S03E116 Taking Charge: Strategies for Responsible CrossFit Social Media Consumption

Are you aware of the amount of time you spend scrolling through your social media feeds? Join coaches David Syvertsen @davesy85 and Sam Rhee @bergencosmetic as they peel back the layers of social media consumption and its effects on our mental health, particularly those involved in CrossFit.

We discuss the surprising number of hours the average person devotes to their screens, the potential benefits, and the not-so-obvious risks that accompany this new-age habit. Remember the inspiring story we shared about how our podcast episode on mental health sparked a life-changing conversation? We reflect on that and underline the importance of being mindful about the content we consume.

Ever felt a twinge of envy or a pang of stress as you stumble upon a post showcasing a seemingly perfect life? We've been there too. In this episode, we explore those complex emotions, the lurking dangers of comparison, and how to navigate through it without dampening our spirits. How can we discipline ourselves to avoid the trap of the comparison cycle?

We'll be discussing how to critically assess our own consumption, identify potential negative reactions, and explore ways to take responsibility for our social media use. Plus, you'll also discover how to shift focus from negativity to positive content that benefits our mental health. Join us in this illuminating conversation as we navigate the wild world of social media together.

@crossfitbison @crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness

00:00:05 Social Media's Impact on Consumers

00:06:41 Social Media Comparison

00:17:22 Social Media's Negative Mental Health Effects

00:23:12 Social Media's Effects on Mental Health

00:26:40 The Impact of Social Media Consumption

00:32:31 Social Media's Impact on Mental Health

00:35:41 Feedback on Social Media Posts

S03E116 Taking Charge: Strategies for Responsible CrossFit Social Media Consumption

[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: All right. Welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I'm Coach David. So I'm here with my co-host, Dr. And Coach Sam Re. We are really in part two of the social media. Episode series part two of two. Don't worry. Uh, and then we're gonna kind of get into the more consumer side. Last week if you didn't listen to it, we talked about kind of like the producer side of it, whether you're a gym, you're an individual, and some of the ups and downs that can be associated with those.

But the one that's probably a little bit more of a, a pressing issue, if you wanna call it that, is the consumer side. And it's something that. A lot of people spend a lot of time on. I think the average I saw on some research that I did was that people are on social media for two plus hours per day. Um, obviously there's probably some that are extremes that kind of weigh that average a little bit higher, but I would say most people I know in like measuring from opening the app to closing the at throughout the day is probably at least a half hour.

And I would say it's probably closer to an hour for most and. You never think you're on that social media that long until you get like that little like report on your phone, like, oh, you are an hour, 19 minutes on social media. I'm like, oh my God. I'm complaining about how much, how I don't have enough time to get things done.

And here I am spending an hour on this app doing nothing.

[00:01:21] Sam Rhee: It's, it's

[00:01:22] David Syvertsen: crazy how much, yeah. And it's, uh, but again, don't wanna to criticize it. I actually, one of the cooler stories that I have from social media to prove that it's such a positive thing or it can be a positive thing. It connects people that when we did our mental health series with Sean O'Hara.

Yeah. Um, I had someone reach out, reach out to me that I had no idea, had some significant personal issues, a history. Mm-hmm. And, and really he says that episode got him to open up. About something that he did and three months later he was telling his story to the entire cross at World at the 23.2 announcement.

And that was Joel? Yeah. And that episode had him reach out to me on Instagram and, and give his story. And I was, I remember like yesterday, I'm like, wow, I never would've thought that about him. Um, and I'm so glad that he was so open about that and able to, and transparent and kinda almost relaxed about it.

'cause I remember calling him from Arizona, asking him if he would be a part of the announcement. And would he be able to share that story and be comfortable doing it? And he was like, yeah, I'll do it. And like that, that to me, like those kind of things happen on social media that are so behind the scenes that it, it does, it creates a, it creates a, a sense of comfort for a lot of people and ability to broadcast that story.

And so I wanna get into the consumer side knowing that it is a good thing and we all use it. Most of you that are listening to it use it and some more than others and some way it more than others. The dangers though, come from, in my opinion, what we take in more than what we put out on social media, because we get into this comparison again.

A couple weeks ago we had Sasha on talking about staying in your lane. It's such a great piece of advice for life. You know, when you're working out something like stay in your lane, focus on, you don't get too caught up in what others are doing. But when you're on social media, I've always kind of used this as a.

