is the internet bad??

hey guys!! 
in this episode, we talk about our opinions on the internet. how it can effect you, the whole thing with comparison on social media, lack of REAL honest connection with others and more.
we hope you enjoyed listening, and stay tuned as we release new episodes every WEDNESDAY!!
love,
hope & nate
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Transcript

Hope: 0:08

Hello guys, welcome back. Hope you guys had a good week and a bit and we're coming back after being off because It's all nathan's fault

Nathan: 0:17

It's all my fault always my fault. Remember that guys when you get married everything's

Hope: 0:26

everything No, I I only am blaming nathan because he's like you can blame it on me because he works full time And so it's understandable that there's going to be times where he's working late And the kids aren't cooperating and we record at night like we've said So it's a bit of a tricky situation whenever we are coming down to record. It's really like, play it by

Nathan: 0:47

ear and see if this works. We're trying to be consistent though. We are trying to be consistent. Yeah, we're still showing up. There's an effort, but there's like a frustration because circumstances comes up. So we really do love talking to each other. And to you guys. And to you guys. Connecting with y'all. Yeah, and updating our lives and whatnot. Yeah,

Hope: 1:08

So anyway darling here's some updates of kind of what's been happening the past bit first first update I can't talk First update is We are 35 weeks. We're getting down to the wire. I'm not, no,

Nathan: 1:24

no, you are 35 weeks. I am as thin as, as, as I've ever been. But don't

Hope: 1:28

they call it like, we're pregnant, you know? So it's kind of like Yeah, you're the one that

Nathan: 1:33

Okay, I'm growing it, Looking a little, looking a little Santa Claus like.

Hope: 1:37

it's, it's going good. Everything's good. I went for an ultrasound at 34 weeks. And, like, fluid levels are good. Measuring 5 pounds according to the ultrasound. No one really knows the weight of the baby. She's

Nathan: 1:50

gonna come out and be the little chunkiest one we've had.

Hope: 1:53

I know all the other kids were about seven pounds roughly like give or take obviously a couple ounces But um, yeah, they've been around like the seven pound mark So we'll see about this one kind of hoping she comes a bit earlier. That would be ideal. But um, yeah So anyways, we're doing good Pregnancy is good. Baby's healthy She's moving lots. I'm trying to think if there was anything else pregnancy wise But yeah, overall pretty good,

Nathan: 2:22

yeah, I'm excited for this baby.

Hope: 2:24

Mm hmm. We've been just talking about it a lot. Really excited to meet her. It's making more, making it more real. We like got The car seat out. So I'm gonna like clean that and all of like the sleep sacks because we have everything obviously We have two kids already. So like we were just pulling out everything from like the previous kids and just getting things organized making sure we have everything for like the very beginning stages and So there's a little bit more stuff to To get but we're getting there we're getting there and I feel

Nathan: 2:53

like this this baby is just so much different because we really genuinely feel that this is like The very last baby, which is like crazy because it's sad, but it's a weird thing to be like, Oh, we're not going to have any more kids after this. And,

Hope: 3:09

but it feels right because I feel overwhelmed having three. Oh yeah.

Nathan: 3:12

And I'm not going to lie. And it also, it's also like, I don't know. It's really exciting to have a little newborn again, because like that newborn stage goes by so fast. I know. Um, though, for those who haven't had children yet, when you do have children, like Just brace yourself with the with the newborn stage because that's like it's such a good time But like it like you blink like our little Haven Is gonna be so big and she's almost three now So it's been a it's been a minute where we we haven't had a had a little one So I know it's gonna be baby

Hope: 3:44

baby.

Nathan: 3:44

It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be it's gonna be a little tiring But you know what baby sleep so much so like for the first three or four months is not that bad

Hope: 3:53

Like during the day you do get like those breaks because they are resting quite a bit Despite being like needy in the feeding aspect like when you're nursing and stuff, obviously that's quite demanding But at the end of the day, at least it's convenient because I'm planning to breastfeed and nurse so it will be like Easy to deal with in that sense, like you don't have to like make bottles and sterilize them and all that kind of stuff like that. Every two hours

Nathan: 4:17

is a lot. You just whoop out a tata and say baby yum yum.

Hope: 4:21

And I nursed both of the kids and they both did extremely well with it. So I'm hoping everything obviously goes the same for this. And one thing we've been praying for at least I've been thinking about is like I pray this baby is very easy I pray this baby is very chill and sleeps so good for us because all of the challenges with both kids recently having like sleep issues Like bedtime and like through the night to why I still coming in her room all those types of little things I'm like, please if she could be a good sleeper, like I would be so so it's

Nathan: 4:53

something We've always prayed for for our kids too. And obviously you have every I don't know what you call these people but everyone that's like Parents age, like parents generation, um, so probably around 50 to, or 45, let's say 45 to 60, and they're all the, the naysayers, the oh, you're never gonna sleep again, enjoy your sleep now, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, don't listen to those people, that's not the message I would ever want to send. Just pray for your kids for their sleep. Like, obviously Yeah, God can still do things. Obviously, you could have You could have a kid that's not great at sleeping and whatnot, but that's just bad luck sometimes. And it's it's part of life.

Hope: 5:38

But it's And also, God doesn't give you something you can't handle. And even if that does happen to you, obviously, it's frustrating and I can't imagine because but just pray against it and don't listen

Nathan: 5:46

to that crap like don't listen to that That's what I think the biggest issue is and actually negativity surrounding something I actually want to mention too for me personally and I've been this has been on my heart a lot lately This is really like like I want to convince not convince But explain to people especially on this podcast about how amazing it is to be a father Like, I can't even explain how much better my life is and Hope's life is, like, since we've become parents. And, yeah, we could've waited, like, we're young, we're, we're, Hope's old now, she just turned 28. Yes. She's that cougar. We'll get it. But, listen. We could've waited, we could've took our time, we could've, we could've, you know, probably even got our finances in better, and all that, but no, we had a kid, we had a kid, like, within our first year married, she was pregnant, we still had a whole year together, married, which was nice, um, I mean, she was pregnant during that, but still. We

Hope: 6:44

were pregnant by like 7 months, so we had 7 months without any form of pregnancy or baby or whatever, but yes. But we still had like a whole year together. Very early on.

