Gadgetory

good morning on Wednesday November 15th it's episode 317 of the 359 podcast I'm BVG and a special shout-out to Erin coming in all the way from Mars today whoa Jesus right there sorry I'm super excited to be here the dumbass is behind the mic include Roger Chang and stop doing that hello you're yelling and it's also that's how you say hello and Martian so it was just being appropriate that's just courteous sorry guys I'm sorry I'm not as multicultural so what the hell are we actually talking about on the show like to go then were we talking about by talking at a phone addiction okay so we're talking about phone addiction today there's the Deloitte study out that we wrote about that talks about the fact that phone addiction may actually be cooling or subsiding a little bit there are at least like a couple interesting data points to mention about that I'll break it down for you and also Justice League which is coming out this weekend so this is the DC universes biggest effort so far to actually try to rival Marvel and we'll see if they are actually successful and Roger you're actually gonna be going I will be watching it tonight but I'm very very cautious cautiously hard for it so definitely sending your questions and comments certainly interested to hear what you guys all have to say about phone addiction and also expectations for the Justice League BVG we'll get to as many as you can at the end of the show without further ado let's get to the podcast and here we go for the serving of the recording in three two welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox ribbon I'm Jen how often do you check your phone every day according to a study from Deloitte it can be up to 86 times it seems like a little figure for me but go on okay but Deloitte says that there are some small data points showing that our addiction to phones may be cooling Roger are you buying that argument yeah I would buy the idea that some people are trying to curb their usage whether it's you know parents wanting to spend more time with their kids or with the real world well they're just people need feeling the need for digital detox I do blue that people intend to you know curb their usage on the phone but if they actually do yeah well it wasn't the actually succeed is not a matter right so one of the handful of things a handful of efforts that were mentioned in this Deloitte report where efforts to curb phone use include shutting down some notifications that make sense turning off the phone at night like just completely turning it off right which doesn't work for me because I use my phone as my alarm clock or or keeping the device out of sight completely so it's kind of like an out of sight out of mind thing my immediate thought when I was reading about this though was how there's this disconnect that a lot of people have and I think you were mentioning it too is that you want to curb your screen time in your phone use and you get annoyed when you see people that like seem to be like stuffing their face into their phone yeah but at the same time then you turn around and do the exact same thing yeah look we we were about this few years ago for the very first issue of student magazine we talked about the digital addiction and one of the big causes is FOMO was concept that's been around for a little more than a decade fear of missing out the idea that there's something else better or something that you need to be tapped into two seasons tweeting something exactly how to check this thing or maybe it's an important email from work right like you feel you're constantly feeling the need like a - you know something and I what's going on like it seems like a really easy thing to break that that mentality but it's pretty tough especially when you have kind of two yourself to be in that state right that you're always like for me at least like I'm always cut on call whatever what are you guys says be a question or if I'm getting a you know some sort of common suggestion from our bosses like I feel like I need to be on my phone checking it constantly responding I think a lot of people have that issue it's hard to break how often do you walk down the sidewalk while staring at your phone this is something again yeah I find very annoying in other people and then I catch myself doing it I don't do it as much as others I'm actually pretty good like my my regular walk dork I walk from Penn Station to the office that's about like of 10:50 better walk I usually don't use my phone at all I have my music on another world for a little bit but as in you don't look at your screen but I don't exactly I don't look at my screen which sometimes what I'm like I feel like I do catch myself occasionally but it's pretty rare mm-hmm what about you you I do catch myself occasionally even though I get like super annoyed at somebody if they're like about to hit into me and you know they're like deep into their phone I mean I would like they're having this is war I've looked I've been looking at my screen wall cross-industry yeah terrible I know we're all we're all awful people I guess I guess that's a good point anyway also we wanted to mention some super super important tech news justice league hits theaters this weekend this is DC's biggest effort yet to create a popular superhero universe to rival Marvel but it's movie so far have been hit or miss don't yeah I mean what do you think water was pretty awesome it was good it wasn't that good thoughts pretty good it was good I liked it okay they still wear the Girt they're actually relative to the other movies but Man of Steel was really - too dark Batman vs Superman was pretty incoherent a lot of people hopefully would agree with that just you watch it it seems a collection of seeds that don't really