A funny thing with Ash, she's like, we need to go away. We need to go on a vacation. I'm like, we were just away like five months ago or eight months ago. Like, Ash's parents didn't go on a vacation for seven years, you know, because of, you know, a lot of different reasons, but you know, like we don't need to go away every four months.

But one of the reasons that, and I laugh about this, is when you are on social media at some point, Somebody you know is away of course. So every single time you're on social media, like, oh, so-and-so's in Greece, so-and-so's in down the shore, so and so is in Nantucket, so and so is in, you know, Africa. You know, and that's something that.

If you're not cognizant of it, it's different people. Almost every single time that you've seen your way, you start feeling like, what? I need to go away. Like, I'm unlucky. Like we, we need to like, find the times to get off of work and, and go on a nice trip somewhere. Um, and you could feel that way about CrossFit, you know, like you, you scroll through.

A lot of videos and people are looking good and hitting lifts and hitting prs, and it's like, why don't I look good? Why aren't I hitting PRSs? I was gonna say,

[00:04:16] Sam Rhee: to defend Ash, you probably say the same thing. Rich is about different things. Hey honey, we need to do this. And she's like, wait, where are

[00:04:22] David Syvertsen: you getting this from?

We need to do this workout. Yeah, we, why does Rich Ro always snatching 2 75? Because he's fitter than you, Dave, shut up. But the. It. It's something that can really weigh someone down without realizing, and it's like a really, it's like a slow drip where, you know, eventually that cup fills up of stress, mental health issues, but it happened like one post at a time, one day at a time, one minute at a time.

So I wanna get into kind of like the cross its side of being a consumer on social media. Again, a lot of good, some bad something. Just to be cognizant of. Sam, you are a consumer on social media. You know, I don't wanna get into how many times on social media are you on there per day, but you're on it, you're essentially check it once a day.

Right? At least. At least, right. At least you know, whether, you know you're at home, you're bored, you watch tv, you're gonna the bathroom. Mm-hmm. You know, hopefully not. You're when you're driving, right? Mm-hmm. Um, what's something that you look for as a consumer on social media?

[00:05:24] Sam Rhee: On the CrossFit side, I would say I get, I consume s.

I would say a majority of my information about CrossFit through social media. Mm-hmm. I follow CrossFit, CrossFit games, a lot of athletes. Morning Chalkup. Morning Chalkup. Um, a lot of, uh, friends and a lot of posts are about CrossFit, so, um, It, it can be super positive when I am looking at Squat University and they're showing some sort of rehab movement or, uh, you know, looking at watching, um, hook grip where I'm seeing a bunch of people clean and jerk or do snatches and I'm watching that Slowmo.

I, I've, those are awesome. I sit there and I'll, I mean, the reason why I spend an hour, I'm watching 15 minutes of someone slowly snatching and I'm like, I can do that. And then they show it in real time. I'm like, Oh wait, okay. That's really fast.

[00:06:17] David Syvertsen: That's not fast forward mode, by the way. I can't do that. But, um, so

[00:06:21] Sam Rhee: there are so many positive aspects for consuming social media as a CrossFit person.

Mm-hmm. Like as an athlete, as a coach, which I really, really, really enjoy. Yeah. Um, I think the problems can lie in when I start comparing myself to. Other people on CrossFit. Right? In CrossFit. Mm-hmm. And I think that, that, um, that can be really a problem. And I think there's no doubt, when I first started, I, I did that a lot.

Um, and it's, it's really hard. It's, I think if you look at what other people are doing, like you said, and not focusing on what you're doing, right. You, you can get, uh, off into the weeds. It's like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna try, uh, that weight. Mm-hmm. And then guess what happens? Mm-hmm. Like,

[00:07:09] David Syvertsen: F up my shoulder.

Yep.

[00:07:10] Sam Rhee: Or you know, I, I'm gonna do more volume because this guy keeps doing like, look how many times he's working out like, alright, I'm gonna have to up it and then like mess myself up. Like that

[00:07:20] David Syvertsen: happens all the time. Yeah. That's one of my low points with social media that I'm not happy that I admit this, but especially when I'm nearing competition with its legends.

The open, the quarter finals, semifinals. I am, I spend way too much time seeing what other people, what they're doing with their training. Some of it I like look for ideas like, Hey, what is that guy lurking on? Like, he's not that strong, but he snatched 20 more pounds. Like, what? What is, what's his movement like?

