I need your help or something. Say I meet to many people at the internship I didn’t know it was a real person that that was also sick. I wasn’t really paying attention. Then I got my phone number knows I think I was supposed to get someone’s word for like Google Play calls. Which which are all on staff account? Then I was like what, oh this is a scam.

Anita: Yeah, it was like when you put in like, two ounces of effort and then you can sniff it out. Like Damn, maybe it’s a good thing that none of well hopefully none of us are gonna get to you know famous because we will get robbed so bad.

Zeke: I mean, I was also sick and tired that day.

Chanel: I be healthy and still getting scammed. Damn, but what was the question it always gonna change it to?

Anita: Um I going to ask. Um, like aside from getting potentially scammed how else have you guys been spending your quarantine because I’m just thinking about it. Like I just realized it was Sunday and I used to have such a good routine on Sundays. But now all my days just kind of like breeze past ways. I’m trying to like, figure out what other people are doing to keep their weekends exciting and stuff.

Zeke: Just beat Spider-Man  Miles Morales that was my game.

Anita: Sorry say that again.

Zeke: Just finished spider man. Miles Morales.

Anita: (inaudible)

Zeke: It’s on the PS4. PlayStation exclusive, it’s also on the PS5 but I didn;t get one yeat because I didn’t have the money so I have a PS4. Ah open open third world Spiderman game. Spiderman PS4 from 2018.

Anita: You.  Now that you bring up I have a question. Do you do you recommend the PlayStation or the Xbox? Because I really am interested in getting one or the other.

Zeke: I haven’t looked more into the PS5 I don’t think, I’ve been had Playstation so my account or like most people will say PS5 because they have more games. Yeah,

Anita: But in terms of like being able to play it Which one is easier because I know the basics of playing video games but I’m still like a very much an amateur.

Zeke: It depends on the game. Because the controllers are similar, I’m used to a Playstation controller with a joysticks at the same spot unlike Xbox with in at the top D pad at the bottom. The same as like the same it’s the same concept. It also has a game that you want to play.

Anita: It was wanted to be a gamer. It just seems like such a cool vibe but you could just sit in your basement or wherever you’re sitting and just be in a different world and be really good at it like that. Just seems awesome.

Chanel: Can’t you just do that right now? No, because that’s real life I have to do I mean like

Anita: I wouldn’t be able to just like sit at you and be like amazing at a game

Annmarie: You can also make so much money somebody made a ton of money like on Twitch

Anita: What the hell is Twitch because Sam was talking about it yesterday and I was like yeah, I know that what that is what is twitch?

Zeke: Streaming so the second thing is number one market shares own by Amazon so pretty much people play video games and let people watch them in times competitions are hosted on Twitch but they are protected by more than games now people do music um do drawings and stuff like that TPain’s on there Logic on there.

Anita: People get paid to like have people watch them play video games?

Zeke: Yeah, usually like do donations or processes accomplish respond to you. But hey, play our game. Because it’s our money or lightning or commercials like as doing their thing and people could subscribe to the channel. Yeah.

Annmarie: You also have to be good at it. Everyone who’s watched like post the videos themselves like it’s gonna get like a million dollars like

Anita: Thinking about just joining and being

Zeke: It depends Like we watched like, I people watch like the person good and it was see how why they get better themselves. Or if the person has a good personality and in a very entertaining then you want to be part of the entertaining part of it.

Anita: So make sure like I get a mega twitch account. And then like Sam pretty good at this game where no Sam like okay at the game, but I have like a great personality. I’m like cracking jokes, whatever I can get paid for doing that. Yeah. This it’s too easy to

Chanel: Become a personality.

Anita: It’s too easy to make money in this world, guys. Why don’t we have a Twitch? We can be like an interracial global Twitch account,

Annmarie: You realize like, this is the same thing we said about the podcast, and we made like 3 whole dollars from it.

Chanel: When am I getting? When am I getting my money though? It was really good. What am I

Anita: On to this, we’re making money out here, you can make a whole few dollars.

Annmarie: Anita’s one of those people who’s like, I’ve gotten the next million dollar idea. And then she’ll start doing it. And she’s like, ah didn’t happen fast enough. And that’s like, next thing,

Anita: Literally, I think that runs in my blood. Because my brother’s the same way. Like you’ll start so many different things. And then he’ll just be like, over this next thing.

Zeke: It’s also like,

Chanel: This podcast, I’m sorry.

Anita: Go ahead Zeke.