yeah that's that's also the problem apparently with Justice League is that they had one director Zack Snyder and they switched to what was it justice because we who is the Avengers director you know thank you I'm in the last minute I think most a lot of it was done I think Joss Whedon had some reshoots and probably had a hand in editing it but you know they keep saying at least they keep maintaining that it is a exact signer film which has me a little worried cuz you know it's true I mean hopefully the guys from 300 don't show up like being super I would that would be interesting and wouldn't make any sense for that movie true anyway if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNET I'm Ben Fox Ruben Jenn thanks for listening all right so it's time to go ahead and delve back into the comments and questions that you all come up with for us I would like to make a confession my name is BVG and I'm a DC kid all right Ben I was always a huge I was raised on Batman and Green Lantern my to fit I mean I wasn't a comic book fan per se as a kid but I was really obsessed with Superman kids kind of are very heavily influenced my childhood pretty heavily so I have lots of fond memories of Superman it's not it's not like they don't have strong intellectual properties oh yeah these are like huge iconic characters are some of the most recognizable characters in fiction and the problem is is that they've had a couple whips with some major major movies hey that's why Justice League is really you know there's a lot of expectations for those we're like a few years removed from yes some of the best with you yeah go for that too that's a good point I mean correct me if I'm wrong here but I think Heath Ledger was given like a major like did he win an Oscar for his Joker he's good yes yeah which is amazing to think about it was well deserved it was well deserved but remember that this was a superhero movie which are usually popcorn flex right which which don't usually get the critical claim of like an Oscar or a major award so right I'm just agreeing with you with the Christopher Nolan movies that they were good enough to you know really merit that kind of critical acclaim so I mean it's proof that these characters can be handled well well in the chat right now people are referencing Batman the Animated Series which was defining representations of Batman for generations that besides that all the Conroy's voice for me is like when I read the comics I hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill yeah totally without a doubt if that's that's been a while that that cartoon is from the 90s right they're still jointly so doing right now yeah they're still heavily into the animated movies which by the way the next one for anybody not aware they released a trailer last week it's a oh shoot what is it called it's like a steampunk Batman Oh Gotham by Gaslight it's called Gotham by Gaslight I saw a thing that was like yeah so they're leaning heavily into the whole Elseworlds thing where it's like a screw continuity let's just make a good story so it's like if Batman existed in a Gotham and I think the 1800s we're facing off against Jack the Ripper oh very cool right yeah they've had success with the Batman character we just mentioned two very big ones yeah I feel like Superman has also been you know hot and cold obviously Superman from you know yeah superhero film yeah but like what were the ones that you really liked from from the newer series I may have caught one or two and they got a blood into each other I wasn't really yeah I was watching across Marvel and DC you for him just to the DC current run the DC Superman ones the one with the Bryan Singer's director and that was that was a full reboot yeah which why did they keep letting Zack Snyder make movies he makes some good movies okay 300 I really did like 300 actually Watchmen was a fantastic translation not so much a good interpretation page the page I did like watch me and I thought it was very dark and like read the book idea book I did read the book and the book is also dark darker ah I think he did a good job with the material from what Brian said like it was sort of a literal translation the book which doesn't really work for movies erotically hopefully no spoilers on this one but they got rid of the best part of the book the edge was the weird squid thing like the brain spoiler I know it spoiler alert her yeah she thought the ending to the movie made it did think about it it makes more sense in the contemporary generational standpoint yeah that book was written during the Cold War yeah that was a huge part where we needed a common enemy kind of thing that was the point of Watchmen to reinterpret it now in a contemporary setting most current readers who are already the grandfathered in fans that doesn't land is hard we're not in that we weren't in that situation it was to say what tomorrow brings right definitely well actually like that was heavy into the Cold War and that's probably again relevant today so maybe people are watching Watchmen again well they said they are going to be doing a reboot series I think on HBO or so really is it Watchmen yeah there's a premium like miniseries anthology series something coming up there in the tears of that the games drawings and stuff well they just announced the Lord of the Rings yeah yeah but one of the Rings is okay because it's like on to untold tales oh yeah they're not gonna redo the main trilogy they're gonna tell you stuff that Tolkien wrote that never got to screen look I'm fine with that they're obviously making stuff that I that are very much within my wheelhouse and that I would love to watch I just really hope they don't screw it up the same thing with the Lord of the Rings stuff as with Justice