S06E01 - Delve deeper into...Life Before The Internet

Computer classes were like for the dumb kids, like people will be like what and like people shall try to teach us like maybe it's beacon like typing skills and we're like, we're not here for that.

Does anyone else remember?

Maybe it's speaking, Oh my God to play and you hear a lot of creators now say you spend more time creating than you do consumeing.

I can't imagine now not having access to you, for example, I'm always always be careful.

Lot those.

Hi, I'm Amanda and I'm Rumby.

Welcome to its layered podcasts.

We're under the Black Class Network, Power by iHeart, and today we are recording in studio.

If you're watching me roomby, Oh my God, it's so good to have you here.

In my It's unbelievable.

I know.

I feel like we say that every time, like we if you haven't already listened to our special, we did definitely say that, but I won't lie. It definitely feels good to be in person, Yeah, in studio, getting this thing going finally after all the weeks of planning.

For sure, and obviously you were here because we had our first ever live podcast show for Beyond the Valley Music festival.

What a ride.

Oh my goodness.

It's a different ballgame recording live in front of an audience. Yeah, that definitely was a learning curve for us, but we had fun.

And it was so surreal. Yeah, it was incredible.

Yeah, and this is more a vibe you know, like in studio with an edit pause button, whereas.

When you're live, you're like here we go. So that was.

I'm so surprised. There's so many podcasts out of the UK. If we're doing live podcasting. It's definitely another talent.

Definitely, but it's also a thrill, I think, and I'm so glad I've got to do it with you, Amanda for the first time.

Where are we today?

So today we're Bittersweet Studio, which was so happy about, like, you know, black female owned studio, yep, and I'm recording with my fellow black female podcaster. This is such a special moment as that you can see we've got a little set up going room.

What do you think of the.

Vibe of the vibes are vibing, by the way, So the whole reason why we have this beautiful setup, which was done by the Pink Lady Picnics, you should check them out.

They're incredible.

Is because we thought for season six, we're gonna write a love letter to women, women of color and just celebrate ourselves because I think so often we're striving and there's a lot of strife in this life. Hey, that's a bar right there. So we just thought let's get into our soft girl era. Okay, and if you're watching, you can see we're a little soft girly yes today or the girlipops as you can tell.

I just learned that word. Oh my gosh.

Yeah, definitely, it's our sort of gift to you and to say like you're doing great, sweetie, like you know, shout out to you, you're working hard, doing the things, but also take time to celebrate.

Yeah, definitely.

I think it was especially as black women were always in survival.

Mode, true, all the time.

And sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the vista, take a step back and actually really reflect on all the things that we do. So definitely leaning into a soft girl era for this season.

For sure, for sure.

And so as we kick off season six, which is wild for me to even like, I can't even remember what do we talk about in season five?

Yeah, you're right, I don't see them five, they're our specials.

Like, yeah, it feels like aon's ago.

But today we thought we would kick start with life Before and After the Internet showing age today.

Okay, some people like remember was before? Yeah, they're like, what do you mean no Internet?

So I mean before we get truly into that between season five and the special.

Is there anything else that happened aside from BTV for us?

For you?

Definitely we joined the black Cast Network, which is amazing powered by iHeart and it's a hub of diverse voices, obviously predominantly First Nations in Australia, but also people of color like us, and I think it was quite important to us to join like minded community and definitely we feel like we're at home. Definitely check out black Cast Network. They have a lovely roster of other podcasts to check out.

And you know you were featured on an episode with Mundanara Podcasts and yeah, I think it's just great to have a family that we belong to. Definitely, anything exciting happened in your personal life?

Ooh, personal life twenty twenty four Mad Blur. Yeah, it just feels like we were just grinding and working and working, I mean not only to do BTV and to do this season, but also just on ourselves.

Yeah.

I can only say for myself, I really was like, okay, now it's I was kind of in a slumber after you know, motherhood, new motherhood. But now I'm more and more confident in my role and my life now. So I feel like twenty twenty four was kind of like rising from the dead, rising from the ashes. Yeah, from the definitely from thees. So I'm quite excited for twenty twenty five. I feel like it's starting on a good foundation.

That's great.

I'm happy for you.

Yeah, what about you?

Twenty two Andy, four was thug life. I only even gonna hold you like thug life. I'm so glad we're done with that, and I hope five comes right. Yeah, a lot, a lot of work, a lot of sweat, blood tears, some great memories made. If you haven't listened to our Affronation episode, you we went to Affronation and Coordination, which was incredible. Yeah, honestly, I can say I feel.

Like worked hard.

Hopefully the fruits of our labor will come to fruition.

And you can feel them this season. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. So what do you think all of the stuff we've talked about? Yeah, do you remember a time before the internet?