But more often than not, it's like I'm trying to check in on what other guys are doing, and I know better than that, but I still do it. I still struggle with that now because, I used to train more than I do now, just volume handling, schedule life, right? It's changed a little bit and then I get bit like, ugh.

He doesn't have a kid. Like, ugh, he, he doesn't have a gym. He doesn't own a gym, he doesn't, uh, coach the early morning classes, but it, it's never a positive result. Like, I never walk out of that kind of like checking in on what a few other guys are doing and with, with a positive mindset. And so I, I should stop doing it and, and I need to be better about that, but, It ties back into like that vacation talk.

There's always going to be a lot of people out there doing more than you. Uh, whether it's performance volume, both. And I can tell you this as a competitor and someone that has coach competitors and someone that pays attention to the sport that matters less than you think, like how much someone's doing.

And as the consumer, you forget to realize that. 98% across it is highlights only. Very, very rarely is someone putting up their, a workout of them failing lifts, unless there's like a message behind it, like, what's the last video? It's always someone hitting the lift, right? Mm-hmm. Um, so I've had so many workouts where I'm like, just wasn't feeling it.

I fell off pace, tripping up on like sets of 15 double unders, you know, my pecs start to hurt on ring day. Like, you don't post that stuff? No, I just post the muscle up days, you know? And like the, the lifting days. So as a consumer, you need to know that it, it's a highlight only type business. I was

[00:09:16] Sam Rhee: just thinking at this point, it's not only just what I'm consuming, 'cause I bet you a lot of people are like, you know what, I don't actually feel that awful consuming social media.

It's entertaining, blah, blah, blah. And yes, I, I don't necessarily always feel badly, like a lot of my. Accounts I follow are CrossFit memes where, you know, they're funny. It's like the dog that looks all like scraggly and it's like 5:00 AM athlete. Yeah. And then it's like the nice looking dog at like 4:00 PM It's like 4:00 PM a like, so I wa so I follow a lot of funny stuff or people absolutely messing up on box jumps or something.

Yeah. But the absolute time spent right. Is really what the issue is. Like I was just thinking, I. Spend way more time, even if I'm not necessarily feeling bad, just wasting my time. And, and a lot of it honestly is like before I go to bed. Right? So it's really me. It's not only am I wasting time, I'm messing up my sleep time.

Absolutely. So I challenge people to say, listen, designate 30 minutes or 15 minutes, Once a day or twice a day and say, this is where I'm, because if, because you're like, yeah, but I am learning stuff, I'm watching hook grip or whatever, it's like, yeah, but do you really need to watch that right now? Right.

Like you, if you wanna do that, then schedule that time in saying, okay, I'm gonna study like clean and jerk technique or something like

[00:10:30] David Syvertsen: that. And I found that danger of like, oh no, I'm reading, um, you know, an educational piece right on, on snatching and pistols or something like that. Or flexibility, mobility.

You know, five minutes later you're not watching it, you're on something else. It, it opens up the door to potential other distractions, other stuff, and, and puts you down different rabbit holes. Yeah. And,

[00:10:47] Sam Rhee: and the problem is, is that all these apps, it's the algorithm. So they're gonna throw stuff at us that makes us want to stop and look at it more.

Yep. And they're smarter than us. Oh my God. So the number of. Funny CrossFit memes. I just start ballooning like crazy and then I'm stuck for 15 minutes looking at all this stuff, extra than I thought. So it is a challenge and, and I think what I just, I, I'm spit balling here. I didn't even think about it until right now.

I'm gonna set a timer and I'm gonna be like, all right, 10, 10 or 12 minutes in the morning, 10 or 12 at night. That's it. Yeah. And I'm gonna just leave it at

[00:11:20] David Syvertsen: that. Let's tie that to, you know, some of our coaches have done this. I know friends that have done this. My, one of the guys at my wedding that I used to train with Dallas has cut this off completely.

Social media breaks. So you're saying 15 to 30 minutes today. You come up with your own number. Right. You know, but like, cut, make, make sure that you're disciplined enough to have a cutoff point. What about getting rid of it completely? Is that a smart, is it in the world that we live in now? Mm. Is it b. You know, if you could, it, it's hard.

I, I go back and forth. I, I've said it in my head so many times, like, if bison didn't exist, like I wouldn't have social media, that's probably not true. Um, but I probably would spend a lot less time on it. Um, should someone, if they're really unable to control those 15 minutes, 30 minutes, the time before bed, is their value in like taking a break?

