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The State News discusses issues and the cultural impact of entertainment news including TV & film, fashion, music and more.
Welcome back to House Lights, your one stop shop for everything you need to hear about this week in the world of entertainment. As always, I'm your host, Liz Noss, joined by my beautiful, wonderful cohost Claire Donahoe. And we have the distinct privilege that we decided about two seconds ago to have on the the podcast. Jack Williams. Of the Reeling It In podcast.
Jack:Of the Reeling It In podcast.
Liz:I'm just so glad that you have your own part podcast. Oh my god. That you have your own podcast to snark on these days.
Jack:Yeah. It's really great. I feel like when I get on here, I only ever talk about movies anyway. So
Liz:But we're not talking about movies today.
Jack:For real.
Claire:He'll find a way.
Liz:He'll find a way.
Jack:Oh, I will.
Liz:Yeah. I'm gonna relate it back to media. Jack, whenever anything happens, I'm gonna relate it back to media. But, yeah, we're gonna talk about just two distinct separate things that I've been thinking about lately. I am making everybody else talk about it.
Claire:Tell the people what they are.
Liz:So we're gonna talk a little bit about AI. And then I also wanna talk about, like, what taste is in media and the point of broadcasting that to people. But first, I do want to talk about AI. Okay. And I know that you two have a lot to say about this because you're writing a column about sort of the humanities.
Claire:Yes.
Liz:But the AI does feed into it. So number one, I'm just gonna talk I'm just gonna say really quick about what brought this to my attention. Please.
Jack:Yeah.
Liz:Because, I mean, what brought this to my attention? Everyone knows about AI. But I do research on AI, Just super academic. But I do feel so male when I say that. I'm like, yeah.
Liz:My research is actually on AI. But it it is. Anyways but it's that's all I I don't wanna talk about academics. What I want to talk about is something that I've seen on TikTok recently, and I actually heard, like, in, like, in real life, this person that I know did In life. In my real personal life, a person that I know did this, like, of a friend situation.
Liz:People are using AI to discuss their interpersonal relations and get advice from people. Bad. Yeah. I saw a I saw a TikTok that was like, stop asking chat GPT if he's into you or not. Like, stop asking chat GPT if, like, someone is you know, if something they did was bad.
Liz:Like, obviously, he's not for you. And I'm like, what are we even talking? What are we even talking about? What is happening? And then I I was I was at the I was at the bar, and I was talking to this girl who was a friend a friend, and she was like, yeah, no.
Liz:I was using ChatGPT the other day, and, like, ChatGPT told me, like, yeah, he's gaslighting you, girl. And I was like, what is happening? Health care. No. Please.
Liz:That's all I've said
Claire:about that. Accessible health care, people in community, friends
Liz:listening, active listening. So so thoughts on this? I mean, obviously, I think we're all under the impression of, I'm sorry. What? But, like, I just I was so maffled by it because, like, what is society?
Liz:Like, how did we get here? Sort of thing.
Claire:I'm feeling baffled as well. I'm gonna echo that. Yeah, I think that's very strange. I think it's like a dependency thing, too, and an accessibility thing. And also, in the case of asking about a relationship, my immediate thought is shame.
Claire:You'd rather turn to a robot for an answer than you would just tell your friend an embarrassing situation. If you have to look up on ChatGPT if someone's gaslighting you, they are, and also break up with them. That's also your digital footprint now, so that's gonna Yeah, that's there forever,
Liz:not to freak you Just so much for her.
Claire:Yeah, I just think that's kind of a strange move, and it startles me, but it also saddens me. Because then I think, like,
Liz:why
Liz:would that person have had to turn to chat
Claire:I
Liz:mean, I've been in the boat of I can't tell my friends what doing with a guy because I am ashamed of, you know, oh, I'm going back or whatever. But but I would I don't think ChadGBT would give me the answer that I need that my friends wouldn't.
Claire:Well, ChadGBT doesn't know you because it's a robot. Thoughts on this chart? Yeah.
Jack:I think if it works for you, go for it. If you don't have I mean, yeah, if you don't have people to talk to, why not use your fun little robot companion?
Liz:Because it's communication mean, real advice. Mean He really understand the human experience.