I distinctly remember.

I remember at school when we got computers.

Oh yes, so like life.

I think that's when I can switch on that light where it was we got computers.

At that time.

We lived in Ghana and our school had like computers in each classroom and then there was a library with computers and then we had to start taking computer Yeah, like I don't know, how do you floppy disk? Do people even know what a floppy disk is?

Yeah? I think we know that symbol, but they don't actually know what the symbol of save.

Yes, yeah it was a floppy disk and yeah that's kind of where my first kind of moment of knowing.

And isn't it funny because I'm sure And definitely in the Zimbabwean context, computer classes were like for the dumb kids, Like people would be like, what now she's doing computers? But it was like such a like people be like, oh my god, I want to do math. Why don't you do like English lips instead? Of like, but then now it's like, how funny is that? Ironic?

Is that?

Like it was just such or it was such a class you would take if you want to just take the piss. Yeah, you'd like maybe like go on paint and do a few squares color the women, and you're like, Okay, look what I did on a computer.

And then now it's like how far have we come? True? True?

I remember even even once we were in high school, we had that computer lab that was built on the new library, and people would go there to like truly yeah, yeah, and like people shall try to teach us like maybe it'speacon like typing skills, and we're like, we're not here for that.

There's anyone else remember maybe it's speaking, Oh my.

God, yeah, to play in this. I want to do my other homework. You know, we did not take it seriously but actually made us.

Speaking helped because have you seen aunties typing?

I will tell you that that typing Yeah literally just yeah, it definitely has helped.

But what was life like compared to now pre Internet? Like maybe let's sat the little gin alpha.

No, this is for jer Roman and his friends. I feel like.

Life is simpler, but we didn't know, and privacy was granted automatically. True, you didn't have to work so hard to have it. Yes, you know, your your details and an email. I actually remember an email start. My dad had his email, and like we would all get like people be like, oh, what's your email? Oh I don't have one, but my dad has one, and like literally he would they like print.

If someone emailed you, you would like print.

I think we went on French tour in form four, so we were like sixteen seventeen, went to France and then obviously meet I guess obviously in Europe it was a bit more advanced, so we were like, oh, what's your email and you're like, that's okay, just email my dad and like, because I think we thought of it like posting a letter, like oh.

You can a box four you yeah, you know.

So I remember like handing out my email to like my dad's email to like all these people, and then like you know, when he got back to Zim, people would like email me and and then would like print it out, and I'm like, oh, okay. Then I come to his office and reply via his email. Oh my obviously this man could see everything you were reading. But we weren't even thinking that way. To me, it was just like, oh my gosh, it's a cool way to communicate.

Trash, trash trash.

Yo.

Do you have any core memories pre Internet?

I just remember we're outside, like you were playing outside. That that's where the fun was. I was a bookworm, so I was always reading books.

Yeah.

Life was very insular, yeah, like very like sheltered in a really real way. And then a core memory of us having our first computer at home. My parents set up in our study and we used to play these computer games like Taken was taken on there? No, I don't, I think it was PlayStation, but we played like this

From Yeah, definitely, it was just And even the Y two K we talked about this second day were like, do people even realize it was such a stress for people, Like what's going to happen when you moved from ninety nine to two thousand?

Yeah.

They even had songs like Mammagana party like it's nineteen Hold the pity is here with me always singing a level yeah everyone, and then waiting for tonight video all the ball would drop yes, and then it went down saying yeah, I didn't really know what the era was, would hold. I think I can liken it to what AI is now, like how everyone kind of knows this AI is a buzzword, but there's a bit of anxiety around what it.

Means for you man harnessing powers.

And we literally saw that shift happen, and so interesting it happened at the shift from us going from primary school to high school definitely, So it's like, literally, yeah, and in high school just like solidified. So the time you finished high school, we were now kind of fully getd that's been social media as in facebooks, and then started.

That aspect of the internet right for sure.

Before in high school was just like okay, can you play solitaic?

Can you so?

Like?

Can you familiarize yourself with the computer?

And then after that was what's your identity on the internet? You know, isn't that because I really am so grateful that now we didn't have that in high school. I didn't have an Instagram, I didn't have Facebook. Now for kids it's so stuff.

Here's a question for the girlies and guys.

I don't know what's the equivalent of pops girly pops and every one.

Like high school age, how are they coping?

Like living with the internet being such an integral part because when we were in high school, even our phones, we weren't allowed phones on us until we were in uh fifth form, fifthful, Yeah, a block if you get it, I think a bloc you could get it for longer hours when we were about sixteen, but literally and I we used to play like what is that game snake on our phone.

Or nott thty three exactly dropped the ball because they.