Nathan: 6:52

Very early on. We are 23 years old, so. When he was born. Yeah, so that, like, we were really, really young, but honestly, like, it was the best thing ever, like, I just feel like I have more energy than the average person when they have kids now, because kids, people have kids, like, late 30s and whatnot. Which if, if you didn't find the right man, and you didn't find the right, like, that's just life. That's also the way it is. That's also the way it is. That's just your story. But what I'm saying is. Like don't shy away from don't ever shy away from having kids Don't ever shy away from getting married and just starting your life because as a man and when I reflect in my life I just look at it and I'm like, oh my gosh, my life is actually so much better because I'm so so I'm so much more Selfless now because my life doesn't just revolve around me. It's my life is Is the kids and hope and my then myself, you know The kids first and then I would say right now because the kids are young. It's the kids first I still prior towards my marriage, but the kids are like they're very like they're very young and they need us They need this in their life I still I still prior to us hope but as we get older and the kids get older i'm gonna start Hope's gonna start taking a little bit more steps because that's when we can take steps back as they get older I'm telling you right now, like, this is like, this is something that I want to start doing soon. Yeah. Uh, about this, and you'll see that eventually when it comes up. It's kind of a surprise, I'm not gonna say it completely yet. Okay. But, I genuinely think That we need to start, there needs to be a mission, like a shift in the way people talk about children And being a parent and stuff like that. And I feel like, I feel like a lot of people too that like complain about, oh, you can't sleep. They're just, they're doing that out of their experiences and I don't think it's really fair to speak these negative things. Yeah, because now we're having generations where people don't want to have kids. Sorry, hun.

Hope: 8:43

Yeah, and every parent is like, yeah, I totally get that.

Nathan: 8:47

Like, The world is going crazy, like, there's crazy things in the world, you could, you could nay say, you could say all these things like, Oh my gosh, like, there's just so much craziness in the world, it's so evil. But don't let those things deter you from, from bringing a child into this world, because

Hope: 9:04

it's the greatest gift. Yes, and going off of that, Siri's going off right now in our house.

Nathan: 9:11

She's listening to us.

Hope: 9:13

But, what I was trying to say, before that interrupted, was that this one girl, she was like Answering a Q& A and she's like a Christian girl that I follow and she was like and someone asked her like why would you? Want more kids with everything the way that the world's going and stuff like that And she's like I believe that we need we need godly kids growing up in this generation They have to lead the next generation if we just stop having kids who's gonna be the people who point others to Jesus And I was like, it's a very good point. Like we can't just be like, okay the world's going to crap Let's not have any more kids Yep, and I think there's a reason there's a purpose god put those kids on that in that time, too

Nathan: 9:55

Yeah i'm not gonna say names of cultures or anything like that, but there is some cultures out there that are doing very very well with Making a lot of children And we need to keep up. We need to keep up seriously Like it's not it's not that we like i'm not going to say anything bad about These other cultures, but reality is, is we are having as like a North Americans, like America, USA kind of situation. We're like, and even other, other countries like China, China's in big trouble right now because they're, they, they stopped having children. They had a huge massive population and then they started putting in these one child rules and all this. And now, now they're like, we, we have a joke about it. Like, like, like they're. Their country's gonna in another 50 years or 30 years. They're not gonna have kids So I just think we need to have more kids. Elon Musk is a smart guy. You should listen to him He always says to have more kids so Encouragement from a smart man. All right,

Hope: 10:55

I'm gonna pivot again back to some updates because I have a few We went on that tangent because it's still very important to share. So it was really good one update Also, is, I just had my birthday, so. Twenty eight years old. Twenty eight now.

Nathan: 11:15

One year being an adult. One year being an adult? Yeah, eighteen to twenty eight. Oh. One whole year you're an adult. Grandma! What do you mean?

Hope: 11:27

18 years old you're a legal adult. Yeah, that's 10 years not one year Did

Nathan: 11:31

I say one year? Yeah, you were like you've

Hope: 11:33

been an adult for one year

Nathan: 11:35

Wow, you should leave that in this is a big fail 10 years being an adult I've only been an adult for one year

Hope: 11:45

So anyways, yes Um, it was just really nice. On my actual birthday, it was pretty chill during the day. Obviously, Tobiah went to school and Nathan was at work still. And, we didn't really do much. Me and Haven, we just, I got a special drink and we just hung out and chilled all day. And then, by the evening time, we went out for dinner, which was nice. Cause we don't really do that often. Cause of our new budget. If you heard our Like first podcast of the year. So that was really nice. And then we had just like some friends hanging out and then family get together actually today. So all good things and exciting things. And, uh, Nathan had some fun coming home, moving the cars around. And he

Nathan: 12:29

realized my battery was completely pooched.

Hope: 12:32

Yes. Cause it was like dead for the whole weekend.

Nathan: 12:35

Tried boosting it. Tried everything. It didn't work, didn't start. So I went over to Walmart, grabbed a battery called a, but like tonight buddy, buddy. Literally tonight he helped me out and uh, yeah, so it's working. The car's running. Thank God my little, I call my car, it's, it's a little blueberry, but I also call it a little turd because it looks, I feel like you definitely call it the little turd. We, I call it, it is seriously a little turd. 1800 bucks. What is it? Like a year and a half now? Two years. Almost two years. I've owned it. Thing runs great. Like, little Toyota Yaris. Honestly,

Hope: 13:07

I feel like the battery may have been fine, but

Nathan: 13:09

But it looks like the body is just, like, all the paint's peeling off. There's dents everywhere. Um It's

Hope: 13:16

just a second car to get to and from work,

Nathan: 13:20

really. Literally just for work.