Claire:No, not even the human experience. Doesn't know you, unless you explain
Jack:the Is this much different from googling, though, googling the issues you're having and seeing what other people have to say about them, or just seeing what an article has to say about them. Because when you think about AI, it just kind of draws from that same data. It's just kind of giving it back to you. Now, I think when you do kind of go about these things, if you are doing it that way, you need to have in mind, hey, this isn't AI. I'm not going to I mean, that should be in your mind the whole
Claire:Great assault.
Liz:Sort of like how a Google search is. Right.
Jack:Sure, yeah. I mean, you should treat it like a Google search. But I mean, it's working, I mean, if you go into an AI and you say, like, This is happening. What do you think? And it gives you something, and you're like, Oh, hey, that's true.
Jack:And you use that. You think the information it's giving you applies to your situation, then yeah, why not use that?
Liz:That's fair. I guess. Yeah.
Claire:I I guess when you It's freaky. It's freaky. But when you put it taking it from an article or something, I mean, is That's true. I'm not gonna say it's no different than combing through an article or learning about some psychological thing that it could be teaching you. It is different than that, but I mean, not as different as I guess we were making it.
Liz:When you read an article about, oh, this is my experience with my significant other or whatever, it's I don't know. It doesn't feel as immediate or as, like, an answer, as, like, literally asking ChadGBT, like, what should I do? Like, almost as, like, you're having a conversation with this robot. I mean, it's like
Claire:It takes less work. I know, it's different. It takes less work on the, like, on the person Right. To look through
Liz:or, like That is what AI's for.
Claire:Yeah. That is what it's for. Or, like, I don't know. I don't wanna say, like, critically assess all the information and pick which one is best for you. AI kinda just, like, gives it to you in a human sounding way because AI talks to you like it's talking to you.
Claire:So yeah, I I guess I'm in the middle, but I lean a little more toward your perspective, I'm like, I'd prefer if we didn't snowball into doing that because, I don't know, that seems like a slippery slope if you're not keeping that grain of salt with you in the back of your mind. And I don't know, I just feel like that's not what it's for, in my opinion, which we'll get into.
Jack:Even when you're talking to your friends, I thinkbecause at the end of the day, it's you. What you do in your relationships is up to you, right? No matter what your friends tell you, they're not the ones making those decisions. So I guess to me, it's like there's no real difference from likeI mean, there is a difference, obviously, but I better knock that over. If you're reading something with Chad GPT, I would hope you're going into it with the same mindset that you would if you were talking to a friend or a similar mindset, whereas likeor maybe the other way around.
Jack:If you're talking to a friend, you're going in with the same mindset of like reading something online, because your friends know you, sure, but they don't knowthey're not in the relationship with you, unless you swing that way. They're not in the relationship with you. They don't really know what's good for you. And at the end of the day, you're making the same decision for yourself.
Liz:Yeah. Yeah. I just feel like it's a less informed opinion than, like
Jack:Yeah, sure.
Claire:Like a close friend.
Liz:Than, like, a close friend. But I mean, like, we I mean, I'm sure that we've all, you know, chosen to get advice from people that maybe, you know, I wouldn't really take advice from that person.
Jack:Yeah, exactly.
Liz:But I don't it's just it's, like, this weird mix of it with, like, codependency of, like, this technology that, like, is it feels like it's, like, trying to trick you. Mhmm. That, like, this is accurate information, this is also, like I don't know. It just
Claire:feels weird. Obviously, there's a lot of activity on AI, in AI general, right? Because it's pulling from other data that's been published x, y and z. I think where it loses me or makes me personally less interested in doing something like asking it for personal advice is because it lacks a lot of subjectivity, in my opinion. We've been talking a lot about this in creative work in some of my English classes recently.
Claire:And a lot of us in the classes are of the general camp of we'd prefer if people weren't using AI to write creative work, because that's kind of watering down the work made by human beings. I can agree with you. Like creative artistic work. Many of us also agree, though, that that doesn't mean we just need to get rid of AI. A tool for a lot of other things.
Claire:It makes a lot of things super accessible outside of humanities and inside humanities, too. Like, I don't know, we've all used it for some situation
Liz:or
Claire:A lot of that for some
Jack:health field too. Yeah. Alzheimer's research.
