This episode reflects on the impact of technology and social media on human interaction as we enter 2025 and beyond. The discussion balances personal anecdotes with broader societal observations, urging listeners to embrace real experiences while navigating an increasingly digital landscape.
• Personal reflections on the wildfires in Southern California
• Celebrating podcast growth and subscriber goals
• Introduction of the "Status of Everything" series
• Examining the emergence of TikTok and its cultural significance and it's damage on societies around the world
• Exploring the paradox of learning vs. living in the digital age
• The psychological impacts of tech addiction and social media
• Advocating for a balance between real-life experiences and technology
• A hopeful perspective on the future!
www.stephanpiscanopodcast.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you so.
So All right, guys.
Thank you so much and welcome.
(00:49):
This is Stephan Piscano withthe Stephan Piscano podcast and
happy 2025,.
Guys, before we get into themeat of the show today and
before we kind of go through mynormal intro stuff, I just want
to take a moment and talk aboutthe horrific fires that are
going on right now in SouthernCalifornia.
(01:09):
My personal prayers and theprayers of my family go out to
everybody who's dealing withthat.
As somebody that's lived inNorthern California and actually
off and on parts of SouthernCalifornia as well over the
years, I've been here for about18 years now in the state and
we've got a lot of family downin SoCal and some properties
(01:31):
down there as well, and so inthe areas that have been
affected by these fires are someareas that are near and dear to
me.
I've spent a lot of time downthere for many years.
It's it's just horrific to seewhat's going on down there, and
we've dealt with that quite abit myself here in Napa.
I remember coming back.
(01:52):
I was actually out of town whenthe Napa fires happened.
I got back to town and drivingin even this was a couple days
after it was really dealt withjust driving into into town as
soon as you came in, your cellphone stopped working just
because of the smoke cover thatwas still there and driving
through Silverado Country Clubwhere we have a condo there and
(02:16):
seeing so many of the devastatedfamily homes that there was
nothing left but the chimney.
It's a very Armageddon-likefeel and very devastating to see
how these things are and I knowwhen you hear about it on the
news sometimes it might be kindof hard to put a picture with it
(02:36):
.
But both with Napa and mymother's house actually did burn
down in Redding California backin 2018.
So you know it's something that, thankfully, I haven't had
experience with my own personalresidence.
But about as close as you canget to that and I know what I
know.
I'm not going to say I knowwhat you're going through, but I
(02:58):
know a piece of what you'regoing through, with the fear
that comes with it, and it's aunique experience.
Even those of you that arefortunate enough that your home
doesn't burn down even just theevacuation process.
It's a wild feeling when you gointo your home and you're told
there's a good chance it mightburn down and you've got two
(03:19):
hours to get everything out thatyou want to get.
It really is, and a lot ofpeople 99% maybe of the people
in this country will go theirwhole lives and never experience
what that's like to have tomake those choices of what are
you going to put in the bag,what are you going to put in
your car and even that alone istraumatic and just a wild thing.
So again, we're praying for you.
(03:40):
Hopefully this will be resolvedfully and as safely and quickly
as it can, and sincerecondolences and thoughts and
good energy for anyone that'sbeen damaged by that and
certainly for the lives thathave been lost there.
So I wanted to mention thatright off the top.
(04:01):
We'll get into our normal stuffhere and try to get into a
little bit of levity for thesituation, and if you're
listening to this, then thatmeans that you're safe and
hopefully having a good start toyour year in 2025.
And I apologize too.
I wanted to do this one allweek, this episode, but I've
been pretty sick from theholidays and getting back in
(04:24):
from the travel and all that funstuff, and every time I was sat
down to record this, somethingelse would pop up, and so we're
finally doing it.
So before I get in.
Thank you guys again In 2024,.
We launched this show back onOctober 2nd 2024.
2024.
(04:48):
And in the last few months ofthe year we managed to hit
11,000 downloads across allplatforms, which greatly
exceeded my expectations for it.
So thank you guys sincerely forthat.
I hope that you spent some timemaking your New Year's goals
and all that fun stuff and thatyou take it seriously and stick
with it.
One of our goals for thispodcast is to reach 10,000
subscribers on all of thepodcast platforms.
