The Broken Traditions Podcast with Leron Gaskins

About a year ago, this started as a simple 30-day experiment: delete every social media app off the phone and go back to the old-school way of posting and scrolling — from a laptop, not a pocket. That 30-day experiment turned into a full year, and it's now just how life works. This episode isn't the typical "I quit social media and my life got better" story. It's an honest breakdown of both sides: the real gains — more creativity and productivity, a better mood from stepping away from algorithm-driven negativity, being fully present with the people in the room, and finally slowing down enough to get back into reading and writing — and the real costs — losing touch with relationships that lived entirely in Instagram DMs, missing major family news (finding out a cousin was pregnant only after she'd already had the baby), barely capturing any photos from a meaningful family trip because being present took priority, and missing the simple joy of seeing friends' good moments online. The conclusion: there's no one-size-fits-all answer, and a little friction might serve most people better than a full, cold-turkey cutoff. If you've ever thought about deleting your apps but wondered what you'd actually be giving up, this episode lays it all out. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone weighing the same decision. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: [email protected] 💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com Affiliate Partners & Tools Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

Minimal phones like the Light Phone are having a moment right now — but are they actually solving digital addiction, or just an expensive way to feel like you're doing something about it? After digging into the actual hardware and software behind these devices, five reasons emerge for why a $700-900 minimal phone isn't the fix it's marketed to be. This episode covers why some minimal phones still give full access to the Google Play Store — meaning you can still download Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, completely undercutting the point of buying one — how these phones cost roughly the same as a full iPhone or Samsung flagship, why they're nearly impossible to get repaired if something breaks, how free built-in tools on your current phone (plus cheap options like the Minimalist Phone app and the $50 Brick device) already do the same job, and how the "missing" features on a minimal phone — camera, music, GPS — can end up costing an extra $1,000+ once you replace them separately. Also: why flip phones, not minimal smartphones, might actually be the right call for anyone dealing with a genuine addiction to pornography, gambling, or social media. If you've been considering a minimal phone as your fix for screen addiction, this episode is worth a listen before you spend the money. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone shopping for a "distraction-free" phone. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: [email protected] 💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com Affiliate Partners & Tools Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

Back-to-school season means new backpacks, new schedules, new routines — but there's a quieter list of things that don't make the shopping list. This weekend, going live for a real, coffee-chat style conversation with parents about digital wellbeing. We're talking about "Popcorn Brain" — why constant short-form content is leaving kids scattered and unable to focus — Big Tech's role in targeting young users, how other countries are handling kids and social media differently than we do, why ed-tech in schools might be doing more harm than good, and the direct link between screen time, sleep, and how your kid performs in class. Plus five practical tips you can start using this school year. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: [email protected] 💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com Affiliate Partners & Tools Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

Meta just agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle claims from more than 20 states that it knowingly designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to teenagers. The headlines call it a win for kids online — but going live to actually dig into the settlement tells a very different story. Big Ellie breaks down the real numbers: states originally sought $1.4 trillion, Meta settled for a fraction of that, and didn't admit to any wrongdoing in the process. Only 70% of the settlement is even guaranteed — the rest depends on TikTok and YouTube agreeing to similar changes. This episode covers why the new age-verification and time-limit rules are nearly impossible to actually enforce, why teens will find workarounds just like they always have, why the settlement money goes to state programs instead of the families who lived through the damage, and why parents modeling the same screen habits they're trying to restrict makes the whole thing harder to fix than it looks. If you've seen the headlines about this settlement and want the real story behind the number, this is the episode. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: [email protected] 💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com Affiliate Partners & Tools Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

A fly gets into your house or car by accident. It sees a way out, right through the glass, so it does the only thing it knows how to do: fly straight into it, again and again, never understanding the glass is the thing stopping it. That fly is us, every time we open our phone. This episode is about "the fly in the glass" the pattern of hitting the same invisible barrier over and over while the real world sits right outside it. Big Ellie breaks down three behaviors that keep people trapped in that cycle: comparing your real, lived life to everyone else's curated highlight reel, consuming rage-bait content engineered for outrage instead of real journalism, and artificial intimacy, parasocial relationships, OnlyFans, and even AI companionship ,replacing the real human connection (and the social skills) we actually need. If you've ever wondered why the scroll never feels like enough, this episode explains why, and asks the question that matters: if the fly understood the glass was the problem, would it stop hitting it? New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: [email protected] 💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com Affiliate Partners & Tools Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980