Claire:I think it's a
Jack:big one. I feel like people, when we talk about AI, people tend to talk about AI as if it's like an entity, you know? Yeah. I feel like I
Liz:just did that for sure.
Jack:Yeah, no, for sure. Which, maybe in the future, maybe if we were in Star Wars or something, but we're not, right? It's a tool, like you were just saying. It's a tool that is up to the I mean, I think at this point, honestly, AI is a tool that is up to whoever is making it how we use it. We can't just use AI how we want to unless you're a computer engineer and you know how to do all that kind of stuff.
Jack:So, I mean, I don't even know if we could call it a tool. I mean, I would call it a tool, but I think when you introduce that aspect of it, it should kind of change how we see it. Because, yeah, obviously there's a lot of like bad things you can do with A. I, right? And people do, you know.
Jack:But it's like, Well, look at all this good it can do. And does that warrant us beingdoes that warrant an opinion of just being like, No AI, like, Get rid of AI? It's killing humanity, blah blah blah blah. Killing the environment, which I don't really fully believe in,
Claire:Wait, talk about that. Yeah, talk about that. You don't believe it's
Liz:killing the environment.
Jack:And this comes from people who study engineering, who know kind of like the actual mechanics of this kind of stuff that I've talked to. From what I understand, theChaiGPT does use a lot of water, right, in California. That's likethat is a real issue, and that is destroying the environment. That's not an issue with A. I, though.
Jack:That's an issue with open AI, like the company that is doing it. The way they run their model is using one that uses a lot of water. If you go over to China and look atI think it's DeepSeek, they use a completely different model for drawing power and information. And it actually uses, like, I think over half the water that they do here. So it's a veryit's a temporary issue.
Jack:The problem there isn't with AI, it's with How it's being used. Which I think is just an issue with The US. Yeah. The US is a
Claire:lack of regard for the environment, Right.
Liz:Interesting. Is interesting.
Jack:That is my 2ยข.
Liz:And maybe we'll get to the point in AI where you're not so reliant on I guess, because this is the new frontier of AI right now, so we can imagine that it's gonna change shape to maybe be a little bit more sustainable in the future?
Claire:Hopefully. Maybe. We can hope that.
Jack:But on the note of art and AI, I think that is an interesting subject. If we want to talk about recent examples, I think it just went out that played by Carty used AI on his recent album. A lot of people were upset with him with that. I know Coppola used AI for Megalopolis a little bit, which I get the criticism for that. But also, if you're Francis Ford Coppola and you're really old and you're one of the greats, this is kind of the coolest thing ever for you.
Liz:You know what I'm saying?
Jack:So I honestly, when it comes to that kind of stuff, I don't fully blame him for using it.
Claire:I think
Jack:there are ways we can engage with AI and art that isn't just obviously, don't write a poem that's AI. I think if you engage with AI in a proper way, in an interesting way, in a meaningful way, then there is room for it in art. There's room for it in everything.
Liz:Well, I so I don't know. I kind of disagree with you about the Francis Ford Coppola thing because, I don't know, I feel I have this, like, weird standard of, like, using, like, AI and art because there was this, like, indie film, I think it was called, like, Night with the Devil or something. It was, like, about a talk show that, like, is, like, possessed or whatever. And it was, like, a very, like, indie underground film, and people were getting very angry because there were a couple, like, posters or, like, little, title cards that were made with AI and they were like, we're boycotting this movie because, those title title cards could have been made by designers and you can't paint them. But, like, it truly was like an indie film.
Liz:Like, they had run out of, like because then they they talked about it afterwards. Like, the filmmakers are like, we had run out of budget. This like, this is like, we didn't have any other choice. We had designers throughout the rest of the process. We had all these producers that were paid.
Liz:But, like, with Francis Ford Coppola, I mean, I think that he has, likeand, like, who he's working with has a good amount of money to pay workers to do the that would have
Jack:didn't. Oh. You see?
Liz:Oh, god.
Jack:I don't wanna be the actually guy, but he did sell his wine company to to fund that movie. He did not
Liz:have no one.