Zeke: You just have to keep working find your angle. Because there’s so many channels. Also, you have people playing a game that are popular at the moment for all of them. And they will quite often get again, either kind of window quiet focus. Not try focus on just complaining. But again, you’ve…

Chanel: Got to find a balance.

Anita: It’s kind of confusing looking. I went on the website. It’s like, the layout doesn’t make sense to me.

Annmarie: We’re in the middle of a podcast.

Anita: I know. But it’s Yeah, look on my own time, sorry.

Zeke: To change all the channels. Thought he would be talking to your friends What’s going on? Or they are talking to the chat.

Anita: There’s me that’s what I appreciate about the world that is everything for everybody. You know, there’s something so there’s something like somebody probably adores this application and uses it religiously. I personally don’t think I ever would. But company really, really appreciates it. I think a lot of people really appreciate it.

Chanel: Be making money,

Anita: That’s the great thing about the world.

Annmarie: That money exists.

Anita: No, there’s something for everybody.

Chanel: I mean, I wish I was a gamer too. But for some reason, I always had this feeling that I had to choose to be like that person who was into games and into like robotics and like stuff like that the things that were like nerdy, or I had to be someone who was like, I had to be cool. Like I couldn’t I couldn’t do both. And I feel like nowadays, like that those ideas are completely like, like intertwine. Like I know being cool. And being a nerd. I think that’s something we talked about before like having to feel like you have to choose one or the other. Yeah, I think like nowadays like that’s where it is like people who are gamers and into like robotics and stuff like that. Look that is cool now and all the people who thought they were cool before, like, Where are you now? Like so? I don’t know. I like how we’re we’re shifting perspectives and changing the boxes we create for each other. Hmm

Anita: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s like now being smart and stuff is like the in thing as opposed to like when we were younger or even just like the way movies portray it as you guys watched i think it’s it’s a super bad or is it kind of jumps here something it’s one of those movies where like the nerdy kids are getting picked on and like the cool kids you know, recruit them and make them cool, but now it’s like being smart is like hasn’t should have always been the shit like why I was never the thing. And I feel like video games like yours like all those like your nerdy candy kids but video games are frickin awesome.

Annmarie: Should ESports be considered real sports?

Anita: Should what?

Chanel: No.

Annmarie: ESports are they real sports?

All (inaudible)

Anita: No, but either they should be respected. Because you can gain like skills like what you learn from playing an esport, you can transfer into, like a real game that you’re playing, if that makes sense, as a defense to know how to move around the court who playing basketball or something, I feel like they can help people that way. And I’m pretty sure athletes play video games and like, learn stuff from playing in that way. But I don’t think that should be the only thing that you’re doing to be active because that’s not a good option.

Annmarie: And if it’s like virtual reality, that’s as hard you got to be like jumping all over the place running around.

Anita: VR is so weird, I don’t think I’d ever want to try it.

Annmarie: It can actually have really bad effects for women who are menstruating,

Anita: Really menstruating reality?

Annmarie: On your period. And you use VR. You can get like really dizzy like extra dizzy, or like extra nauseous. It’s like like they’re like, somewhat

Anita: Zeke is like what? Look at Zeke’s face, he’s like what? That’s really interesting.

Annmarie: Yeah, I’m not sure if like newer updates event has changed. But I remember when I interned at Google, that was the thing. We were doing VR, they’re like, oh, like, if you’re like women, like if you’re if you’re on your period or anything, just be wary. Like, you might be a little extra sick or nauseous afterwards.

Chanel: Damn.

Annmarie: Yeah,

Chanel: It’s not on the box?

Annmarie: I don’t know I don’t have one.

Anita: Then (inaudible) ladies do not play right underneath the pregnant…

Annmarie: No you’re gonna get you’re gonna die. It’s just something to be aware of. Like, you might get dizzy or faster.

Anita: Yeah. Okay, now that you bring that up, do you think there I feel like my head is gonna blow with things that I want to discuss. So tell me when to stop, guys.

Annmarie: This is why we cann’t have random discussion, because this is what happens. We keep we take over Zeke’s podcasts. And we just talk for hours.

Anita: You can cut us off at any point like even if you want me not to ask this question, feel free. And I will stop. No, but I want you to ask the question. Now. Zeke can I ask the question now?

Zeke: Go ahead.

Anita: It’s like I didn;t give him a choice. He almost had to say yes. No, seriously, I want to ask the question.

Annmarie: What why not?

Anita: Cuz it’s another off topic statement.