Hope: 13:22

Um We use our van, obviously, when we have the kids and we're going anywhere on the weekend.

Nathan: 13:27

Yeah, our van Even during the week. Is the main, is the main ride, obviously. Yes. And, uh, it's just funny, though. There, there's a, there's probably the bigger, bigger of the sacrifices of me, you know? Yes. I, I owned very nice cars when Hope met me. I was driving a 2015 Jeep. Yeah, was brand new. And, uh, yeah, that was a pretty sweet ride. I loved the Jeep so much. And then I had the, and then I traded it in, which is absolutely foolish with my, my car choices, but traded it in, bought a F 150 and paid 800 a month car payment. Just in the car payment. Just in the car payment. And yeah, so it was just silly decisions. Obviously, I love the truck. I love the Jeep. It was a good time, but. But he made

Hope: 14:10

a sacrifice for us because we needed a family vehicle and we found out about Tobias. So that's kind of. Yeah. Yeah. A little

Nathan: 14:16

backstory on that. Where it started. Yeah, we had the, and then we got the Kia. Now we got the van. So yeah, cars, cars are just one of those things where they like. It's always nice to have a nice vehicle, but they're just such a money pit. So

Hope: 14:30

such a money pit and like it actually stings when you see the payment sometimes. Yeah, at least for me I'm just like it's just such a heavy thing like rent I understand cuz it's like you're living there and whatever cars are the same you still have to drive them You need to you need a car to get places. I don't know. It's just hard and Yeah, and then I wanted to share my last little update, um, I don't know exactly when this is going to happen, Nathan has his surprise, which is like a little, like, different from, from me, but I wanted to share that I hope to, like, I kind of shared this on Instagram already, but I hope to start a YouTube channel of just like very chill, like, vlogs and stuff like that, so I'm kind of just preparing for that and like, saving towards a camera. And once I get that kind of stuff situated, then hopefully I will be doing that. So, that's kind of exciting. It's just kind of been on my mind. I've been researching cameras and just, So I just feel like that's been on like the forefront of my mind, and it's just something I'm excited about, so.

Nathan: 15:34

Yeah, it's just, it's kind of almost, I feel like for you too, it's, it's an outlet. Creative outlet. It's not so much, yeah, it's a creative outlet. It's not so much like, Whoa, look at me, I'm vlogging, look at my life, like. It's more just like you enjoy it you you and I feel like you just feel like you have something to offer people To your with your day to day and stuff like that. So it's I feel

Hope: 15:55

like this girl I was watching actually She was talking about it as well. And she's like I want to be Somebody that I would want to watch. Yeah, and that would bring me like Even peace to your day or joy to your day or whatever that looks like, sharing about Jesus, sharing about mom life, sharing about like, just like, because you can go into more depth than a YouTube video where it's like a longer thing and people aren't gonna be like, oh skip, skip, skip, like they're actually wanting to watch it because they're there for like the long run, they want to see a long video and I prefer those kind of videos to be honest, like that's what I prefer to watch is like mom vlogs and that kind of thing, so I enjoy it. So I just feel like it would be really fun to like try it out. And just kind of see where it goes and if you've been here long enough You also know I've tried doing YouTube in the past, but that was just Like it's so cringy to think back on it So I would love to just revamp restart like start fresh and I just have like different ideas and yeah It's more simple easygoing kind of vlogs versus very like performative videos Like it's just more I just want it to be laid back laid back

Nathan: 17:01

chill Sweet. That is the plan. Sounds like fun. Sounds awesome.

Hope: 17:06

Shall we, um, or unless you have something else, like update

Nathan: 17:09

wise? Uh, yeah, not much updates. Uh, work's going pretty good. Uh, I got a job pretty close to home. Working with a, working with someone, um, which sometimes I work, a lot of, most of the time I work by myself, but I am working with someone right now. He's a great guy. I'm very, very happy to be working with him because he's just, he's easy to get along with. Yeah, it seems like you're really happy with him, so. Yeah, life's, life's pretty good, you know. Yeah, life's, life's great. Um, yeah, there's really not much other, other going on than what we're about to talk about. Um, something I'll bring up about that when, like, do you want to start talking?

Hope: 17:49

About the topic today. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I kind of had this like thought and I brought up to Nathan I was like because we're always kind of brainstorming ideas of like, what should we talk about? It doesn't always have to be necessarily like Jesus Jesus Jesus, but if it ties into Jesus, that's totally fine It could be really us just talking about anything like that's what I want this podcast to be. That's what we want this podcast Yeah

18:11

conversation

Nathan: 18:11

between us

Hope: 18:12

just like what we would talk about On a car ride, what we talk about in the end of the night when the kids go to sleep, like those kind of things.

Nathan: 18:20

Sorry, I'm so out of breath. But we still have the vulnerability aspect of it and that's why we came up with the name, obviously. Oh, yeah, yeah. We've explained

Hope: 18:28

that before. No, like, we would still definitely share, like, our opinions on things and, um, yeah. So, I, I was like, let's talk about the internet. Social media, anything that comes along with just internet in general. Mm-Hmm. the pros, the cons, anything. So, yeah.