Claire:Okay. Wine company. But But regardless, like,
Liz:you I just feel like the notoriety itself kind of gives We
Claire:also have to question, why is it the last remaining resource for someone to use in a creative project? Why is it that we've positioned it this way, where you're out of budget? Okay, let's use AI because that's accessible to us right now. Is it their fault, not necessarily? And that's
Liz:why it's like, yeah, it is a tool, and I'm glad that it exists because it makes a lot of things more accessible. You can easily make things that wouldn't exist. It's literally just like, we need a transition here. We need a title Here we go. But, like, I don't know.
Jack:I think, yeah, I'll just, I guess, go back to what I was saying. I think there's ways toI justI think, like I was saying, what we were all saying earlier, we shouldn't completely reject AI. Yeah. You know, I think we should keep an open mind with it. I think there's ways to kind of engage with it, obviously, in like STEM fields.
Jack:But I think there are maybe ways to engage with it in art that can be sort of thought provoking and meaningful. And I think if we just kind of flat out reject it, then there's no way to engage with those things. I mean, I think it is scary, right? Like you said earlier, it is kind of scary. It's a new thing.
Jack:But I think there's ways that artists are doing it and, like, can do it. But, again, don't write a poem using AI. Yeah. Don't type. Right?
Jack:Don't pass that off as your own or whatever. But, yeah, I think ifespecially when artists are honest about it, you know, when it's like, Well, I used AI to do this, and this is what I'm trying to say with that. It's like, What are we getting mad at? You know?
Claire:Right. I feel like using it as a tool is just the main point I have about AI in creative spaces or outside of them. The point I was trying to make earlier that I completely just fell off of was that I also agree that the full rejection of it is not productive for anyone. I mean, is coming from someone who's in the creative space, so we'll just go on that thread for a second. But many people can agree you shouldn't use it to just fully complete a creative project.
Claire:But if you're using it in the context of a creative project to challenge AI, like if people use AI and interact with it in a creative work to make a statement about it or figure out, dissect why humans are so compelled to use this, what it's doing to the environment, what it's doing to notes on accessibility in general, I think that can be important. I think using it in creative work or helping you inspire or help you inspire your creative work could be fine. At the Writing Center, we'll use it for outline creation for people's essays, even if they are a personal narrative. Know, like meeting someone where they're at, I think if you're not really
Liz:That's true.
Claire:Into writing general or creation general and you find yourself needing to do it for something, like a class or something else, if AI is a tool that helps you get there, that's fine. It's just one of those things where it's everything in moderation. I mean that so, so genuinely. I mean that in I believe it's going to have to be baked into curriculum going forward. I believe it's going to have to be something that we talk about in all disciplines.
Claire:MSU actually has a class. I'm blanking on the name of it, but it is like an AI engagement class for technical writers. And you do a lot of analysis on AI produced work and then class produced work. You compare the two. They came into one of my classes, and they paired up with the students.
Claire:They showed us their essay. They showed us the AI one. We had to be the guinea pigs on how to figure out which one wasn't AI, which one was. I think it's going have to be taught to educators, because students use AI, unfortunately, a little too much to complete work that they probably shouldn't. But I also think fully running from it and rejecting it because, what, people are upset that people are using incorrectly.
Claire:Okay, that's like anything. Right. Can be upset that anyone overuses I
Jack:think intent is the, yeah.
Claire:I think that's a really big ask, but I think it's that seems a little easier to wrap my head around than completely abandoning it and signing off on it totally. I personally don't use AI a lot in my day to day life, if ever. And that's just a personal thing. But I don't know. I've met lots of students that use it for a variety of disciplines, variety of work, like I said, with outline creation.
Claire:A friend and I were talking about AI being used as a tool for language accessibility. Why would you shame someone for using a resource that is so accessible for them if they need help in a class combing through if English is not their first language, let's say, we're talking about Michigan State? I just feel like not letting your personal gripes with AI get in the way of how others engage with it is important. But also expecting that people are using that grain of salt thing we talked about earlier. You should know.
Claire:Unfortunately, don't think that happens. I think a lot of students abuse it.
Liz:That's my thing. In a perfect world,
Claire:they wouldn't.
Liz:I don't think that people are shaming the use of AI for accessibility. I think that I mean, maybe there are some people that are just like, Get rid of AI because it's evil. Whatever.