Right. We've had people say, Hey, I'm taking a break for, what, two weeks a week? An hour, you know, like the rest of the day. Is there, is there any value in that?

[00:12:20] Sam Rhee: Uh, absolutely, but I have a feeling that a lot of people are not willing or wanting to do it. I, I'm thinking about everyone else's that I know of.

Social media consumption, like, I think some of the issues with social media is that when people start picking at

[00:12:40] David Syvertsen: things mm-hmm.

[00:12:41] Sam Rhee: I will hear people say like, well, did you notice that last post? Like,

[00:12:46] David Syvertsen: so and so wasn't in that post?

[00:12:49] Sam Rhee: Why is that? Yeah. Or, you know, like stuff like that. It's so true. Well, they just pick up little things outta the social media, like mm-hmm. You know, and you're like, oh.

And so it's. It's that type of social media consumption, which bothers me. Yep. Because people are like looking at this stuff and then

[00:13:08] David Syvertsen: commenting, creating, creating narratives and stories. Yes. Without knowing the facts. Right. Which

[00:13:12] Sam Rhee: is what gossip is, which is what we talked about. It's dangerous. Um, in the past, on, on, on this podcast.

And so, um, I think it would shut off a huge amount of social contact, but then also, The thing that drives people, which is like allowing them to sort of speculate and see what, what, what people are doing. I, I mean, a lot of it, most of it is positive and people are like, oh, that's so nice. Like, they did this or that.

But like,

[00:13:37] David Syvertsen: all takes, all takes like that one conversation that went in interaction. Yeah. I'll admit something that, uh, back before I had it. Um, we're actually working on having this guy come on with our podcast. I'm working on Dan Dodd, uh, to come on and talk about some strength stuff and old Olympic living stuff.

And Dan and I didn't really have a relationship, like a steady one until 2018. I came onto the Colosseum team, but prior to that Dan was a guy that I knew of. Yeah. Incredibly strong. And it's still like, he's like you, you'll see when we have him on, he's like not strong. He's next level strong. Well, he competes nationally.

Yeah, he's, yeah. He's like, well, he was on Hook Crip. The Hook Crip did a video on him. Oh, no way. Yeah. So I'll, uh, I'll send it to him. I'll send it to you so you could spend 30, uh, see, 15 minutes while,

[00:14:23] Sam Rhee: that'll be my 15 minutes of, of my

[00:14:25] David Syvertsen: day tomorrow. Um, but before I had social media and before I knew Dan. He was someone, one of the first people that I knew that made posts about himself lifting.

He was always lifting because that's what he was best at. And early on in Dan's CrossFit competing career, he was the lifter that wasn't very good at everything else. And then he worked his ass off and got really good at must loves and engine. And, but I remember as a consumer, I used to judge him. I used to call him cocky.

I used to say like, oh, he is only posting videos of himself working out or not Say it, think it, right. I never really had conversations about him with any other people, and here I am seven years later posting my pictures and videos of myself working out. We just talked about that last week, and I think it, it, you have to be aware of, of certain things that when you consume and you don't know the full story or why someone's doing it, It.

It's really hard to do. It's hard, but you should be able to just shut off the judgment stick now. Am I perfect? Are you perfect? No. Is anyone ever gonna be perfect? But I think it's something every now and then you have one piece of control over a situation like this. If you follow an account as a consumer and all it does is kind of piss you off, what can you do, Sam?

Just turn it off. Unfollow it. Yeah, don't, don't look at it. My question to everyone that consumes social media that if you are following someone or an account or a business that makes you angry or stressed or, oh, this is so stupid, why the hell do you follow it? To me? If you follow something or someone on social media, you support it.

That like when you click that follow button, you are saying, I support you. So if you're still following someone, That in a, in order to keep this in a fitness landscape and it pisses you off when you see stuff or you know, you want to be like negative about it. I think instead of saying, uh, that person should stop, I think you need to stop.

I think the consumer needs to take the control and say, Hey, I'll unfollow. I've unfollowed so many accounts over the past couple years and I don't tell anyone about it. I don't announce it. It's just, I, it's stuff I don't want to see. Um, we've been in business for 10 years. As a gym owner. There have been a couple of gyms that I haven't had great, great relationships with.

I don't follow 'em on Instagram 'cause I don't wanna see their stuff and, and that, and that's the end. I it's outta sight, outta mind. But if I followed it just so I can watch that car accident, so I can rubber neck a little bit and just every now and then check in, that's a bad job by me. You know? So I, I think as a consumer, that's something that we should always be cognizant of.