Nathan: 18:49

Yeah. It's, it's, it's a very interesting conversation because how long has the internet been around? We should have Googled that. The internet, the inter, the internet, the inner web. I feel like you're like jumbled. Uh, people that are like a little bit older than us, they, they went with the dial up internet, which I don't, that I was a little. I think that was before that was just before our generation. So it was like they're still millennials I think because the millennial is like I don't even know how that millennial No, me and me and my brother in law looked it up today. And it's like from it's from uh, 1996 so we're literally just in the millennial So 1996 to or no, it was from 80 something to 96 So we just made it into the millennial stage and then there's the next Stage whatever who cares. It's just an it's just a name. But yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah So we just missed the the air of like dialed up internet and whatnot I still remember certain things like growing up that was like pretty outdated Like I had a Walkman with a cassette tape you had to switch that around and then I had and then I had the CD player So those are like I guess the older things that are actually gonna be kind of funny to tell the kids

Hope: 20:05

Well, even phones have evolved Like we didn't have

Nathan: 20:07

internet on our phones are, phones are extremely evolved

Hope: 20:10

since like I literally, my first, my first phone phone was a flip phone. Yeah. Does anyone have a flip phone anymore? Maybe if they're in like construction and that's their work phone or like, or an old lady or something. Yeah, but like everyone either has an iPhone or Android show

Nathan: 20:23

the kids nowadays how to text with those double numbers. I used to, yeah. I used to text so fast with it though. Just be like,

Hope: 20:29

I definitely wasn't as good. Like I remember like wanting the one that slid up and you have the keep. pad or whatever. But I wanted to talk about at least one of the pros. Of what I think has come from the internet because there is definitely a lot of cons like I feel like there's definitely so many negative Aspects. Yeah, which I don't want to go in like too much depth of like the negatives at least the ones that are I'm being in my mind

Nathan: 20:56

right now. We don't want to be we don't be like a negative Nelly. No, but into this podcast This

Hope: 21:01

this is definitely the pro for me Is Staying connected with people especially those who now live Like far like we have friends who live across the world and so we can still kind of have that connection so the fact that we have that

Nathan: 21:16

but with that said Is how connected are you actually with people on those platforms and on those things because it's still hard Is it because it keeps you it keeps you engaged on what they're doing in their life You kind of I

Hope: 21:30

mean they could still see like when we have our baby and like those kinds of things other than like I mean, you probably still message them

Nathan: 21:37

anyways, but it's not It's it's still not always like a healthy like

Hope: 21:42

no, it's still not the healthy connection And it's also like a lot of the people even on social media Like they're all acquaintances or influencers or people that you don't truly even know but I will say and i've said this before from me starting to do instagram like Seriously, like in quotations. It's more seriously. Like i'm trying to make it into a job kind of thing i've actually found A lot of moms in that community and I'm thankful for that that is a pro to me. Yeah, because it's brought people to me and they've been able to give advice like I've said before and I I've loved that and I can get advice rather than Seeking it on Google because Google can be a very dark place Yeah, and it's more very like it's variant things. Whereas this is coming from real moms living in real.

Nathan: 22:35

It's more real. It's more intimate

Hope: 22:36

It's real people yeah versus just like this abyss that people are typing up like

Nathan: 22:41

random little but I would say I would say one of the biggest cons is something I'd bring up first thing that comes to my mind is the comparison is like comparing your life to people especially when well social media for that is

Hope: 22:52

just yeah

Nathan: 22:52

horrible yeah like it's it's hard for me even like Cause obviously like, well, I, I've been off social media for a long time. I just recently got Instagram back, which I'm going to, I'm going to have, yeah, I'm going to have, I'm going to have some boundaries with that because I just don't want to take over my life and like be stuck on the phone. But YouTube's been like that lately. Like I've been on YouTube like crazy just watching like, like clips. Like I love watching like the shorts, sports highlights. I love watching hunting videos. I love watching, uh, these guys called the Seaboys. They do like dirt biking and all this like fun stuff, like it's just really cool to see and with like I've been off Instagram and I've been off, uh, Facebook for probably two years now, if not longer. I don't even know when you went off. It's been a long time. Facebook's been like at least three to four years. That you don't miss. I don't miss Facebook at all. I could care less about Facebook. Instagram I still kind of like. I'm happy that I'm getting it back just because I want to still see friends that I haven't seen in a long time. See how they're doing. It's a little connected. See? There's a connection there. Yes, there is still like a connection there, but like, I also don't want to be like, I don't know. I just, it. It's, there's good things to it too, but there's also good things too, if you, if you want to voice, if you want to voice your opinion on stuff, it's good, but then also it's, that's also, if you voice your opinion, don't get mad, like don't expect people to agree with your opinion, like a lot of the time last time was, was the politics, like I would voice my opinion and people get upset with the politics side of And then there'd be like this greeted there wouldn't there would even be this greed to disagree And that that's a lot of division. That's the kind of crappy side of I guess Social media too is when you share your opinion and you guys can't just get over it and just get along in those senses

Hope: 24:48

Yeah, it can be kind of yeah, like I said causes division in my

Nathan: 24:53

opinion with that said trump 2024 I don't care what anyone says

Hope: 24:58

so. I was also listening to this podcast the other day, and they were saying that in biblical times, if there was such a thing as social media or the internet, would Paul have used Social media to share about Jesus and it's like that is like What a lot of us could be doing is like just like obviously it's like you don't want to shove things in people's faces Like I'm not one to be like that and I don't want that but if people are open to it and they are interested In like what I'm sharing about Jesus then like I welcome anyone to talk to me about it And that's kind of like the place I stand with it, but But I just think that it was cool that they were talking about it. They were like, yeah, like there would be like limitations and things that they would like that Paul would do, but he would still have used it. Because why wouldn't you use that platform to glorify God and like reach more people? Because at the time, like he couldn't, like he couldn't reach that many people other than being in person.