League and I think you were mentioning before the podcast about the reviews for Justice League yeah I mean the early reviews have been fairly negative of trying not to read them to get my hopes down too much well maybe that's good maybe my expectations will be even lower but I just have my fingers crossed that it's gonna be more akin to that Justice League animated series from 10-15 years ago oh yeah that was a fantastic series that was a direct continuation of Batman the animators yes it's all the Bruce Timbers yep I love that stuff I just go back to the story I returned home road they saw the five things that he wants to see I mean to be fun yeah they're not there are movies murder is not known for these movies I would take my kids to young but even when he's like five or six I don't think I'd be comfortable taking a yeah if I can't bring a toddler or a youngster to see a Superman movie something's wrong I mean though the last one bad guy that's a Zack Snyder he takes himself it was branding people branding criminals with his bad side because if Superman was doing that I'd be like you don't understand Superman now there's there's nothing wrong with taking some more adult concepts and bringing that into into the fold I mean they were able to go pretty dark and Batman the Animated Series I'm gonna reference heart of ice there wasn't any award-winning episode mister freeze and brought it back from the brink made a silly character from the 60s show yeah into something heavy and relatable without just going blatantly violent yes you know that's the difference and I think it was very tragic as deep but it wasn't yeah absolutely yeah and then they extended it into the Sub Zero movie released in theaters when it's just like oh this is gonna be an extended episode no it's so good let's put it in the movies and if you got to put something in the movies it's got to be more accessible that's all there is to it nice do we have questions yeah so yeah let's go ahead and talk about some of the addiction things we brought up earlier first off Matthew batcher hello I'm the Dutch and I'm a phone a holic all right of course it is we all are this is the longest I've been without my phone this is 15 minutes we've been sitting here goes onto expanses define addicted it's part of my life like you don't get addicted to wearing clothes and there's an interesting point but but you you never stopped wearing clothes yeah phones haven't been this prevalent I mean this colonies yeah can you go can you go a full day without look at your phone like would that would that bother you like I would have to very consciously do it that's a great question it's not even a hypothetical yeah I couldn't I mean I considered I did a cruise a few weeks ago I mean there were a couple days where I had no reception and I left my phone or the cabin it bothered me for a little while but I got over it super quickly yep that's kinda nice it's become as essential though as your wallet or your keys more so I think right more time and eventually I think I had equal visceral response when I realized something's not in my pocket between those two legs why not if if I'm out and I forget my keys that's like that's a lot less panic than what I feel like I feel I thought really yeah I freaked out when I don't have my keys but you have a wife who also has keys yeah that helps I have a girlfriend who also has keys but she works weird hours so I'm just like oh looks like I'm not going home tonight yeah that's cool let's go to the bar yeah yeah it's it's those three things yeah you'd like absolutely cash asks does using the camera count so what about unit askers on the phone I mean that it's the ultimate multitasker yeah some people don't use every aspect of the phone all day I mean I don't remember the last time I made a call I think the problem with that issue is that the phone is so prevalent with so many different things that maybe you take it out to take a picture and then before you know it take it out we yeah trivia whatever so like it's just very easy to like fall into some sort which is what you were actually doing yeah I think you see if people were as addicted to telephones no no teenagers were so we just now I look back is it the way that we do your friends yeah it was cool is it more that we're addicted to communication rather than the I don't that might be the courtliness yeah it's like this it goes back to the phone definitely goes back to that need for a connection let's go ahead and take another question now this one is deep cuts right here stellar tech could we discuss the neuroscience or at least a neuro chemistry behind phone addiction dopamine seems to be the major neurotransmitter in relation with effects of attachment and withdrawal that's a little outside of my not qualified it's an interesting it's an interesting comment and it goes to I think Sean Parker was talking about that related to Facebook earlier this week where he was saying we intentionally created Facebook to release small hits of dopamine and to like essentially get you addicted to it Facebook as an app similar to like other social apps like Twitter or maybe even your email yeah the whole idea is to get small dopamine hits and therefore that's why they like little pings that somebody like thumbs up one of your you know something like that so it's little things along the way right and everything there's been discussion about that you may have even wrote about this for your magazine piece about the idea that like a phone in some ways exists almost like a like a slot machine and so it's know yet to constantly keep bringing you back in yeah it's randomized like you can wait till afternoon and somebody really loves your Facebook post and that makes you happy or like you wake up in the