Right now we're at about 4,100.
(05:11):
Almost all of those are on mygreat buddies at Player FM.
Thank you guys.
Player FM, you guys really, forwhatever reason, they seem to
like me over there.
I really like you guys too.
If you guys can help us hitthat goal, it really means a lot
on Apple, spotify or YouTube.
Go ahead and subscribe and thenyou can join our family here,
(05:31):
get access to not only the showsand listening that we do on the
real estate side investing ingeneral and then actual hot
deals that, not only with mygroup, vacation Wealth Partners,
(05:52):
but with other groups thatwe're going to showcase
throughout the year as well and,on that note, realtors out
there and investors one newthing we're going to start doing
in 2025, if you have a propertyor a partnership opportunity
that you want to showcase evenif it doesn't have anything to
do with me whatsoever you cansubmit that and if we think it's
(06:13):
a good deal, then we'llshowcase it on the YouTube
channel.
So if you want to do that,email Stephan at
StephanPiscanocomstefanpisconocom.
Basically, the reason we'redoing that is honestly just
because of demand, because in2024, as we started trying to
grow out the YouTube channel andI was doing all of this silly
(06:33):
stuff, we were giving away freevacations with Airbnb giveaways
to some of our properties wealready own and a lot of
educational stuff, and you knowthat it got decent reception,
but by far and away.
Again and again, thankfully,the thing that people seem to
really like to see is actualpartnership opportunities, and
that's a credit to my network.
I always say I'm reallygrateful to be blessed to have
(06:56):
the best network around, and Ithink that we're all pretty
sophisticated people, and so Ithink the reason that I figure
for that is is that you guysdon't really need the training,
because you already know allthis stuff.
You just want to see the actualmeat and potatoes, you want the
action and so there's only somany deals that we're buying.
Every couple of months or so wemight buy one or two properties
here and there.
(07:16):
So if anyone else has any greatdeals, please send those to me
at the Stephan atStephanPascanocom email address
and then, like I said, if Ithink it's good, I mean you want
to showcase it, we'll showcaseit, and that's mainly just a
benefit to the people that aresubscribed.
So, thank you, guys, so much.
So today I want to do the whatI'm calling the the status of
(07:37):
everything series, which is arip off of probably my favorite
podcast I like to listen tothese days, which is the Bill
Simmons.
He does that about twice a year.
He'll bring on a guy and theykind of talk about the status of
everything and they'll pick acouple of topics sports, tech,
whatever it is and since we'restarting off 2025, I wanted to
do the same thing, but do it ina series style format.
(07:59):
So for every week in January,starting today, since we're a
little bit behind January 11th,when this will probably be
posted, then we'll do the 18th,the 25th and then the 31st,
we'll do four episodes and we'regoing to look at the status of
different sectors, and the one Iwanted to look at today is the
(08:19):
tech sector and social media,and just how that's impacting
our lives as a society, as I seeit, and just how things have
evolved over the last really sixto ten years here and where I
think they've improved and couldcontinue to improve over the
next two years or so.
So this is something that Italk a lot about.
(08:40):
If you know me personally,you've probably heard me rant
about social media and theeffects that it has on human
beings and society quite a bit,and it's something I haven't
really talked that much aboutpublicly.
But one of the reasons I wantedto do this topic.
I started thinking about statusof everything where everything
(09:01):
is at in society right now, ofeverything where everything is
at in society right now and howthings have shifted in the last
10 years and then really just inthe last 18 months, and about,
I'd say, 2017, 2016 to 2023.
And then I thought, well, whathappened five or six years ago?
And that was the time whenTikTok really started to blow up
(09:22):
in the United States and thatwas the time when TikTok really
started to blow up in the UnitedStates.
I don't know how long it wasaround in China or wherever
before that, but that's at leastwhen I heard of it and I
remember it was kind of a funnystory.
One of my good friends, he, hecalled me up and we were just
randomly talking and he had hisdaughters in the back at which
at the time I think they musthave been maybe eight years old
(09:43):
and 11 years old or so, and hesaid they had just made a big
video on TikTok and I saidwhat's TikTok?
And then they all laugh.
He said, oh, uncle Stephandoesn't know what TikTok is.
And they all laughed at me.