Nathan: 26:01

Totally. I totally agree with that, but I think too, sometimes people aren't gonna do it always in the right way. And then that's the hard part too, because Them being glorified versus

Hope: 26:12

like

Nathan: 26:12

Jesus. Yeah, them being glorified. Yeah, there's that. There's that of being like that egotistic thing. But then I'm also thinking like Like, sometimes people might think, like you, as a Christian, you don't want to judge or like you, you want to leave room for God to, to, to do that. But um, sometimes you're, I don't know, it's, it's hard cause I, like, you could still see Christians call out other Christians online and then, and then, um, yeah, like having these, yeah, like having these things like over online. Like it's not always a debate just being like calling them out and I get I get that to a certain extent when you're especially when you are like a leader of a church like people will call out pastors and and leaders of church when they're blatantly like Saying things that are ungodly like I get that because you're in public saying it Like people do need to address it in public, but then it's just like this really hard thing too, because the outsiders of that situation that don't really understand what's going on, they see that and they're like, oh, judgmental Christians, and then they get this view and this vision. And I think that that's, that's also something that's, that's really hard with just being behind a screen and not being one on one and not being sitting down.

Hope: 27:30

Physically, like having a confrontation and being like. I have an issue with that. Let me, let's talk about it. And everyone,

Nathan: 27:36

everyone is way bigger behind their cell phone, way bigger behind, behind the keyboard. Like, it's so much easier to just say these smart remarks where you're like, You really wouldn't say that in person. It's really awkward That's why it's always good when you're in like a position in life where you have to have a conversation with someone Yeah, try to do it in person. Try to do it face to face. So you're texting is

Hope: 27:57

horrible. Yeah messaging is horrible Yeah, like That's, that's one thing that I'll say is also a con, is sometimes in phones and social media and the internet, as we were talking about, it takes away from that like, um, personal connection with people. So even like, like an issue, it's like people are dealing with that now over text. And things can be misconstrued. And,

Nathan: 28:25

you know. How many fights have we gotten in? Yeah, it can be taken the wrong way. Because we sent texts to each other and we take it completely the wrong way.

Hope: 28:31

There's just so many things so it's like definitely definitely as much as it's harder to be face to face with people That face to face connection is like we still need to bring that into like our lives Like we can't take that away just because our phones have become this thing That's easy and quick and if you live further away from someone it's like too hard to meet with them No, like, meet with them, prioritize it, like, let's not take away the human, like, connection out of our lives because of our phones and, like, internet and stuff. I think we need to, yeah. Yeah,

Nathan: 29:07

and also, I, I, um, I also like, I like the aspect of seeing, like, new stuff too, like, not the news that, That you see on TV, but other news and like seeing what's going on in the world, too We

Hope: 29:23

know well, I know

Nathan: 29:25

I like that. I like

Hope: 29:26

to know you

Nathan: 29:26

like to be in the know I like to be informed. I like to know what's going on I like to hear what's going on through other people through their experiences too and just like to hear stuff, too So that's also another reason but with Instagram As a man, I think I have mentioned this before, I don't know if this was way long ago in one of the podcasts before but I did mention like it is, it is very, um, dangerous to have slip ups, to see things that could cause you to go to pornography or to cause you to go to, you know, those things that I don't, I don't want any part of, anything a part of, um, so yeah, like the explore page is very dangerous. And then there is this, like, what do you call it? Like, if you The algorithm? Algorithm, yeah. So if, like, if you're on I don't have TikTok. I definitely won't get TikTok. But if you're on TikTok, or you're on Instagram As soon as you

Hope: 30:18

even, like, give it a look for I would say even

Nathan: 30:22

longer than a few seconds. Yeah, if you long, or you double check it, or you You look at it, or you click on that person Anything.

Hope: 30:28

Because then Any form of engagement to that post It'll

Nathan: 30:31

keep coming. So if you look at girls, it's gonna keep coming up as girls and girls and girls. Yeah. So I'm very careful with that stuff. But lately like I literally just got instagram and then I get these like random people and they're not even following me But they're they're bots and they're like bots or something and they don't they're like half naked girls, and I like instantly just blocked them right away. Yeah. And it's just so

Hope: 30:53

frustrating. You used to get that, I remember back then, but, but I've gotten them too. And they've been girls. Yeah. Not as often, but like, I remember getting them, and I'm like, why? It's

Nathan: 31:03

not even weird. It's so weird. They don't follow me, but it just comes up as like a, it's just like a bot. I think it's just spanning. I just keep blocking them and I'm hoping that that does, the computer just goes does. Oh, he doesn't like. He's like, yeah, he doesn't like these fake, stupid things. So then it just kind of goes back. You just have to

Hope: 31:21

just, yeah, just get rid of it. And then just not even give it a second thought. Cause it, they're just like

Nathan: 31:26

these. Yeah, no, no, I don't. I just, I literally just block it right away. But, but then again, I just feel like I've built up a little bit of a tolerance and you're like. I also just want that strength and I, uh, I want, I want To learn how to steward

Hope: 31:39

it well

Nathan: 31:39

too. Yeah, to steward it well. Just be really wise and smart. And I also just, I'm gonna get Hope to put on a, uh, like a, a limiter. So you could like limit your app. So she puts a code in and I say I put like a half an hour a day on Instagram. Yeah. So that's like, you know, take a little break at work. Just take a quick peek on Instagram, see what's going on. See if Hope posted a picture of my beautiful daughter. And then I know updating the world with my kids. Yeah. Just those kind of things. I could, I could go and see and then, you know, once my 30 minutes is up, that's it for the day. And if I wanted more time, I'd have to put a code in that, I don't know. So then it kind

Hope: 32:15

of just like, yeah, but you could always add more. It's like, not like you're completely restrained, it's just so that you're being mindful of how much you using it.

Nathan: 32:20

Yeah. But you, but I could be a little bit of accountable to you at least, like it's true. Um, not that hope controls me or does anything like that. No. This is all nascent. This is all my own choice.'cause it's just like, it just makes it easier. It's. Oh, the 30 minutes is up. Okay, that's it for the day. I don't need to go on it. Like what? Why do I need to spend an hour, uh, two hours a day on instagram? That's crazy Yeah, like you time goes by so much faster too, right?