Claire:Yeah.
Liz:But I think those are closed minded, old, old people.
Claire:I think we need to learn
Liz:how to work
Claire:with it.
Liz:Right. Yeah. I just think that I am worried about too much dependency on AI, and then we're not gonna learn simple Yeah. Like, essay structure because and I don't think people are using it for, like, full essays. But, I mean, there's a lot I mean, there might be some people.
Liz:But like, I think that the general population of MSU students aren't using it for like, here's my full essay written fully by AI. But I think that there are enough, like, I don't know, shortcuts so that people aren't really engaging with the work that they're doing. There's people that are Oh, yeah. That are throwing in, like and, you know, I think that we've all been like, I just need to skim this reading. But it's different when you throw it into AI and be like, summarize this paper for me that I should be engaging with in my coursework.
Liz:Right. So I just I don't know. I worry about those things as well. That's why it has to be baked into, like, policies and student handbooks. And I mean, they're starting to do that, but I think there still is a little bit of each professor has their own thoughts on it.
Liz:Each college really has their own thoughts on I
Claire:think also going back to kind of examiningand this is not to blame an educator, because I'm not in the business of doing that at all. This is to blame statewide or nationally developed curriculum, which is currently on its way to collapse, but that's neither here nor there. I think we need to question why a student would feel so compelled to write an entire essay with with AI or paraphrase their reading with AI? Like, are they not getting the support that they need in the classroom to do it? Are the directions so unclear?
Claire:Is it one of those lectures where the professor, for example, might just not be explaining everything thoroughly because there's too many kids in the class. They don't have the time. It's not part of the curriculum. That's part of it. And that's why, fortunately, things like small scale at the Writing Center at MSU exist.
Claire:You can have one on one tutoring. But the large majority, especially as we see the decline of the Department of Education, you know, in multiple facets financially, like, let's not get into that. I think it's gonna maybe get worse before it gets better with people using AI too dependently. Like, I think people are gonna become super, super dependent, and in a perfect world, they could figure out how to get out of that, if that's making sense.
Jack:Especially when you think about who is the ones in charge of the
Claire:AI,
Jack:it's think about, yeah, it's the ruling class. Like, they're the ones, you know, it's and whatever, you know.
Claire:Because it works best for them.
Liz:Like
Jack:The AI is owned by companies, right? Yeah. And so, yeah, when we talk about like how it's being used, it's like, yeah, when it's being used by large companies to shortcut labor, you know, that's obviously terrible. I think that is reflective of wider issues that is just kind of showing up in this new thing that we have, Because I think when we talk about that, it's like, yeah, your issue isn't with AI. It's with everything else.
Jack:Is just a new issue, you know? Yeah.
Liz:Yeah, I agree. I think, yeah. Sorry. I justI fear that education policymakers and I think they think, Oh, these kids are just so lazy. But it's not really answering to how many students are to a teacher and that's why they're not engaged.
Claire:Exactly. Like, question why you think they're being lazy. Question why you think your student can't turn in a full thing. Now, that's not to excuse all of it, because I fully agree with you. I think when you think about AI and creative work, okay.
Claire:That personally bothers me because I creatively write, and I would not want to, I don't know, submit work to a journal that someone uses AI to submit to. Do I think that's happening all the time? No. Do I need to be super upset about that? Also, no, because there are much bigger fish to fry.
Claire:A bigger fish to fry, in my opinion, is education. That's where I do get really I'm with you, Liz, of getting really concerned and upset with AI use in education, especially. Mean, college, we see it all the time, we're college students. We can speak on that. But I'm thinking about my younger brothers in high school and middle school.
Claire:How is that getting into
Liz:I know you.
Claire:I'm thinking about students taking AP tests online. Because I saw this video that if you took APUSH, you could write a DBQ, which this happens in any type of AP testing. You have to handwrite a lot of it. But in APUSH, have do a lot of timed essays. And this teacher came on TikTok and said, my students, though they know the content pretty well, are failing our practice DBQs because they literally cannot hold the pencil long enough to keep writing.