Chanel: This whole thing is off topic. They just go topic.

Annmarie: Off topic.

Anita: Do you think that we’re experiencing an information overload?

Annmarie: Yes. Like,

Chanel: Yeah.

Anita: Like, I feel like that’s such an important thing to know. But at the same time, I feel like I know so many different things that like, I’m constantly questioning if I’m living my life in the right way. But all the time. What a year from now, this is wrong. What am I kind of I shouldn’t be walking, you know, up the stairs. I shouldn’t be walking backwards or something. I don’t know. You just that’s super random. But like I said, there’s so many things that are constantly like, don’t do this, you should do this. Don’t do this. And like,

Annmarie: I think, yeah, it’s fine. So we actually did on Room 3228 an episode with like a budding journalists about fake news. We didn’t get to discuss with me I was always thinking about is the fact that we have so many different news sources. And obviously, we’re democratic and the United States. So we can’t like censor information. A lot of the sources are super biased or sometimes just inaccurate. So how do we kind of limit the amount of sources or information that we’re spreading out there? If it’s not accurate, I think is really important. Obviously, I don’t know what we can do in a democratic nation to do this. We’re not communists, we can’t just control and have one new source. I think the biggest problem right now is information inundation. So nobody really knows what’s accurate, and what isn’t. And I think people are starting to not even believe facts anymore. And I think that was a really big thing with our last election are actually the election where President Trump was elected. Was the back like, people just weren’t, but like, he was saying things that were wrong, but people just didn’t believe that they were wrong, even though it was proven that they were wrong. So it’s like, where do you even go for information? That’s correct. And you can’t even trust, like the leader of your country, and I think it’s definitely something that’s really crazy. To me, it’s like, some one day like, something will be accurate The next day, it’s not accurate. And then it’s just like, okay, like, I just don’t know what to do anymore. Like, how do I, how I live my life based on this information was constantly changing. Yeah, it can be so overwhelming, I definitely get that 100% like, sometimes I’ll just be looking at social media or something. I just need to take a break. Because I like I don’t even know, what am I supposed to believe? I don’t know what’s accurate, what’s not? Yeah, I will try to base things on, like personal experience, which isn’t possible in COVID. Because we’re gonna be like, social distancing, and not really going out much. So now, it’s like, all you have is the internet. All you have is what you’re seeing online, what you’re reading what the news is telling you. And so it’s very problematic at times. Yeah.

Anita: I think also because it’s so easy to share the information that you have access to with other people. So like we all follow each other on Instagram. So if I see a news article about something, and I believe it’s true, like I think that it’s credible, I’ll share and then now you guys will share that same piece of information. But like an hour from now, we can all find out that it’s not true, but because you’ve already shared it with like a huge group of people. It’s like now all this false information is existing in everybody’s minds and like across a broad community people. Yeah. People don’t like to be wrong. So if I do find out that it’s false, I’m like, Well, you know, doesn’t matter and like, Whatever. I’m not going to say that I was incorrect about this. Yeah.

Annmarie: I think there was also this whole situation was happening. In the summer. I actually just heard about this. I wasn’t privy to it before. I just wasn’t aware. My boyfriend Nebeal was calling me Have you heard about the Save the Children? thing on Instagram? Do you guys hear Zeke? You know, right? Yeah. So basically, there was this hashtag for this group. I think it’s a no, that’s how you pronounce it or not on or something like that. It’s like an anonymous group. And basically, they were going out and like spreading misinformation about things and they hijack like the Save the Children hashtag like combat like child trafficking. And it was around the same time that like Black Lives Matter was like gaining more and more traction. So a lot of like people who oppose Black Lives Matter. We’re like jumping on this other trend, about like having to like save children from like child trafficking, even though like all these like credible human rights organizations are saying that like the wait like child trafficking is more of like an institutionalized issue. It’s not necessarily like people aren’t just going out and like picking up a child from like someone’s house. And that’s what these people seem to think what’s happening. So like, the hashtag on Instagram was getting like hijacked and flooded with all these like, like Canva made cool looking Instagram posts, that influencer who left picking up on the trend even though it wasn’t accurate. So then recently, Instagram actually blocked the hashtag like they they made it so that you can see that it’s like the information is inaccurate but people still believe that this thing is is accurate even though his base it was created by like this agency or this diamond organization organization like an anonymous like chat board or something like that. So crazy. Like that’s crazy.

Anita: That’s insane.