Hope: 32:43

So it's just a time waster. I mean like as much as I love instagram it it can inspire it can Um, encourage depending on like who you follow like that's a thing too is like you want to follow the people obviously friends and family is like a main thing that you'd follow but if you follow like any kind of influencers or You know there's so many of them nowadays like content creators like I follow quite a few of them because I enjoy like that kind of stuff, but Like be mindful of like who you're following do they add to your life or do they take away from your life? Yeah, do they make you feel like you have nothing because they have so much. Yeah, then like limit those people I definitely don't I go through mine constantly and I'm like is this person bringing me life and if they're not I'm like, you know or if I can't relate like there was a lot of I found myself looking at a lot of girls who were not moms and then I would be like They're so lucky they have all this freedom to just go out with their friends, and do whatever they want, and spend money on whatever they want, and like, I'm in a season of like, where I have to be so selfless, like, everything is about the kids. Right now so you need to follow those more relatable people I needed to find more moms who are in that season and just so that I could relate to that because they know what that's like yeah, and like there's obviously a time to prioritize prioritize like friends and community and Going out and like still giving yourself like your own me time But also like the season I'm in is a mom So why am I like constantly comparing myself to these girls who are like not in my season? So anyways, that was one thing I was like just Don't don't follow people I guess who like and you're happy to be in your season I am i'm really grateful to be

Nathan: 34:31

yeah, but then there is the odd time though I think you're like, oh my gosh, like there is only so much I could do because I do have Like my life's not mine. And yeah, even for me too Like I because i've been just starting to to follow old friends and stuff I I'm really careful with who I follow too because it's even hard for me to see like Like I don't want to be jealous of people like yeah It comes back to that good for them Like if you could get ahead you could do certain things you could have a really nice house big house nice cars, whatever That's that's cool. It is temporary and I have to remind myself that but it's it's sometimes it's hard I get like especially after a long day at work I don't want to go and look online and see someone doing like a thousand times better And, and, and I struggled at work to make money, you know what I mean? Like, I just don't want to, I don't want to do that to myself. So, that's definitely something. Well, it's just also protecting your heart, your mind. There's definitely like a con there too. It was like, just, yeah, I think comparison's just absolutely, which I've mentioned. It's just, it's really, it's really tough. It's a harder thing with the internet. It's a really hard thing, um, with the internet and stuff, so. And then obviously everything else. There is a million other bad things on the internet. Pornography is extremely, um, It's just horrible. There's so many forms of it. Yeah, there is so many forms of it. Because even if it's not a If it's just a girl twerking online or whatever it is that could lead you down that path of like lust and and uh, you know, uh, what would you call it lust and um, Fantasizing. Yeah, because fantasies are literally just something fake in your head that will never actually happen So just get that out of your head like love is way different than like Fantasies are just silly fake things Definitely

Hope: 36:25

fake. I will say this we will Like we've been wanting to do a pornography podcast at some stage, so we're not going to go into too much depth of that like today, obviously, um, for sake of time, but we will do like a full podcast where it's like, I feel like a lot of it will be like, I'll share things obviously, but like a lot of it will be like Nathan's perspective and his journey and just like a lot of different things. So if you guys are like wanting that, like definitely let us know and we'll, we'll come up with that, like for sure sooner than later, but yeah, it's, it's definitely like, I don't know. Like Nate was saying, it's just hard to, like, um, have those forms of social media that lead to the temptation that lead to that. And it's just, I don't know, I just find it sad. I find it sad that, like, that has to even be a struggle for some people. And Yeah, just what it can lead to. There's so many things that people like, like we have a good friend who actually does, um, freeing people from like the tech, like the, what's it called, the addiction to pornography and stuff like that. So I actually follow his account and it's really cool because you see like a lot of what men. Cythia. Cythia. Cythia

Nathan: 37:43

Sam. So if you want to follow him, he could, and if you're struggling or something like that, he could definitely help you, uh. Yeah, he has a lot of, like. A lot of wisdom on there. A lot of

Hope: 37:54

wisdom. It's incredible, honestly, like, more people need to do this, I will say. Um, but yeah, like, it's just cool to see, like, the specs of what it does to your mind, and all those types of things, and Again, that's one of the cons of having the internet because before internet like porn exist But in a different form within like video that you like have to rent from a store

Nathan: 38:21

Yeah, and now it's accessible on your On your iPhone. iPhone, on your, any phone. Like, it's just

Hope: 38:27

crazy. So it's, it's changed, it's evolved. It's, it's been, yeah, a lot, a lot different as it's free. Yeah.

Nathan: 38:35

Before you, it was not free. You had to pay for it. You did. So,

Hope: 38:39

and even when you're young, you can't get it too. Yeah. Whereas now younger, the younger generation has access to it because Yeah. It's on the internet. Yeah. So. Yeah,

Nathan: 38:48

and it's the it's just destroying people's lives destroying marriages destroying men's sex drive just it's just yeah, it's just all around toxic and But then again, there's other things online you could look up On a brighter side of things. Um, Cause we'll talk more about that like Hope said on another one. Yeah, cause I

Hope: 39:12

feel like we could get into it really really deep right now. Yeah,

Nathan: 39:14

you could go really

Hope: 39:15

deep in that real quick. I wanna like have a whole podcast dedicated to it. Because there's gonna be so many like ins and outs of stuff on that. So

Nathan: 39:22

anyway. And so, um, yeah. Like, like there is the ability to be able to go on YouTube. Um, especially as a guy, and how do I fix my washing machine? I was just gonna think that, how do I, how do I, uh, fix this, how do I do that? And then the people, people,

Hope: 39:44

yeah,

Nathan: 39:44

reviews, people will just like break it down to you on, uh, on what, like, how to, how to do things. Like, even my dad, like, he's extremely handy, he could fix, fix anything. There is some things that people are a lot better, like a washing machine. So he just YouTubed it, shows them exactly how to fix it. You don't have to pay a thing. You do it yourself. Fix it yourself. Don't have to go out and buy a brand new washer or dryer. You just order the part. They tell you how to order the part. Yeah. You get the part

Hope: 40:12

from Amazon or whatever and you're good. Yeah. So

Nathan: 40:14

there's, like, those kind of things it's like, like, we've, we've We've changed time, like we've changed times with, and even like mobile banking, like people back in the day, didn't have to just go to the bank. They had to wait in line. They had to do all these things. Reality is, is there some very, very amazing things that have come with. Social media that have come with learning how to do things and having access to things like kids now are so much smarter than They've ever been because it could just be like, hey Siri What's five times five like and now serious and now serious hearing it dummy, but I'm just saying like There's some really good things about it. Oh, what's it? What's this Bible verse? I Don't know.