morning and you see the news headlines then we're gonna go to war with Korea and then sad right which is which is why I think a lot of these folks I mentioned in the Deloitte study turn off notifications because notifications is one of these things that could potentially pull you back into the photo totally so if you turn it off turn off notifications the less it's able to draw you in the less likely that you are to get just kind of like you know throwing down the old days when you had a home phone rang your instinct was to pick it up cuz you were curious to know who it was like few people were just doing like let the phone ring yeah you know what I'm just gonna I'm just gonna disconnect just ignore the phone ringing like that's the same principle the dang right you get a little ding you like except right instead of just a folk the hospital call its phone call email text message and there are and there sounds and lights and dings and whatever and like in vibrate so I mean I looked at this from a later story like mobile gaming perspective like they've kind of game doubt how to make their their games the experience is so addictive right whether it was like you've got to check back in a few hours get special prizes or or just check out these free little we haven't been around for a while come on back what's going on your blackjack dealer MP Cody says we're not addicted to communication we're addicted to worrying about what everyone else is doing the problem is that you say they spend more time lurking than anything else but like that's the thing is that you mentioned addicted to communication but you don't actually use your phone to make phone calls right like did I hear you correctly that means that you're not like yeah I mean that's more of a generalized statement I was kind of cracking a joke I do use my phone occasionally but definitely all collectively use it way more for internet e things than we do telephoning but I would argue lurking and like seeing what's going in the world that is a form of communication right you or get you absorbing something that that you can't do without that phone so they're less creepy were than lurking or we're gonna call you a lurker what you don't forget to smash that like button something so old dude all right I can't help it but fine all right so we're just about out of time and just because I'm me I want to talk about superheroes again real quick do this what what are our ultimate personal hopes for 4dc going forward tentatively that this one flops to and by flops it's a royal term because they still make money they're there I feel like they're already doing this full reboot based off of the wonderful universe right everything else just isn't that what they're planning on they are planning on doing more Wonder Woman movie too but it's in limbo because of the war between gal gadot and Brett Ratner right now over the harassment allegations his production company largely funded the first one and she wants him out and Warner Brothers to fund really because he's kind of a jackass yikes Wow surprise you hear that yeah as far as like the terrible allegations that have been in the news headlines lately like oh that one makes sense yeah well they can't do it without her I mean like that oh yeah yeah but she said like I won't come back if he's still here she's she's a big enough star at this point I mean like Wonder Woman made so much money that you know it might it might work out I hope it works out I think those movies would be good so yeah they're not gonna really set IP like that's they'll figure this out though they'll dump them he's as good as gone she's way bigger than him ever will be yeah I personally kind of hope that because for one thing I don't think that the casting is the problem with these I actually really like a lot of their casting decisions gal has blown everyone away I think Henry Cavill as Superman continually gets pushed down I don't think he has the opportunity to be as great as he could be because he's proven that he's can be a very fun actor in other films and I I'm probably gonna get chastised for this but I'd love that Ben Affleck Batman he's a fanboy first and foremost and that makes me happy he-man fan first and even though he also participated in that terrible daredevil movie that wasn't his fault either right person that was a while ago yeah we can we can forget about that I guess whoever the be Aquaman guy to is they're all good I just want to see them say screw the continuity and do what the animated movies have done and just pick really great standalone stories to tell you don't need origins anymore everybody knows where Superman came from and now everybody knows where Wonder Woman came from we've known Batman a thousand times over just give us good standalone stories yeah I agree over there listening yeah right good because they'll listen to me that's what Deadpool's not as much these in economics the character of Deadpool you can argue it is but it's sort of its own thing it works well because ice may actively crushed their uncut right over the years that's true they could get away with anything at that point their best movies are the ones that don't really well it's hard to do that universe building type thing and anybody who tries it's an admirable effort some of them great Marvel did it took them years and many movies to build up the credit the universe like how long like 10 years now long time brothers said we're just gonna put this universe out there for you and I think you kind of have to have good movies first yeah no we're out of time yeah okay oh I do this you look damn fine the 3:59 is available on iTunes tune in stitcher SoundCloud Feedburner google play music of course cnet.com everybody thank you for watching see you tomorrow