Annmarie: Hundreds of thousands if not millions, people who believe that this thing is accurate when it’s not. Like I don’t want to touch on,

Chanel: Wait that’s just so crazy to me. No, that is not confused cuz I do remember there have been a whole situation with like wayfair and with the older track cabinets,

Anita: Yeah, they were like naming it after children that they were tracking trafficking.

Chanel: So is that the same? Is that the same?

Anita: Like a completely different thing. It might be connected, but I doubt it.

Annmarie: Again, I have to send you guys a video about it later, I was watching it. It was so crazy. To me. I was just like, quiet. And especially because I think the people that I tend to follow or not are tend to be like more liberal, so they weren’t necessarily following this hashtag. But then I started noticing like a couple of friends from Staten Island were posting about it and like once appeal showed me and I like started checking out the hashtag and I was like holy shit like this is why the internet can be such a crazy place. Like back in the day the internet used to be way more regulated was just like the initial like onslaught of the World Wide Web. So I’m really interested to see like what the next stage of the internet is going to be because right now we have too much information but we can’t censor information either right because of speech. So what is the attack going to look like moving forward especially in terms of social media usage? Like you guys have seen on Twitter now like, when information is inaccurate it says like this information is disputed. I don’t know if you saw like everything Trump was like tweeting after I this is not a political thing. But like every like a lot of stuff he was tweeting like after Biden was projected to win initially was he kept like retweeting stuff and Twitter kept like marking it is like inaccurate so he’s literally have a tweet that was like retweeted. This tweet is disputed due to like misinformation. And now Instagram is doing similar things.

Anita: Well, yeah, Instagram like asks you, Oh, do you want to reposted, you know, this information might be incorrect. And that, but the thing is like, they don’t stop you from posting, you can still go ahead and do it. But they just like have that warning where like this could potentially be inaccurate. So that never asked to decide, like, how much trust?

Chanel: Yeah, yeah. Because then it gets me into the idea of like, can I even cut Instagram? Like, because going back to the wayfarer thing? They were saying that information was inaccurate. So like, is it or could also Instagram they can be paid by big companies that don’t want certain information out there, too. So who’s like, that’s the thing? Like who’s to say what to believe in? Yeah, I think. And I would say that it’s inaccurate, but saying like, it might not be true. Like,

Annmarie: I think it’s not necessarily Instagrams fault. We actually, so when we were back in Isaac, we have like this informational panel with the economist a couple of years ago. And the whole controversy was like as a business should organizations or social media platforms like Facebook? Should they be asked like limit or like, make sure that information being spread is accurate? Because remember, there was also a lot of misinformation about like, just like, like labor abroad and things like that. And like people were basically putting all these fake posts up on Facebook, it was a huge problem for the elections. There’s just so many problems with it. And so a lot of people were saying from the business perspective, no, they shouldn’t be forced to like limit the spread of information are like checked out and identify when people are spreading misinformation. So I think, I mean, I don’t necessarily agree with that. That was a big thing that we’re talking about. But I think that the biggest problem on social media platforms is it’s kind of your your tunnel vision. So it’s who you’re following and what they’re posting. So if all you’re following is the same type of people, and you just see the same information over and over again, you’re going to believe that it’s accurate, even if it’s not, and like, how can an agency whose main purpose is profit, and we always knew, like the main purpose of like social media platforms that are free for you to use, obviously, the business is trying to profit, right? So they’re trying to create a platform where you can share information, but should they then go in and like take down fake fake information, like they’re not even gonna even with like bots and algorithms are not gonna able to track everything right? And remove everything. So how do we know what’s accurate? Like, how do we, how do we tell business how to determine what’s accurate and how to change this information?

Anita: I know it’s crazy. messy. It’s so messy.

Annmarie: Also, I just want to like go back and clarify. So the save our children thing I was talking about the original agency was queuing on that’s what it’s called. Oh my god. Yes.

Anita: It was a whole discussion in my, my job about QAnon it was crazy.

Annmarie: Really?

Anita: Were you talking about (inaudible) was not like in support of it at all?