Were funds again and they were under money, and like, it's.

So funny because now in Australia they're trying to revamp that like sixteen year olds plus her phone access of social or on social media. Like so it's almost like in some ways our teachers at the time were ahead of the curve in terms of them controlling and limitting and you cannot focus on school if you have the world in your pocket. Like it's just it doesn't it doesn't work. And they're like, now how they navigate?

Then the bully thing too, Like it's just insane. And I wonder if they have classes on.

The internet.

I know my sister's a teacher and they do have like kind of safety classes, but we didn't have none of that.

Yeah, yeah, which actually brings us to think, what are the benefits or the drawbacks of having the world in your pocket?

Do you think listen?

Firstly, we wouldn't even be podcasting if there was no internet.

Yes.

Number one, Accessibility is probably the biggest thing. Media houses had the power. You know, if you loved a c eleb, you waited until someone published something on them. Announcements were made through media, and then if you lived in countries like Zimbabwe, where you were so far removed, you.

Barely had actions.

Yeah.

I remember we would like share magazine and someone would come with the magazine.

You'll be like oh, and that's when you would get.

The latest news exactly, new magazine call exactly.

Now it's like you see your favorite eleb somehow and you're lucky and you can get a selfie and you share that like oh, and people get where they are. So access and then obviously has more access happens.

The cost of these.

Things Internet, Wi Fi phones goes down, and that's why more people can podcast now it's not just media houses with radio shows. Yeah, so it all kind of ripple effects my work. I don't think I would have like my work is dependent on the internet.

Research.

Like we used to go to the library and read and that.

Our librarian crazy if you get what his name was.

Now in high school we were like yeah, people like souls and you're like, dude, I'm just trying to do my rear.

Yeah. Yeah, and for you.

I think, look, the benefit is having access to information, true and equal access, like everyone can as long as you have internet, everyone can reach that website. There is no because as you said, we had to depend on libraries, and then you'd have to depend on the stock of sin like but now everyone can look it up, you know, the same time, the same Netflix, for example.

I mean you just saw.

Beyonce a ball, yes, and like everyone could see that. You know, it wasn't like an American thing, which typically never used to happen growing up.

True, you would always wait time.

But I used to love my favorite soap opera and like you would see South Africa would have it and then they would like write a synoposis, Oh the person's gonna die.

Yeah, you know it's crazy.

You were like a year or two be hind behind because again, networks didn't.

It wasn't equal access.

I felt like the Internet kind of smashed that in it made that all those networks that kind of like Gate kept a lot of stuff can't do it anymore.

Like I'm sure Beyonce ball. We would have seen it. Yeah, maybe in a couple of money like VMAs. Yes, like if you didn't unless you had like MTV, but then sometimes even that was delayed, it wouldn't air necessarily like live you get the recorded.

Yeah, bruh.

Yeah, and obviously you don't know what you don't know, so we didn't know that there was another option where you can see at the same time as everyone else. But now that we do, a door has been like open, wide, open, and it's just but I think the drawbacks are privacy. Like you know, sometimes they're just walking around and someone thinking a selfie. Then now you're bombing someone else's photo. Then you think to your software as this photo going, yes,

I think Europe you guys are really.

Good GDPR rules, and they even use GDPR. It's supposed to be some if you don't know gdprs like your data privacy laws in Europe specifically and at the other regions also use gdprs at reference pointuse.

It's quite strict.

For example, I remember when Threads was first launched by Meta. I saw people in zim talking about I'm on threads. Then I remember I was like, oh, let's see what this threads is about.

And I couldn't download it in Europe because they blocked it. Probably there was some data security issues.

Around that, and only like I think it was like months later then it was released, but even then I still haven't downloaded it because I was just like that put in my mind, like what are they taking away? So definitely that privacy and how I think the funny thing is I remember growing up and people are like, oh ads, like ads are in a face, but like now literally it's on our phone ads all the time.

And obviously now businesses are getting smart and you pay.

To not have ads, but you're not going to pay every single website or whatever to not have ads. But it's this constant overload of information. I think the mental the mental implications are really large when it comes to the Internet that we don't necessarily know, and probably it's gonna affect maybe our generation more because we had we lived without and then with.

So you know what life could be like without it?

Yeah, yeah, because sometimes it's a go and climb a tree, like what we said last season or on our special tree walk back the tree, you know, touch some grass, because really people get so keyboard Warrior and you're like, would you say this in front of someone? So I think the Internet has allowed people to have a voice, but sometimes it's too much.

And it's affecting our health, not just mentally too because like I was saying, with work, you work on a computer all day. You're not getting the movement you need, You're not getting the fresh air you need. You have to make a conscious decision constantly. And I'm sure you

Now it's you also depend on the TV station.