It was sweet.
But then I went and I told mywife.
I said you know what's thisTikTok thing?
And now TikTok has become soingrained in society to where
(10:07):
society had gotten to be sodependent on tech, even in
growing this podcast.
Honestly, as we've tried to putmore links out over the last six
months and try to really growthis on the tech side, and as
somebody that does own a digitalmarketing company and has for
the last 15 or so years, youknow, I know how to drive
traffic, I know some things arenecessary and I know the power,
(10:30):
from an SEO standpoint, ofInstagram, facebook, all of
these websites, but I justphilosophically I don't want to
be a part of it point wheresmart people that are very deep
(10:50):
thinkers are being pulled intothis, to where you live your
life on social media, and it's avery scary thing.
I do think we've started to seesome pushback on it just in the
last 12 to 18 months here, butwhen I started to think about
2025 and where we're at, you getreally worried about the next
generation.
Growing up in the 80s and the90s, I remember a time when
(11:12):
there wasn't internet and I also, being, you know, young enough
I know how to use pretty muchall of the tech that's out there
right now.
So I think my generation's in aunique spot to have kind of a
bridge between both.
But I think the big differencewas it used to be if you wanted
to learn how to do something,you really had a few ways you
(11:34):
could learn how to do it.
You could ask someone, youcould ask your mentor or your
father or your mother or yourfriend and they could explain it
to you.
You could go to the library,you could read about it or you
go and do it.
Now, anything you want to know,you can Google it and then you
can watch a YouTube video on howto do it.
(11:55):
You want to learn how to put aspark plug in your car?
You can watch it on YouTube.
You want to learn how to buy aseller finance property?
You can watch my YouTubechannel.
I'll explain to you how to doit.
And that's great.
That's a gift to be able tohave access to all this type of
information, but it also can bea detriment too, because what
happens is, if everything'saccessible without ever having
(12:17):
to even stand up and withoutever having to leave your home,
then you don't have thatexperience of actually learning
how to do it.
Then you don't have thatexperience of actually learning
how to do it, and so you have anentire generation of people
that have learned this way, butthey're not getting the life
experience.
It's honestly, it's scary to me.
(12:38):
Guys and the TikTok.
I think almost every humanbeing I know of all ages has one
, whether they're in their 20s,30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and
it's utilized in so manydifferent ways towards some
great and honestly, there's somegood things on there too.
I mean, like I said, I don'thave one, but we were just in
Florida with family there.
(12:59):
And if my brother in law showme some funny stuff on, you know
, or there'll be a cookingrecipe and I go, that's neat,
you know.
Or my wife will show me, youknow, motivational stuff and
it's great.
I can see how I personallywould get sucked into it,
because it's fun, it is.
The problem is and I experiencedthis without even having a
(13:21):
TikTok just with using YouTube.
I had this experience to whereI saw a motivational clip on
YouTube pop up from DenzelWashington and I watched it.
The first time you watch it,you go, oh man, that made me
feel really good.
That makes me want to go outand do something.
This is great.
But then it leaves you so shortthat it leaves you wanting more
(13:42):
and you say, okay, well, let mesee if I can find another one.
Then we watch the second one ohman, that felt good too, before
you know it.
And then the things you have towatch to get to the thing
you're trying to watch.
The next thing, you know, bythe fifth or the sixth or the
eighth or the twelfth timeyou've watched a motivational
clip, you realize you've beensitting there for an hour and a
(14:03):
half, you haven't done anythingand now you're mentally tired
and you feel like you've donesomething.
That's the problem and I,without getting too far off on
it with TikTok specifically Idon't think that's an accident.
I think these short base clipsour brains are not meant to
process information in 60seconds or less.
(14:24):
I do think there's genuinelearning value, if you want to
learn about a specific topic, inwatching a 40-minute YouTube
tutorial on how to do that.
I think there's value inwatching a video on how to
calculate a cash-on-cash return.
Of course I'm biased there.
I think there's a value in along-form interview with
(14:46):
somebody that you respect or areinspired by, but our brains you
can get a little hit in 40 to60 seconds, but you're not going
to actually be fed withknowledge in that amount of time
.
So what happens is it leaves youwanting, which is not an
accident.