Claire:That's crazy, yeah. Because they're not used to those practices, because that speaks to other, I don't know, functioning you learn as a child. And what are those things called? Motor skills? Motor
Claire:skills. You do as a younger kid? So I don't know. I think it definitely bleeds into a lot of other things. And education is where I personally get really, really fired up about it, because I don't know. But then I think about, like, if I want to become an educator, would I be the kind that is like, you can't use AI in my classroom?
Claire:I would prefer to have the type of relationship where, like, I want you to kind of challenge yourself, but I also understand, like, you have a life outside of this room that might hinder you challenging yourself in this way, so come talk to me before you decide to just use AI. I'll be far less upset with you type of thing. But I would have to be able to have the liberty to do that. Not a huge amount of students in my classroom funding, etcetera, etcetera. Then it's like just like this big gross web, I think, that AI, which, to echo Jack's point, gets caught up in, and that's the result of because it is so accessible, people are using what is accessible because we're not really making other things easier to So So that's my rant
Liz:on No, it's like, the way you're talking about your brothers in middle school and high school, I feel like our generation, for the most part, that's in college right now, we kind of got all the traditional education. Of course, we had a lot more technology in the classroom than, say, our parents or whatever. But we're kind of beating this. Like, most of us can do our higher education without AI as a resource. Their solution is, like, are they gonna be able to lend, like like, break away from that AI or resource?
Liz:Because, like, they might be using it all throughout high school, and then I I you know, I don't know where it's gonna go for AI policy in the future in higher education. Are they all of a sudden gonna be like, okay. It might actually be evil. We're gonna we're gonna turn away, then they're, like, totally screwed now. Yeah.
Liz:And I guess that's what comes with experimenting with new technology. Yeah. Because I
Claire:like, how how will you know what is time and place unless you screw up? This was not the time or the place to be using AI. And the unfortunate victim of that is children who grew up using it all the time in school, as this example stands, and then not being able to use it again, or it being accessible and then it not being. I don't know.
Liz:I'm sorry. AP tests still using paperpencil is kind of crazy, though. I think
Claire:they're transitioning to it mostly online next year. Interesting. Which, see I don't know that because that to me is a huge physical accessibility thing. Yes. What if younow, okay, I'm not excusing.
Claire:You can't really write for that long because you didn't develop the motor skills of play as a child. That's unfortunate in its own right. But if you break your arm or you literally have another hindering physical disability, typing it is much better. I stand with that teacher
Jack:on that. This is also going online, too.
Liz:Really? The SAT was crazy? I did ait
Jack:was like my senior year of high schoolor junior, probably, because that's when you take the SAT. I got invited to do one of the test things. And it's still in person, but obviously you're just using a laptop. But I got to use the score, which is cool. And then they refunded one of my other eight SATs because I was being a little guinea Do
Liz:you think that you did better or worse because of the mortality?
Jack:I want to say I got the exact same score.
Claire:Great. Well, that's reading
Jack:and the writing flipped, so I got to superscore. My scores for each flipped. Interesting. So got to superscore it, and my overall was higher, which was nice.
Liz:Interesting. Wow. I know that we probably want to talk a little bit about the other thing that I brought up, but is there any final thoughts on AI? I feel like we touched on everything. I
Claire:feel like just use it as a tool. And if you're a parent or an educator or you have access to developing minds who are using AI, be careful with that. It's very, very accessible, but anything that is super, super easy comes with a lot of other potential ramifications. I mean, it's like the internet in any other way. I like your point earlier, Jack, about treating it kind of the way you would treat Google, like explaining Google to a child or a student.
Claire:It's a tool to help you get going, but you're in charge of doing it. I think that's the big thing to say. Not like, Don't use Google ever. That sucks. Never look up an article to help you finish off an essay.
Claire:No.
Jack:But I don't want to say those exact same conversations were being had when, I mean, the internet started happening.
Claire:Yeah. Just hope that those continue to Yeah,
Liz:it's like every single tool, like,
Jack:it's every new thing, it's like, woah, you know, don't use this for blah blah blah, you know? Yeah.
Claire:Yeah. In terms of the environment, like, aspect of it, because I am in America and I know that the company who oversees AI use in America is not ethical when it comes to the environment, that's also personally another reason why I won't be contributing to that. Who's to say if I was in another country? I don't really know. Like I said, I use AI a lot in general.