That if, if it's something that's causing stress or creating negative thoughts or creating ne negative conversations, gossip even, I think you're the person that needs to make the change, not the other

[00:17:14] Sam Rhee: person. I look very carefully at what my reaction is when I look at, especially people's personal posts, right?

And if I feel like. I'm being negative, like, ugh, another vacation, or, you know, uh, like I said, like, oh, like that person's missing from this post. Like, what's going on? I, I know I'm not in a good place

[00:17:37] David Syvertsen: with myself. And you know that because of experience. Yeah. And like, and you, you're humble enough to take a negative experience from your past and apply to your future.

And

[00:17:45] Sam Rhee: I'm not perfect. That happens all the time. I just have to be able to catch myself and say, Hey, listen.

[00:17:51] David Syvertsen: You are not really doing yourself

[00:17:53] Sam Rhee: justice, right? By being catty or thinking that way. Like be, be positive, right? Like, don't, I never wanna look at a post and try to be negative about that person, right?

If I catch myself feeling that way, I know it's not that person, it's it's me. Right. And if it keeps doing that, then I, I probably shouldn't be following that person. Exactly. Yeah. And I've gotten like, like I was just looking at who you, like, how many you follow, you follow 850. Yeah. On my personal, I follow 329.

[00:18:26] David Syvertsen: Yeah. And I've, that's a lot. It's 500 more people

[00:18:28] Sam Rhee: pruned it down so much. Me too. 'cause I was like, if I don't really. Know them well or, um, feel good, then I'm just, just, and I keep trying to work on getting that number down. Same. Now my business account is totally different. Right. That's different

[00:18:44] David Syvertsen: reasons.

Yeah. But, um, Yeah.

[00:18:46] Sam Rhee: But absolutely, like, like you said, don't follow the stuff that is eliciting a negative reaction in you. Even if it's something subtle and you're like, no, but I do wanna know what's going on. Right. Like, like you said, it's a car accident. Yeah. Have the, it's not easy, the mental willpower.

Right. To be able to say, yeah. Not good for me. Yeah.

[00:19:06] David Syvertsen: And it's, it's something that, again, we're not coming, we're not telling you to be, Hey, don't be judgmental. I mean, yeah, don't be judgmental. But I think the main part of that is, If you are following accounts that are subconsciously making you upset, stressed out, angry, your mental health will suffer.

And the people around you, the people that love you and are supporting you and your family, your friends, you're gonna be a lesser version of yourself. If you're swiping up and down your phone stressing yourself out and choosing to do it, you know, like you, you're actually going to create some mental health issues for yourself.

By by living that way. So even, you could even say like, Dave, don't call me judgmental. I'm an adult. Fine. I don't want you to have mental health issues. So if you have accounts that you are only following so that you can talk about them or gossip about them or get stressed out over, just, just unfollow 'em.

And I, and I think that's a huge advice that CrossFitters, if you're co, if you're only following accounts, to see what your fellow competitors are doing, and all it does is stresses you out or take competitors out. If you're a CrossFitter and you're getting upset over someone else making progress and you're not, someone looks away a certain way and they're, and you don't, and it doesn't inspire you, it only makes you upset.

Unfollow 'em because I think that that's where I think a lot of these mental health issues, I mean, mental health is such a a card now that everyone's playing, and some of it to me is legitimate. Some of it is not. But I think the rise of social media, it's not a coincidence that there's a huge rise in, in mental health issues.

I mean, so you need to be aware of

[00:20:34] 2023_0806_1106: that.

[00:20:34] Sam Rhee: I, I know we could talk about Haley Adams and, uh, mal O'Brien as pro athletes. Yep. I, I was looking at Emma McQuaid. She had a, a very good post. She didn't do that well this year in the CrossFit Games, so I think, yeah, she struggled. Yeah. So I think she should probably not.

Like she should turn off her social media for a little bit. Yeah, yeah. But she made a post a little while ago and it said, um, every year, um, seems to get harder. Social media plays a bit a big part in that. I feel analysts put external pressure on athletes with their expect expectations on us. I feel we get more backlash for underperforming than actually performing, which makes it even harder.

Again, people, uh, online don't understand life circumstances. We're only human. So as I jump to conclusions, uh, why. Is this why the younger generation are having to take a break from the sport? Because the social media is putting too much pressure on athletes. So there's no doubt, um, if you bind up your self-esteem or listen to or see what other people are doing, that is incredibly corrosive.