Annmarie: We were just I don’t know. I’m just saying I’m surprised you met your job mentioned it. Oh, man,

Anita: I think Yeah, my job talks politics like crazy, which I don’t know. It’s always I think it’s very clear that a lot of people are like supporters like democratic. Yeah, we were like talking about like the election, all that stuff. And somebody brought up QAnon we were all like that shit is crazy literally,

Annmarie: The fact that it’s so easy for something like that to happen. This is not the first time this issue listening like this has happened. And just like we’re and the thing that’s also crazy to me is like, not a lot of people know about it right now. This is the only time like probably in our lives, where we’ll have like so much free time to ourselves, and like time to like peruse the internet, learn this stuff. So we go back to our busy lives, like how many more instances of this are going to be happening that we won’t be aware of? Yeah,

Anita: I think the first like experience I had with like fake news was with the I don’t remember it was so long ago with the guy Kony. I forget his was first name, where they were talking about like, he was a real person and like what he was doing was legit, but the company that was like working to end the genocide that he was causing in what country was and again, I forgot,

Annmarie: I forgot, but I know what you’re talking about.

Anita: That company was like not legitimate on people like sending mass donations to them and everything like that. And I think I even sent something because I was like, This is insane issue. And I wanted to contribute to it. But then, like, I think a few months after, we will find that it was all just like a huge scam. And like none of the money was going to the children, none of the money was going to like help the situation at all. And that was like my first taste of fake news. And that was years ago before the internet, where was where it is now. So I can only imagine like, what’s going on that we don’t even know about at all what’s going to happen years from now, because I was talking to my parents as well. And they were telling me how when they growing up, they only had one news channel. And they lived in Zimbabwe as well. So I don’t know if that’s something that contributed to it. But they only had one news channel, nine o’clock, that channel will turn off completely. And that was at the end of the news for people. And so people all had the same source of information. But now we all have like 20 different news channels and 20 different sources of media that we can get information from so I can only met like you’re saying and we can only imagine like what it’s going to become even a year from now.

Annmarie: Yeah, so my personal opinion, although I like I’m not an expert or anything, I think we need more than one news source, right? Because if you have one new source, it’s obviously going to be biased, like it’s almost impossible to remove bias from the information you’re sharing. I think there needs to be like a handful of new sources that are not not like completely monitored by the government, maybe like a private agency or some sort of like federal organization. And he’s like, monitor somewhat like the information at least from like, the federal level. But there are too many news sources right now. And like, we know, some of them aren’t accurate. But for other people they think that like, like the news sources you watch or listen to are not accurate. So I just like there needs to be some sort of regulation, which I know is hard in a democratic nation. But I do feel like it’s very problematic, that there are so many sources, and we’re just constantly like, bombarded with news, and we don’t know what’s accurate. Yeah. And only like certain stories are getting like national attention. Other things aren’t like once the news cycle goes past that, like that’s it. And so it’s it’s just so difficult to find information that you need. And also like we shouldn’t be going on to the news and be scared after like what we’re seeing, we should be up to date and informed. Like if you look at the way that they run news in other countries, especially like in Canada, for instance, if we’re looking at like gun reform and gun laws, for instance, in Canada, like the news is not I mean, often like an MSP with not as much crazy stuff happens in Canada. I don’t know I could be wrong. I’m not Canadian, but I’m on the record. information there is shared in a way that’s not meant to terrify people. It’s not meant to glamorize or Yeah, I guess glamorize information and news in the way that we do in the United States in order to get like more people to watch because each station is competing, right? So they’re trying to get the most amount of views. It’s not always about the actual information that they’re sharing. And so I think that creates this kind of unsafe atmosphere where people are looking at the news and are afraid not really because of like what they’re seeing but they’re afraid of the unknown. And so they’re constantly looking to the news for clarification, less not always the best source, at least like, with larger outlets, like something we learned from our podcasts, I guess we could say her name with Morgan Mullings, who is a journalist in Boston right now, I believe, is that local sources are also really accurate. And they’re smaller, they have like, less of a needs like please people. They’re not as concerned about money. They’re more about like going out and showing what’s happening locally. But again, like even finding those sources can be difficult at times.

Anita: Yeah. I think the news is just trying to entertain them, like my parents when they want to, like get actual information they watch like BBC, which is not even based in the United States. But then when you watch like CNN, or Fox, it’s like people yelling at each other, like crack, just being really aggressive in the way that they provide information. And then when you watch the BBC, it’s like a very calm demeanor, even if it’s like sad news.

Annmarie: The’re British so they just sound so much more.

Anita: But it’s not even like them sounding sophisticated, like the way that they deliver it is like it’s not like breaking news, breaking news. It’s like not everything is breaking news. It’s just like, this is information that you need, use it how you, you see best fit and whatnot, but in cnn is like, chaos, absolute chaos, and it’s like very blatantly biased, like I’m a Democrat, so I enjoy watching it. But like if somebody is not Democrat, you can very much tell though they’re very biased journalists, which I don’t think is also a good thing to make it that obvious how politically one sided you are. Because then people who don’t believe the same thing won’t watch it, either.