Hope: 40:58

Oh you like know like a couple lines of it. You're like, what is it? What is it

Nathan: 41:01

type it in law on Google? Boom exactly where it is. It's just like It's pretty sweet. It's pretty convenient to be able to have those

Hope: 41:09

those things. Also think about like in school Okay, I remember this in high school they were saying that like you used to have to go to the library to do your research whereas like when we went to School, we would go to the library go on the computers and research things from the computers So I'm like back in the day They literally had to go through the books and find the type of book that they needed to find that specific topic and read it And we can find like one paragraph That they're looking for in a whole book and just be like, that's, that's what I needed for my essay, my whatever project I'm working on. Ooh, she's moving right now. Sorry. She's like pushing directly on my bladder. Anyway. Nice girl. It's that time of like the night where I feel like she just starts really moving.

Nathan: 42:01

So yeah. The internet has its pros, has its cons, but I'm trying to think, like, life without it, where people would be at.

Hope: 42:16

I feel like people would make more effort to see each other.

Nathan: 42:20

Yeah, I think so too. And I think that's, like,

Hope: 42:23

yeah. Which is kind of sad. Like, even just saying that makes me want to make more effort. Yeah. To see people. Because we can make so many excuses,

Nathan: 42:33

like, yeah. Even not having cell phones and stuff like that, I feel like people would have just shown up at people's houses more. I know, I

Hope: 42:38

kind of miss that like, or even neighbors, like, hey, can I borrow this cup of sugar, like, I feel like people had way more, like, one on one connection before it became such a thing. And then we

Nathan: 42:52

have this, like, mental health crisis where people, they just, It's an identity thing. It's well, this is this is a whole other big topic, but Yeah, did did the internet cause a lot of this, you know, like

Hope: 43:07

mental health? Yeah, I think it definitely Like

Nathan: 43:12

back to the comparison. I just think it's like you're just sitting behind that screen and you're seeing all this stuff and you're just kind of comparing your your life and not realizing that like God has yeah, especially when you don't know who God is and you just Like God has a light a plan for every single one of us.

Hope: 43:29

Yeah, not just to sit on our phones and not Connect with people and not live out the

Nathan: 43:36

calling. He's like you have something to offer like whoever you are You have something to offer. Yeah.

Hope: 43:41

God has called you to something whether it's in your job or as a parent or as a friend that is like um, just like Has a good listening ear like there's just so many things like some people are just really good at listening Or some people are really good at giving advice or they're called to share more of jesus and they have that like evangelistic like um heart and like ability to do that like god bless those people i'm I would like to be more like that, but I'm not like that And yeah, it's just like every Everybody has something special on their life.

Nathan: 44:18

Yeah, and if we didn't have the internet we wouldn't be able to post podcasts. So I

Hope: 44:22

know So, yeah, and I love podcasts. I love listening to them. They just add a little

Nathan: 44:28

Yeah, we gotta, we, we can't be like monks and just not do, like, monks are like Yeah, yeah. They don't do, yeah, um Hehehehe. So, we gotta embrace the internet. You gotta embrace it. You gotta be Around it, but not I

Hope: 44:46

just think, I think what it comes down to, like, from everything we're saying, it comes down to having boundaries with it. Yeah. And knowing what is good and what is not good, and setting those boundaries surrounding it. Like,

Nathan: 44:58

I think a lot of things too, like, the biggest thing is culture. And what's your culture? Is your culture, you know, like, our culture is supposed to be a godly culture. Like, we follow Jesus. We're supposed to be like Jesus. You know what I mean? Like, we could have a background of something. But that's not your identity. Your identity is Christ. And everything to do with Christ, like, don't let your nationality or whatever be who you are. And I think, I think that if we have a culture of, um, Just living like Jesus? No, if we have a cult, like, cause we're talking about the internet. If you have a culture of, like, Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. Oh, and everyone online trying to compete with each other. Yeah. Then that's, it definitely feels like that. That's, that's the way it, like, that's why I feel like the culture's been Yeah. And I think that's the problem is having Mm-Hmm, having this like, compare Yeah. Like this culture of just

Hope: 46:00

how pretty can I be in this photo? Yeah. How cool can I look

Nathan: 46:04

this, look what I have. Look at this. Look at that. Look what I have. Yeah. Yeah. And, and. We're not I hope I hope people don't think that of you because we show our kids and And stuff like that because that's not our hearts behind it It's like we want to just show off our kids because we're proud of them. We love them. And then we also have Family members that get to see the the post. Oh, yeah Most

Hope: 46:27

and stuff like that. So me or our family saying like they're so

Nathan: 46:31

cute But then but then but then it's it's probably hard for people um that struggle to have kids and and You know, it's a really hard thing to bring up even right now, but it's just like it's it's hard to be happy for people when When they have something you can't have or yeah, you haven't struggling and you haven't struggled in that season to get there Yeah, and I totally understand that like like you have a valid you have a valid you have a valid hurt there You have a valid heart. You know what I mean? If I