I think. I absolutely believe Hailey, Adam and Ma O'Brien were. Brought down in part in terms of their health issues because of

[00:21:44] David Syvertsen: social media? Absolutely. Like I would put, I would bet my house. Yeah. We don't know them. We don't have a personal relationship with them, so, you know, but if, if we're gonna make an assumption or make a guess, social media played a huge part of that.

And those two, they're not like random borderline games athletes. They, they would've been top 10 favorites. Mal was probably the favorite two in the games. Absolutely. And, and it almost breaks your heart a little bit because again, you as a consumer of the cross at games, you forget how young they are, like younger than almost everyone that comes to this gym.

And they are light years above everyone as an athlete. And that takes a ton of work. And I, I wish they could des, I wish they could take in the gratification of competing at the games, potentially winning, but because of that internal stress, the mental stress, the mental health issues, they backed out.

They pulled themselves out, and I hope we see them again. Um, on the games floor next year, but I think about this all the time with my son that it almost seems like it's only getting worse. And again, parenting can be a part of it, but again, we only have so much control over, over what they take in and how much it can influence them.

That is this something that we're gonna see a lot of, is that generation that, like, let's say age 14 to 20 Sasha's in that window? Yeah. And Sasha's different, in my opinion, I'll say, you don't have to say it. But are they? Equipped for real world because of how much they've been inundated by social media.

And it's not even what we're talking about comparing and judging. Like Hailey Adams and M Burn have both publicized posts that people have said to them how manly they look. Mm-hmm. How disgusting they look. Mm-hmm. Um, And I still still say to this day, if I ever hear a guy say that to a girl, like I might get violent or the just, I, I have zero tolerance for that kind of stuff, is if a guy were ever say like, Hey, you, you're disgusting.

Your muscles are too big. Like, dude, you need to get back into the gym. Start lifting some weights. Like, they're like beautiful women at the games. Like, it's like they look great and they're. Doing things with their body that are so impressive and they work so hard, and the fact that they're taking themselves out of the situation because of mental health issues that.

Or partially stemmed from social media. It breaks my heart and it, it makes me worried that there's probably a lot of other people dealing with the same struggles. They are, but they're not brave enough to walk away from something. They're just gonna keep taking those punches. I mean, don't

[00:24:12] Sam Rhee: we look at our own bodies?

I know, I do. And I look at what people look like on social media. Yeah. And that influences the way. I perceive myself or others. Yep, for sure. Absolutely. Every day. Yeah, every day. Yep. And I see other people coming in, in my business in plastic surgery exactly the same way. And it blows my mind. Yeah. When people don't really see that disconnect saying this and they, they will literally show me posts and I'll be like, that's not even real.

Do you not even realize that? That is not. A real person that is, that has been al digitally altered to an extent that you can't even, like, it's pretty obvious. Like someone took some sort of like digital morph thing and just like, oop, like, you know, through their belly in and did all that. Like, and, and that is what is driving both subtly and sometimes not so subtly what, what we think of ourselves.

And so, um, I don't like, I wish there was a way that we could help our athletes, um, our children mm-hmm. Um, our friends to sort of see that. Mm-hmm. But we're affected by it just as much. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you judge yourself as an athlete a lot by what you see other people on social media doing. Yep. And you can't help it.

The only thing that you can really do in some ways is, I mean, you could try to divorce yourself from it, but is, is just recognize it. And, and sort of work on addressing that in your own head. And

[00:25:47] David Syvertsen: honestly, I don't wanna lose the benefits of being a social media consumer. I think there's enormous benefits from being a social media consumer.

Like the, the laughs that I have on social media. We, our coaches even like some of the stuff that we share each other like cracks up, like it almost can like break the ice a little bit. Like some of the stuff like that, other people, funny stories that. Other people make about their kids, their toddlers, and they're like, I'll do some stuff about Barack.

And like you, you laugh, you go back and forth. You, you know, trade a couple texts back and forth and you're back to normal. But like, I don't wanna lose those benefits. But I think what I can get better at and what many people can, is just the discipline it takes to a, how much time are you spending on it, like we talked about, but an even deeper level of discipline of what is your mindset?

Of when you are consuming this, are you really letting this influence you? Are you, do you not like someone because of what they ask social media? Because one thing social media has done right, it's turned everyone into like this, like detective, like, Hey, I can figure out X, Y, and Z because I follow this person on social media.