Annmarie: Yeah, I think we need to get people who democratic to watch republican sources and people who are republican to watch democratic or even just like your liberal, conservative, whatever. And it’s hard because like, sometimes you’ll see something you’re like, Okay, I just, this is not accurate. I think that’s the biggest problem is we don’t understand other people’s perspectives. And as a result, when we sit down, we can’t understand their way of thinking, and we can’t kind of explain ourselves to them in a way that leaves an impact. Yeah.

Chanel: I don’t know. I try, like I try once in a while to read like republican sources, or even listen to news from like other stations that aren’t like, like, very democratic. And, Dale, like, they’ll have, like, they’ll be some, like some ideas that they have. They’re like, Okay, that sounds reasonable. That makes sense. But then there’s other things like sometimes it just takes a bit too far. And I guess, with the democratic sources as well, it could be the same. But I feel like if you are on one side, and you hear another side, that’s very radical as well, it’s very hard to come into the middle with that. So I feel like I leave like, um, when I need to be maybe BBC vbnc. Like, I like watching their their world news, like the woman of the whole world news, because it’s just very objective like, Yeah, I don’t need you. So you sprinkling in your little this and that, and I just want something that’s like this, tell me what’s happening and like, move on. Like, we don’t have to stay on like, some, like something horrific for a whole like five minutes. You just give me the facts. And I’ll make my own decisions based on that.

Annmarie: Yeah. It also says something about how Americans consume news in comparison to people from other countries, right? So there’s a reason like people do. Like I listen to BBC, my family really likes aljazeera. But they’re like a lot of different outlets that like, well, in united states don’t watch this frequently. They watch more of like American news outlets, especially for like, things that are happening in the United States, because they’re depicted in different ways from abroad. I think in the United States, we consume news and in a way that’s more spectacle based, right. And so it makes sense that things are not always super accurate, that there’s a little bit of bias sprinkled into it, because this is what we’ve been consuming for so long. It’s what we’re used to seeing.

Chanel: Yeah. I have a question. That’s a little bit off topic, but connected. So I was having a discussion about how, um, if it’s, if it’s the business’s responsibility, or is it consumers responsibility on like climate change? Like, who takes responsibility for it? And I think this also fits into this topic as well. Is it the people who are consuming the news to decide on how they should consume? How they should consume the news? And what sources are out there? Or is it the businesses that should change and be regulated? So I don’t know like, what are your thoughts on that? Like, just in general, like, Who’s responsibility? Is it for the way that we move forward in society?

Annmarie: So from my perspective, I’d say it’s the businesses. I think, as consumers, we have a choice. And we have the ability to make those decisions for ourselves. But it’s difficult, like life gets hard. Life is crazy. Life is confusing. So businesses don’t make it easy for us to be like sustainable or to consume news in a better way. That’s more objective. It’s difficult. Like if we’re not experts and experts in that area, it’s almost impossible. To be honest, to be able to figure out what’s accurate and how we can live our lives in a better way. So I’d say the businesses are the ones who have the position and the ability to do these things. I think it’s really up to them. We also, like I said, we can play a part in that petitioning organizations, political organizations, also just government agencies and other agencies to kind of push for things that we want and what we believe in, and what we want to see. But I think at the end of the day, it’s really up to the businesses, but nothing’s going to change until I think something happens federally, or like some sort of governmental mandate, like encourages businesses to do this, because right now we have capitalism, right. That’s our economic system. So business’s best interest is not to do what’s best for us, it’s do what’s best for them, and to make money. So I feel like something has to change in the system. And like, some systematic way, if we want to do something better, yeah.

Zeke: Definitely both, because you know, you gotta try your best to, like, organize, like to decipher between what’s real, what’s fake, because you don’t want to make the wrong decision. Also, businesses should just as like, put out one animation just to get the clicks and then like, make a retraction doesn’t get all the thing, much traction. And like all that, because then you just didn’t you just do anything, the main thing is doing the wrong thing. No, we don’t all.