Yeah, you could just slip on your and put the news, yes exactly, but like how our parents would be like go outside, you read a book.

You literally have to make the conscious decision to do that, because they say that sitting is the new smoking for.

Our definitely, and I mean like, look, even with the TV stations they would put the cartoons or whatever at appropriate times, or like at least for time blocks. But now if I said to Jerome, oh, it's eleven o'clock, there's no Thomas the Tank Engine, You'll be like, what do you mean this press place? You know, because even if it's not on the internet, you can download it. So it's just having that access twenty for seven exactly. People are losing sleep. People be like, oh, I went

Yeah, And I think I will also say times I find myself like just reaching for the phone any moment.

You have like a pocket.

Let's say you're you sat down to dinner or to watch a movie with a spouse or someone, and then let's say they just need to quickly do something as soon as they leave, you find you like reach for the phone, and it's like filling that border exactly. And I've read this article which talked about I think it was in the New York Times children need to get

Be like soap, and like do you go to your room whatever?

And then you start coming up with stories and ideas and that really helps creativity. But now we just fill it with like, okay, here you go pick up your phone and do this, that and the other. And you hear a lot of creators now say you spend more time creating than you do consuming content.

But it's like you need to foster that and exercise that muscle more.

Otherwise you just constantly thinking there's something better out there. You can't get your brain working.

Yeah, I mean I must have it.

Even with Jerome, I'm like, oh my gosh, he should be fine being bored because you start to think, even if it's not even just consumerism us now on a whole other because of the Internet too, Amazon, you're like, oh I need that toy, BAM or even the same days, so it's like then you start to spend more, have.

More, like everything is more, more and more and more more.

So now to almost go to that under consumption lifestyle, it's a very conscious decision that everyone needs to make, I think at some point, because it has become too much, it's too much scared, it's.

Much of a good thing, the bad thing is a bad thing.

Knowing what you'd know now, though, would you go back to not having the internet at all?

No, Look, our friendship itself is heavily dependent on this.

I can't imagine waiting for a letter from you, a letter I want to.

Love letter from you.

Imagine, Like you know, I can't imagine we had it in high school. I think we would probably be one of the very few last years us letters as a form of communication. There's some friends that have still now who went to different high schools, and we would write each other letters. I mean towards the end of you know, the six years we were there. Towards the end we

Yeah.

But like I can't imagine now not having access to you, for example, as much as we're like, oh my god, long distance sucks, I also know your.

Call a way.

Yeah, essentially, So even though even if I have to wait for time difference, at some point, you're gonna wake up, at some point you're gonna look at your phone, and some times you are on the same we're not on the same time, but we're on this both away. Yes, so I can't imagine not having that.

I agree.

I think it's only just what do we do with our downtimes. Like I love it when I seeople outfit dinner and they put their phones on a.

Ball or something.

So I think it's at some points I love to see people making conscious decisions not to use it. Yes, so I think that's more where our educationalized. How do we use this big powerful thing we've had, and we let everything happen. But now I think people are going back to Okay, I need to put boundary.

They say the.

World is going to move towards more human connection. Experiences are going to become more and more valuable because we are so dependent and reliant on our phones and the internet. What do you think for you, I definitely don't think I could go back, because I think it's democratized a lot, even our thinking travel like travel agents, remember how you need to rely on them on what the best deal was. Now you've got your sky scanners and all this, so

And I have to ask them right now.

It also gives you that feeling, right, But it's so funny we talked about access before because I think access is also on the other side where it's going to become one more expensive all these streaming platforms, no ads, blahlah blah. So it's almost like we're gonna get controlled on the other end too, like you want this to pay for it, and not everyone will be able to afford. You know, Netflix now was like, you can't have five households with the same network.

They're really making us popers. Netflix get your things.

You don't have the same Netflix b So it's like, but I'm not getting everything that America.

Get your location, all the stack. So it's almost like we're still really playful.

You know what we talked about in the beginning of the episode, like how TV station some of them will get stuff late. Yes, we still kind of have that, but just in a different tier system.

Yeah, so it's crazy we need to democratize more.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're here. We're getting back into podcasts.

Ay, So for those of you who didn't think we'd be back guess who's back, back, back, back again.

No, this is exciting. Yeah, thank you, thank you for having me and not being like girls.

Know, it's been such a pleasure to have you. You want you all the time.

We are starting a petition for mb just to move to Australia.

Look, I'm having fun looking after Jerome or spending time with baby Jerome.

And obviously you've been enjoying the sunshine.

I'm that weird and smiling and walking around like such as.

Much for the next episode, guys, cheers.

Bye.

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