That's really dangerous and it's usually not true. The amount of people that I have come up to me are in conversation have said. Um, I'm good at reading people. I get a good read on people, and the amount of times that's not true is more often than not, but they think that because they, they, they read social media and they create these narratives in their head.

It, it lacks humility because to me, humility is when you ask people questions. Is that how you get information? You should ask people questions to get information, not think about things. You know, like introverts, right? If all you do is just like listen to your own thoughts, are you so arrogant that you can't, you won't even take in other people's information about themselves because you think you figured it out already because you saw a few Facebook posts, Instagram posts, and that person is like, again, arrogance.

When I saw Dan Dodd was bragging about him lifting. That was arrogant of me. 'cause I never asked him a question, Hey, like what's the deal? Like, why do you do that? And then him and I got closer. Over the years we're on the same team with each other. We competed against each other. But now we're neighbors and like we have a pretty good relationship now.

And I know Dan down to, I know Dan pretty well. I'm not saying down to the core, he doesn't have that, those bones in him. He's not a cocky individual. He's not into himself, not any more into himself than I am about myself. So I'll say that. But that level of arrogance that I had prior to doing that is unacceptable.

So to me, like I'm down this stage where like I need to make sure I don't make that mistake again. So if I'm on social media consuming something and my mindset is immediately negative or judgmental without asking that person questions or having all the information, that's where I think you just simply, it takes discipline, but it is so doable that just to check yourself.

And be able to remove yourself from those initial thoughts. I don't think everyone's capable of doing it. It's hard

[00:28:41] Sam Rhee: to recognize that it is in the when moment. See that reaction in the moment when you see that reaction in yourself, right.

[00:28:45] David Syvertsen: Really hard. So I, I think that's, that's kind of like a, a responsibility of being a consumer of social media.

Let me ask you this really quick. Yeah.

[00:28:53] Sam Rhee: So, how. When you get a notification, say on your phone, do you get notifications about social media on your phone? Do you look at them like someone commented on your post or someone, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, does it ring, does it

[00:29:05] David Syvertsen: dinging? No, I, I actually took that off, so I, I don't get any notifications on my, like, so when you're saying like, if my phone is like in a normal state, like Yeah.

Nothing comes up on there. If, whether it's a, like a comment, a message even. Yeah. Um, And I did that because after a while, especially after you, like right after you make a post, like that's when most people will like something, right? Yeah. Like, I don't like this, like looking, watching a class, watching tv, spending time with Brock or Ash and like seeing things appear on my phone.

Mm. The only thing that really appears right now is a phone call or a text message. Like, I don't like the emails I've taken off as well. Oh really? Yeah. Mm. And. And again, it gets you too into like, like that's what Instagram does. They're smarter than us. Like if you're got constantly getting these things like, like, oh, who commented?

Oh, I'm, five minutes later. You know, I'm watching a guy this skydive off of, you know, the GW Bridge. Like mm-hmm. What? I just lost five minutes of my day, you know? Yes. And then I'm gonna complain about not having enough time in a little bit, you know, like yes, that if you ever complain about not having time to do things, that's the first area we should look at as a consumer.

Are you spending too much time on social media? And I guarantee, I guarantee it's more than you think. And you know, so that that, again, it takes a different level of list discipline. I think that's something that has come with social media, the growth, the surge of it. Is and and why it's causing issues, especially in teens and adolescents with mental health and some adults as well, is that it's such a good, beautiful thing that has connected so many people together.

Like there are so many people that I'm connected to now that I would not be otherwise. I. Whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing is irrelevant. It's, it's a fact that I'm connected to people through social media. Let me ask you

[00:30:43] 2023_0806_1106: this,

[00:30:44] Sam Rhee: is it now that you post a

[00:30:45] David Syvertsen: lot? Yeah. Has that changed? Well, a lot Is what, once a week?

Well, more than you used to, right? Yeah.

[00:30:50] Sam Rhee: You're a regular poster. Yeah. You also post for your business and so forth. Right. Has that changed how you approach consuming media now that you

[00:30:57] David Syvertsen: post regularly? I consume less than I used to. Um, I think the most I ever did was during the pandemic. Mm-hmm. Which is probably the case for a lot of people.

The research I did said that was the biggest surge in social media that we've ever seen was 2020. And since then, you know, had a little bit of a rough time during and right after that. And that's when I started like unfollowing accounts that I just don't care to see every anymore or was causing negative thoughts in my head.