I mean, anybody will tell youwho's ever been in the tech
industry and I guess Itechnically am in the tech
(15:07):
industry because I've ownedmultiple websites and I still do
own the digital marketingcompany Lots of money, lots of
brilliant minds and resourcesand time are spent trying to
figure out how to keep you onthat platform.
So they don't want you to watchone video and then go out and
do something.
They want you to watch onevideo.
Then feel satisfied enough towatch one video and then go out
and do something.
(15:28):
They want you to watch onevideo, then feel satisfied
enough to watch another video,and another video, and another
video and another video and thenext thing you know you spent 11
hours on Facebook or YouTube orTikTok or Instagram or whatever
the platform is, and you didn'tactually do anything and it
leaves you feeling unfulfilled.
I believe it causes depression,anxiety and it doesn't allow
(15:50):
you the ability to be connectedwith reality in real life.
It's a blessing that we haveaccess, that we can learn in a
way we've never been able tolearn before.
It makes sporting events andmusic trivia, movie trivia a lot
less fun, because you used tohave some great arguments with
your buddies back in the daysaying this person has the
touchdown record, no, thisperson does, this person doesn't
(16:12):
, so on and so forth.
You just go back and forth forhours and never really have a
winner to the argument.
Now one of you just Google itand then the other person feels
silly and sad.
That's the end of that.
It is funny too for me.
Direct story with thisno-transcript about six
(16:54):
properties, actually went in andlooked at them and I looked at
him.
He was so beat at the end ofthe day and I said there's got
to be a better way to do this.
There has to be a way we couldsimplify this process, speed it
up.
And it was that conversation,and then the several years of
work and innovation after that,that led to us going live with
(17:14):
the website listed by in 2012,the goal being at that time, to
try to take the home buying andinvestment research process
entirely online and have a realestate marketplace and social
network and all that.
And we did that.
It didn't quite go how Ithought it would go, but I mean
we still did it, and so it'sinteresting to me.
Even just going back 15 yearsago, there was a real need for
(17:38):
technology to speed things up,and now we've got all that, all
that stuff that I just said thatwe wanted 15, 20, 30 years ago.
We've got it.
From a tech standpoint, that'sgreat.
I'm grateful for it.
It helps me when I'm buyingproperties.
A lot of the times theproperties that we buy I
negotiate the whole thingwithout ever having to step foot
(17:59):
even in the city that theproperty's in, which is great,
and it saves a lot of time andallows us to have the volume
that we have.
And other people do the exactsame thing or even much bigger
scales than we do.
But it's funny to me as theperson who, 15 years ago, was
thinking, gosh, we need all thisstuff.
It's gotten so tech heavy nowthat you miss out on the human
(18:22):
being, person to personinteraction.
And this is a blessing too,because one of the other things
when I think about the status of2025, I think about how young
everybody is.
You know, like my, mygrandmother, she passed at 63
years old and at that time Imean obviously as a kid, but I
remember thinking, you know,that was so old.
(18:43):
Now, 63, 60 years old, you'rejust.
You know.
It used to be the joke.
You know, 40 is the new 30.
But now 40 is like 20, 60 islike, you know, 45, 50.
And I have a ton of friends andpartners in their 70 that are
still going stronger than everand doing innovative things and
long term minded things.
(19:03):
One of my good friends thatsells hotels, buys hotels and
builds hotels, you know, juststarted a five-year hotel
project and he's 77, and he'sgot just as much energy as ever.
And so it's a fortunate thingthat, as people are living
longer, not only living longer,but the quality of life is
better.
The knowledge that people let'ssay 35 and up, 40 and up that
(19:26):
actually know how to interactwith people, whereas 20 years
ago, or Whereas 20 years ago oreven 10 years ago, it was a huge
advantage if you knew tech inreal estate or finance or in any
sector, and you know, some ofus could feel like dinosaurs if
you didn't.
Now it's a huge advantage ifyou know how to interact with
people as a human being, becauseI worry about the younger
(19:50):
generation just not havingaccess to it.
It's not their fault.
That's the way society's set up.
Society's set up to where, ifyou want groceries, you hit a
button.
If you want McDonald's, you hita button.