Hope: 47:02

was in that place a hundred percent. Yeah, I'd be devastated That constant like seeing other people with kids. Yeah for sure So that's your heart and

Nathan: 47:11

yeah, it's just stuff like that and like that's understandable that if you have to push away from that too Right. Yeah,

Hope: 47:18

like if you just can't like look at that or follow that person then yeah protect your heart protect your mind So go to jesus Let him love you through

Nathan: 47:28

it so I think I think we could we could just say that the internet and Social media and stuff that has good things and has bad things just like anything else Oh, yeah, but I think I think if I could really look at it, I wish I was part of like previous generations Yeah, because it just seems It seems harder because I actually feel like because we are able to have access to this information so quick We are able to call face time do all these things. I feel like Because it's not it's easier like life is easier in so many different ways We can't say it's not driving cars. Our cars are safer. Things are automatic now Yeah, you don't have to the best standards the best but i'm just saying i knew you were gonna

Hope: 48:16

say something about

Nathan: 48:17

it but but i'm just saying like Things

Hope: 48:20

are things have become easier. They're making everything so much easier.

Nathan: 48:23

Why do you think Amazon's why do you think Amazon is so rich? And so everything because you could have things at the snap of a button. Why do we have credit cards now? Why do we have like we could just have it before? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like what? Oh, oh Pornography boom done. Yeah, it's on it's on in two seconds. Like so I think that when I really think about it, I wish I was more, like, I wish that I could've been raised like my parents. My parents didn't have, they didn't have internet growing up, they didn't have cell phones, they didn't have We

Hope: 48:57

were talking to my nana today and she was talking about the 50s. Yeah, and and I was like that we love that music like Nathan and I love like old school kind of music sometimes and she was Like yeah, like I would go dancing And like yeah roller skating right around the 50s like think of that music. She was going out dancing She's like I'd go to the Y and then and then my papa would like just be like, yeah It was just cute the way she was talking about it and like going out dancing and I'm like there was so much more like Like engagement with like music and dancing and just like enjoying life and just being with people and stuff. It's just really cool. So That time they didn't grow up with all the they wrote letters to each other They like there was a little bit more

Nathan: 49:41

you remember we found that letter when your pop up passed and we were cleaning out their house We found that letter from 1818 something Was like 18, I'm forgetting it. 1895 or something. Who was it? Do we even know? 18 hundreds? No, we don't. I don't remember what, I don't even, I I couldn't read it. There's no way I'd read it. It was all like cursive. Oh, okay. I

Hope: 50:02

can't read it. It is, I dunno if my mom read it or something, but anyways, that's, that's crazy. But like, that's what it like was before, so I don't know. Yeah. Sometimes Nate and I talk about like, yeah, we love. Obviously being in the place that we are, it's so cool that we have, or we're living in this generation where everything is like so accessible and like the internet and whatever, but then we're like, oh, wouldn't it be cool to have been in a time where people wrote letters to each other, they went out dancing, and like everything was just a little bit more tasteful, like even the dancing, like it was more

Nathan: 50:32

like, well even like There's like things when I can think of right now. I'm like the TVs my dad had to watch a hockey game on black and white Tiny no, thank you

Hope: 50:42

huge like literally massive TVs that take up like a wall. Yeah, tiny screen Yeah,

Nathan: 50:48

yeah so many things So I I think we just got to be grateful for where we're at what we're doing, but then also cautious I think that I'm definitely more cautious Because my parents didn't realize or know that, you know, you could access stuff from a PSP, which is like a portable PlayStation. I

Hope: 51:12

think most people know what a PSP was.

Nathan: 51:15

I think so anyway. No, but like, like it's like a little Game Boy thing and you could go on the internet and I used to watch stuff on that. And, you know, it's stuff like you just don't realize. Well, you're

Hope: 51:25

just naive to it, especially if you didn't grow up

Nathan: 51:27

with it. Yeah. So now it's going to be different when my kids Yeah, cause we're aware of it. Start using the internet and start looking up things and whatnot. Cause I don't want them to stumble across it. But I also want to just have conversations with them too. Yeah, you just have to talk to them about it. We could shelter them we could block them and do all those things But they're gonna find it some other way. They might go to their friend's house and the friend might be hey, look at this

Hope: 51:50

Or even at school like you have no idea. So

Nathan: 51:52

there's Like you can't shelter them. You can't completely bubble wrap them I still would like to say one other thing Yeah With this topic is I would still love to like my ultimate dream me and my brother talk about it all the time Is to have, like, property way up north to hunt and to, uh, to have, like, a cabin in the woods. And I think that it would be absolutely incredible if, if one day that we do have our cabin in the woods, and we could bring the kids up there for, like, a weekend, even you, um, and just stay in the cabin and just live, like, Like there's no like internet connection. No, nothing. No TVs. No, nothing like board games puzzles puzzles fireplace and just like just just do it for like just a weekend like like a Friday to a Sunday like you go up Friday early Friday morning take off school work, whatever go up there and then just Disengage. Disengage and just and just live like and also

Hope: 52:57

that like off grid kind of thing. So much connection like to

Nathan: 53:00

your family. I feel like it would be it would just be so incredible to do that like even just the idea of it to me Maybe not to other people. Oh my gosh, you live in a cabin in the middle of the woods Like it it would just be so nice have a wood stove going to keep warm at night Yeah, I just I think that that would be that would be awesome just to go back to that sometimes

Hope: 53:23

I just hope you guys enjoyed listening to some of, like, our pros and cons of, like, what we think of the internet and, like, phones and just how everything has developed over time and That you guys can take something away from it, hopefully. Something good, um, even if it's learning to have boundaries with, um, your phone or social media or anything like that, um, I would hope to more inspire those than, um, like, we hope. To inspire those more than to take away And so I hope that we can be that for you with this podcast But I really hope that you guys enjoyed this one and we'll see you guys in the next one peace