Anita: Agree, I think it’s broken, I think it’s more on the business than the individual. Because I was talking to my friend who is starting her own, like, shopping the online shopping site. And she tries to sell like sustainable items of clothing. And what she realizes that like, having a having sustainable items, like even, it’s not just clothing, but just like the products that you buy in the store, is a luxury because it’s so expensive. So like, if people don’t have the means to buy, you know, eco friendly items, then they won’t do it, because they’re not going to like break their wallet to buy like a reusable bottle. They can’t afford to do that they need to feed their kid or something. So I think it falls more on the business to be like more conscience and the production of those items, as opposed to like the consumer walking, just started saying like, well, I should buy the $5 the bottle over the $1. One, if they can’t afford to do, you know, more expensive option. But then then like Annmarie was saying with the business also thinking about themselves and like how they can make a profit. So they’re less likely to you know, like, make something cheaper just so that more people have access to it. Even though that’s a better way to do things. I think a business is always thinking in the mind is like profiting more than,

Zeke: Even if things are affordable, people won’t buy it because they want the perception of getting something people cann’t get.

Annmarie: Yeah, I think there’s a question of convenience as well. How easily or how readily available? Are we making these options to people. So for instance, when they got rid of like, we’re not didn’t get rid of it. But when they started charging people, it’s like take plastic bags from the store. All of a sudden, people started bringing in like their own reusable bags that they can use to carry stuff, whether it was a backpack, just something they had at home. And so I think it’s, it’s, it’s really a question of convenience. And if we make this change, we have to make it for a lot of different people, we have to make it in a way that’s accessible to as many different groups of people as possible. Like regardless of socioeconomic status, there has to be an easy way for people to implement this into their daily lives. Yeah. It’s not going to be something that happens quickly, right? like something’s gonna happen over time.

Anita:  Hmm. No, I think that’s such a good point that you made was a plastic bag thing, because like now when I go grocery shopping, if I don’t have my reusable bag, if I can carry the stuff in my hands, I literally will like I’m not going to even pay the five cents.

Annmarie: It’s only five cents. Exactly what people are going for that ah I’m gonna spend another five.

Anita: Literally like I don’t I that’s such a good point. Because I didn’t I didn’t think about that. But yeah, if you like force people to change the way that they live their lives, they’ll eventually adapt to it. Because I’ve gotten used to carrying my eggs in my hands in the car.

Annmarie: Until you drop them.

Chanel: Yeah, but now I’m starting to think like, I guess because it’s not in people’s faces, like thinking about climate change, but like, you will actually have to change your whole lifestyle. If we don’t change the way that we’re living now. Even if it’s like the smallest of things that’s being a little bit more sustainable, but also a lot of companies they switch their business model depending on what people want. So even thinking about people who are vegan or vegetarian in the beginning, like if you went to a restaurant and was like yeah, I’m a vegan and like to like in the early two hundreds, like um, you’re gonna have stylists, like nowadays and because veganism and me even terian is so much more of a bigger trend because individual people ask for this. Restaurants change the way that they’re cooking. Now, if you go into a grocery store, there’s a bunch of like vegetarian options and all these other stuff. So I think that individuals don’t understand how much power we have ones we’re also a collective, and businesses will have to be forced to change because of that. So

Anita: When ever you say veganism, I think of cannibalism for some reason. No idea why it’s. Their complete opposite.

Annmarie: Wait, this is an aside like not at all, but Chanel, Abele and I had our first like vegan meal, we went out to a restaurant and we were both completely or non vegan. It was vegetarian. We’ve had our both. We both like a vegetarian meal. Like for the first time that I can like remember that I consciously decided to do that stuff, like pasta or something, but it was really good. Like, we just got a bunch of like vegetarian appetizers. I mean, I don’t think those places are good, but this one particular restaurant was so good, and I just wanted you to be proud of us.

Chanel: Oh, I am proud.

Annmarie: Thanks We had pumpkin ravioli, like a Thai noodle salad protein, which might not be vegetarian but depending on the oil, but there’s no meat in it. So I think it’s fine. And dandy. There’s something else. Oh, unlike Korean fried broccoli.

Chanel: That sounds good actually.

Annmarie: It was really good.

Anita: Zeke you had vegan food for vegan vegetarian?

Annmarie: Definitely vegetarian.

Zeke: I had vegetarian.

Anita: You’re vegetarian, Zeke?

Zeke: No not at all.

Anita: Oh, okay. But

Zeke: I had like I had the meal cuz I was like, yeah, (inaudible) both take the eat.

Anita: It’s good job. Like I think you’ve had vegan or vegetarian food and not known that, like had substance that substituted meat and not known that it wasn’t actually meat.

Annmarie: Like beyond beef or be?