And so do I perceive, because I'll tell you why different after my personal and. Well, and business growth in it. Yeah. 'cause I'll, I'll

[00:31:32] Sam Rhee: tell you why I'm asking because once I was forced to post a lot or more than I normally did for my business Yep. I looked at it, consuming it in a totally different light.

Okay. Like, I was just like, I don't wanna spend that much time on social media anymore. Yeah. 'cause I was con like, thinking about content and so I, I feel like once you c. See it from the other side of things where you're actually having to post. Mm-hmm. Um, you kind of feel like, yeah, I'm not, yeah. I'm not really that interested in it as much as I

[00:32:00] David Syvertsen: used to be.

Yeah. I don't, the only thing I still do love, I'd still do love like checking in on some of like friends like. What their training was. Mm-hmm. Especially like my CrossFit training buddies. Mm-hmm. Like whenever they post or ins a story, something, I always wanna watch it and see what the workout was, what they're moving, like, what they look like, are, are they moving well?

Um, that kind of stuff like, um, but I don't think. Much has changed about my view on social media since the pandemic like that, that's when like I made a big turn to like not spend as much time on it. And the things I do watch right now, it sounds funny, I'm gonna get made fun of for this, but like, I like watching like, um, like nature and.

Animal reels all the time. Like, and that's like, my phone knows it. Like if I go watch reels right now, that's like every other video. Just like wild animals. Like, and I've always been into stuff, it sounds weird, but like, you know, I can't wait to go to the Bronx Zoo with Brock for me, not for him. Like that kind of stuff.

Like, we're gonna be doing that at some point. Wow. You become my father. Yeah, but it's, it relaxes me like it actually does. Like, I'll actually watch it for like 10, 15 minutes after I wake up sometimes. Uhhuh. That has changed where like, I'll actually seek something on my phone, on social media to relax my mind a little bit.

Hmm. Like if I, I've had some like stressful days as a business owner, as an athlete that's been banged up over the past seven months that if I take like a midday nap and I get up or I can't fall asleep, I'll watch stuff like that. That sounds positive. Yeah. No, it is. It's, it's a major positive. I don't feel like it's, um, So, yeah, that, that's kind of like our spiel on consuming social media.

Um, I'm not sure if that's really meant to kind of help you guys out with it, but I do think getting these conversations going can generate a lot of internal dialogue and thought and breaking down why do you do what you do and is there something that you can control and fix to improve your own mental health?

Because I do think this thing that I have in my hand right now, my phone. I think it controls our mental health more than most people are willing to admit. Adults, kids established, confident, not confident. And if you can see some of the red flags, kind of what we talked about this in this episode, as a consumer, I think it could fix a lot of the issues that eventually show up either right now or further down the road.

I would

[00:34:14] Sam Rhee: say two things for me coming away thinking about this is one. How much time am I actually spending on it? Mm-hmm. And two, how is it making me feel? How is each post each look on anything? Like if it's making me feel positive and relaxed, like Yep. Nature videos does for you. Yep. I'm okay. Mm-hmm. But if it's making me feel like, you know, questioning or like wondering what the motives of someone is or feeling negative about somebody.

Mm-hmm. Or, or not in my best place. Yeah. Then I know it, like you said, it's not. The poster. Yeah. Like D Dan Dodd, it's me. Yes. That has to look at it and figure out like, what's going on in my head. Yep. And, and I think that I'm never gonna stop social media, but I am gonna look at what it's bringing out in me.

Very, very, very

[00:35:03] David Syvertsen: critically. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it'd be very smart if you guys can just emotionally handle. Checking back on, like what was, what was your mindset after watching that, that that little splurge you did on social media? Like what did you do after? Did you immediately text someone and start gossiping?

Well, hey red flag, this shit's causing issues in your life. 'cause you shouldn't be doing stuff like that. Um, but if it's more like, Hey, I want to now check in on this person, you know, someone just had her surgery in our gym recently and I saw that she was in the hospital with her sling on like, oh, she had her surgery, like text her right after.

Absolutely. Like those are the kind of things like if tho if you, if. If it elicits those positive responses, I think you should keep going with it. But if it's like, ugh, Sam's posting himself doing Thursday's wad again, like he sucks, his box jumps are terrible. Like that's, that's a you problem and you need to be able to admit that.

Absolutely. All right. Thank you guys. See you soon.