Claire:I don't seek it as much. So also just be a conscious consumer of this tool. Those are my thoughts. Nice.
Liz:Thank you. I like to be a conscious consumer of media. So in that Into part two, everybody. I like to log the things that I read. Have a Goodreads account.
Claire:Oh,
Liz:yeah. Spotify, we all love Spotify wrapped.
Jack:Good old letterbox.
Liz:Good old letterbox. Letterbox. A good, what's your four favorites. But I wanted to talk a little bit about the idea of broadcasting that, like with a Spotify wrapped, like with a Receiptify.
Claire:I was Jack's our guest because he just posted his Receiptify. We're actually kind of a blast.
Jack:Did, yeah. And I usually don't post those. I just
Claire:I like that. So welcome to the hot seat.
Liz:Which so tell me. So I yeah. I just wanna talk about, like, broadcasting your taste and, like, what you think that, like, does for a person. Like, does that change people's opinions of you? So, yeah.
Liz:Tell me a little bit about you. What why you wanted to post your receipt of fly this month. And yeah.
Jack:I liked it. I thought it was cool. It was a lot of what was it? It was Daisy and the Scouts, some yeah. Some Daisy and the Scouts, some Bob Dylan, some Joan Baez, among other things.
Jack:I don't know. Think postingwhat I like so much about Letterbox, for example, is the conversations you can have surrounding art. And I think that's half of art, is talking about it and engaging with it. And I think that's, on a very basic level, what these kinds of things do. It's like if you share your music and what you're listening to, people can swipe up and be like, I love that too.
Jack:And it's like, oh, why do you like can talk about And that's one of the best parts of engaging with art, sharing it with people and letting people, you know, talking about it.
Liz:Yeah. Yeah. I
Claire:think keeping a log of it is cool, personally. I've started to do media recaps like the end of the month Sea Wrote It, because I like to put those together, they're fun, and I draw little things on the screenshots of the songs I've listened to. But also, I like to use it as recommendations. Really enjoy consuming other people's, is what I read this month, especially if it's someone whose taste I already feel like I kind of align with, or even just hearing it from a friend. So sharing, it's cool.
Claire:Then same thing, like people will swipe up and be like, my god, have you heard this album? Like, Paige Hadass swiped up and was like, If you like this song, you should listen to this song. And I was like, And I trust you and your take on that, and, you know? So I think it's cool. I think it's cool when you do it in a healthy way of, like, you don't necessarily care if people swipe up on it or engage with it or think that your taste is cool.
Claire:I think it should be for you first. I think that's how you won't burn out from doing this type of thing, or you won't get too in your head about what you're consuming. If you're trying to consume with the idea that you're gonna show it to people, I think that could be a little bit of a strange slippery slope. But in general wanna do that. Yeah.
Claire:In general, I feel like it's just kind of a fun thing if you just treat it as such.
Liz:See, and when we were talking about this, I was getting in my head about it. I'm like, why do I feel the need to broadcast what I because I'm also, like I said, I'm, like, on all these different apps and stuff, and I Yeah. I post my music, and I'm like, am I trying to create some sort of, like, aesthetic for myself that people want to project on me? Like, I and then I was like, no, I actually do like So I don't know. I just wanted to see your guys' thoughts on it because Yeah,
Jack:I think that's part of it, though. Yeah. I think when you I mean, obviously, you post your taste, people are going to associate certain people are going to associate those things with you. People are going to associate you with those things. And then, I mean, humans are pattern seeking creatures, right?
Jack:That's why we have types of people who enjoy, like, if you listen to X, Y, and Z, you're probably this kind of person. If you wear these kinds of clothes, you're probably this kind of person. So there's always going be that, especially when you're talking about social media. Because that's what social media is. It's like kind of choosing what people are based on what you see, based on what they give you, or deciding what people are in your head based onand that's when people get into those, like you said, rabbit holes or slippery slopes of choosing aesthetics for themselves and blah, blah, blah, blah.
Jack:So I think there's always going to be that, whether you want to or not, whether your intentions are fully just, I want to share whatever I do or not. But I think that's also kind of fun, because I like when people say, Oh, I thought you were this kind of aesthetic, but you're into this. So now my mind is blown. And it's like, well, that's the fun of it.