Anita: Oh my god beyond burger. It’s good.

Annmarie: I don’t like it.

Anita: It’s so expensive, but oh my god. It’s

Chanel: So sad. I haven’t had it.

Anita: Really? I’m in love with it.

Annmarie: I had vegan ice cream. Van Lewin’s I tried it once. It’s like the really like booty like vegan ice cream. I hated it.

Anita: Really? (inaudible) recommending it?

Annmarie: I didn’t like it. It was salt

Chanel: Corn

Annmarie: Shouldn’t be salty.

Anita: Zeke you have you heard us ramble this whole time? We just frickin passed out

Chanel: The phone call

Anita: This the energy you asked for Zeke this is what you signed up for the chaos of Room 3228.

Annmarie: You asked for a random conversation and I think we delivered so

Chanel: Yeah.

Annmarie: He looks scared

Anita: Are we driving you crazy?

Zeke: No just thinking (inaudible)

Anita:  How’s your day Sunday going?

Zeke: I recorded my friend I haven’t talked to in four years.

Chanel: Oh that’s nice.

Anita: (inaudible) conversation?

Zeke: About creative marketing. And then he also stomatal we just talked about like businesses like it’s also a man’s intelligence about how like advertising like this kind of like you’re making things for us to buy and then people sometimes buy and they don’t have the means to buy really

Anita: The means to that?

Zeke: You making things like sometimes advertising can be like predatory you know you feel that you don’t want to be one to advertisers like hoping

Anita: Oh okay gotcha. It’s interesting.

Zeke: And then go back to (inaudible), merch the website.

Anita: Every time you hear the word merch my I get like chills I love the hoodies and stuff. But we’re gonna be following up about our free March.

Chanel: Oh, my girl hoodie for like a sweatshirt or something Anita don’t get to happy.

Anita:  I know, look at him. Already sending my sizes.

Annmarie: I guess. Should we let’s Zeke go then I believe we’ve monopolizes time.

Chanel: What time is it? We’ve been added a few hours.  Almost two hours. Wow.  That’s a lot of editing. You got a lot to edit.

Anita: Thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate it.

Zeke: No problem. Last question I have is what would you name your origin story?

Anita: Was what?

Zeke: What would you name your origin story?

Anita: Oh my, that’s a loaded question.Um, it can only be one word or it can be a phrase?

Zeke: It can be a phrase.

Chanel: Lost and confused. A journey of self discovery.

Anita: Oh, you still want to my words.

Chanel: Just one of the words

Annmarie: Like apart of the word was definitely the word and.

Anita: Nah and discovered that’s what it was gonna be.

Annmarie: I can’t be any more. Mines a bestseller. Trademark

Anita: Undiscovered. Yeah.

Zeke: You okay Chanel?

Chanel: I’m trying to think this is hard. I’m sorry. This is a lot of filings.

Annmarie: A lot of alliteration like Chanel and her crazy cats.

Anita: You see crazy cats now.

Chanel: Okay, I’m thinking I’m thinking it’s really random. Nothing to do with the story I thought earlier but Accents and Atonement.

Annmarie: I like it Yeah.

Anita: What’s yours Zeke? I’m curious.

Zeke: In episode 4 I said adaptable because that’s who I am.

Chanel: Oh nice Now I have to write a book with this title. My memoir be out in stores soon. Oh, thank you Zeke for having us. I am absolutely amazed about your podcast and what you’ve been doing with it so far so amazing work.

Zeke: Making it up as I go.

Anita: Killing it.

Annmarie: Thanks for having us.

Zeke: No problem. We all friends.

Chanel: Yeah and happy almost birthday enjoy tomorrow.

Anita: How old are you turning?

Zeke: 23.

Chanel: 23 he says this we had this whole conversation in the beginning Anita.

Anita: Oh, I see. Okay, my bad. I think you’re talking about you being 23 you guys are already 23.

Zeke: (inaudible)

Annmarie: I’m gonna accept the excuse but

Anita: I apologize I’ve been blacking out during this quarantine guys.

Annmarie: Don’t blame it on quarantine.

Chanel: I know.

Anita: Alright, guys, thank you so much for this.

Annmarie: Bye everyone.

Chanel: Bye.

Zeke: That brings another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast to a close. Again, you can find the podcast Room 3228 on all major platforms, or by clicking the link in the description below. For next week, I have another friend Laísa to talk about studying computer science and how she got to Pixar. I hope you continue to have a nice day and I hope to see you there.

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