Claire:That's how a human being works.
Liz:Exactly. Complexity, yeah. It's good
Claire:to challenge that. And I think, yeah, as long as you're doing it because you simply want to and like to, I don't see any problem with it. I think it is a fun way, especially now if everyone's already on social media all the time, to have those discussions about art and things you're passionate about. I think it's a more fun way. I love just sharing pictures on Instagram, too, but it's an even more fun way to share things that you're into because people could talk about them.
Jack:PJ came up to me in the office, and he was like, I loved your review for five hundred Days of Summer.
Liz:And I
Jack:was like, That's awesome. I didn't know you.
Liz:I love PJ's reviews on that. Everyone needs to follow PJ Pfeiffer on Letterbox.
Jack:Yeah, exactly.
Claire:And you have people that you like to take reviews and commentary from.
Liz:Do you guys actively search out people who have the same taste as you, are you just interested in engaging with their taste?
Claire:I feel like it's people that I have some type of rapport with, whether it's like a friend recommends something to me. One, because they maybe think that's a purposeful recommendation because they think I'll like it, or if it's someone I follow, I would say like an influencer or something, I'm already following them because I like their style or what they stand for or what their platform, I'm more inclined to take a recommendation from them. I do fall victim to the, if you like this song, you'll like these five. And then I watch the whole video, I'm like, oh my god, you were right. So, like, I don't know, stuff that kind of hooks me just with a little bit of rapport or familiarity.
Liz:So I think I've always I have a ton of saved Instagram posts that's like, If you liked this book, you'll like this.
Claire:Movies, podcasts, so many podcasts I keep just bookmarking and not listening to. But yeah, I don't know. Interesting. I love to recommend and hear people's I
Liz:feel like I don't recommend that much because I'm a little bit scared of people like me and that sucked. I like hearing other people's recommendations.
Jack:Think there's intimacy in sharing that kind of thing, because it's likeit's saying, I know you're not going to judge me for being into this kind of thing. And I'm also saying, I know you well enough where I think you're going tothat's why I think giving books to people is my favorite thing to Oh, yeah. Love it. Guys know because I give you books.
Liz:Thank you.
Jack:It's one of my favorite things to do because it's likewell, actually, it can either be a cop out, right? It could be a cop out gift, because it's like, I'm just gonna get you a book, like, blah, blah,
Claire:But you love reading, so it's not a cop out.
Jack:Yeah. Well, I mean, it's like if you don't really know someone, it's like, Oh, well, you might enjoy this. But I think on the other end of that, it can show that you actuallyyou really know someone, right? Yeah. Because you reallyit's like, I chose this for you.
Jack:Like, I thought of you. I thought of you when saw It's
Claire:you recommend someone a song, it's like, I thought of you.
Jack:Exactly, yeah.
Claire:The person's like, god, thank you. Like, art reminded you of me. That's so great.
Liz:Yeah, it was so funny. I sent my mom a song. I sent my mom Pad Bunny's album, actually. And I was like, This sounds like your Zumba classes. When I was growing, she was like, I love that you love me.
Liz:And that's the best part of it. Yeah. I don't know. I just want to talk
Claire:to And don't feel bad for recommending things to people.
Liz:I'm just like, what if you guys hate it? I don't think that's actually ever happened to me, I feel like I have okay taste. The one thing that, like, me and my roommates, like I said, we should watch Tommy Boy, which was a Chris Farley movie, and there's never been less laughs in a room, and I was
Claire:like, Taste. You still get to like Tommy Boy. I do. That's thing about recommending someone to Something to someone is like, if they don't like it, the world turns, because you still like it. Don't base your perception on other people.
Jack:Of my, I wanna say some of the best conversations I have with people is when they don't like something, I recommend them.
Liz:And then
Jack:that's a whole thing to talk about. It's like, the hell? Why didn't you like that? Good point. Like, is my favorite movie.
Jack:Why didn't you like it? And then that's a whole conversation.
Claire:Yeah. So all in all, be a conscious consumer all the time when you receive a recommendation or when you use AI for therapy. And I don't think I still don't think you should do that. Go for walks, too. For walks.
Liz:And touch grass, too. Anyways, thanks, guys. See you next week. Bye. Bye.