If you want to buy your t-shirt, you hit a button.
Oh, you need a.
You know a cable for yourlaptop hit a button.
You don't have to leave to evengo to the button.
You don't have to leave to evengo to the store, you don't have
(20:11):
to leave to do anything.
And these interactions all takeplace from behind a computer
screen.
And it's just interesting to me.
I'm not really even going tosay I mean, obviously you can
tell I'm not a huge fan of it,but it's interesting to me how
that back and forth has takenplace.
But it's interesting to me howthat back and forth has taken
place.
And if you are among those ofus which I know, several people
(20:33):
that are of all age groups, from20 all the way up to 80, if you
are one of those people thathave the combination of real
life experience, real life humaninteraction and technology,
then that's golden, that ticketis ready to go and I think
that's just a good.
(20:56):
You know, as we start 2025 here,it's a good thing for all of us
to take inventory and stock inourselves and where we're at and
say, okay, well, am I heavierin the tech side?
Have I you know how much humanbeing interaction I actually
have in 2024.
And if you're good there, great.
You know no-transcript.
(21:34):
That's a gift that you have,that skill.
Continue to optimize that.
But just make a point to gooutside of your comfort zone a
little bit.
Maybe go to the mall if mallseven still exist where you're at
.
Maybe, instead of orderingsomething on Amazon, drive to
the store and buy it just so youcan have those interactions,
maybe force yourself to do somethings just to get to feel some
(21:55):
of the joys and the blessings ofbeing a human being.
That would be my only two centson that, and it sounds obvious.
But if you really do an honestinventory with yourself, I think
we'll find a lot of us probablyaren't getting out as much as
we should in the last couple ofyears here.
But, like I said, I do feel like, because it's been joked about
(22:16):
so much in a lot of differentplatforms, I think people are
starting to realize it now and Ido think over the next five to
10 years here, you're going tosee it get back to a nice medium
between the two and thatpendulum will continue to swing
back and forth a bit.
So that has been my take on itis my take on it, and if you
would have asked me the statusof everything in 2023 or even
(22:36):
the beginning of 2024, I wouldhave told you I was very
concerned.
Here's the good news in myhumble opinion this is all just
my opinion that there's been alittle pushback to even the
younger generation, people halfmy age, saying well, this is
just silly, let's go dosomething.
And I think there's a longingfor the past eras, more than
(22:57):
there ever has been before in mylifetime for sure and I think
that's why you're seeing a lotof the old movies and a lot of
the old celebrities come back.
A lot of the old celebritiescome back.
You know, if you think about thelast five years, some of the
biggest movies that have beenmade are remakes of movies from
20 to 40 years ago Top Gun, youknow, bad Boys 4, whatever
(23:18):
they're up to, even BeverlyHills Cop, one of my favorite
ones that they just did theremake last year, which was
actually pretty good, by the way.
But you know, you're bringingback all of these movies
partially because the biggestcelebrities that exist today,
with this crop of young adultsthat are coming up, are
YouTubers and that's a.
(23:41):
It's kind of cool in a way.
I mean it's great that you canbe some kid in anywhere in the
country or the world and you canbe in Omaha, nebraska, be 18
years old, and then all of asudden you can be a celebrity.
But it I mean it's a little bitscary in the sense that there's
something to be said for a MelGibson or a Eddie Murphy.
(24:02):
Pick a person, tom Cruise youknow I know a lot of people for
some reason don't like TomCruise, but I'll throw him in
there too.
That had to work, had to go.
They went to Juilliard or theywere a stand-up comedian in the
bars for 10, 20 years orwhatever it was, and they worked
their way up.
They got a sitcom, they got amovie, they got a big movie,
bigger movie, so on and so forth, and they built their way to
start and there's some longingfor that process and I think
(24:24):
you're going to see a little bitof pushback, especially if
TikTok gets banned.
But I don't want to be overlynegative.
I actually intended to be alittle more thoughtful with this
discussion because I really dofeel great about where society
is as a whole.
I really, just in the last sixmonths even, I feel like to
where people are just tired ofnonsense.
(24:49):
People are ready to get to work, people are ready to be active,
people are ready to learn.
And I especially think eventhough I was picking on younger
generations, I feel like theyoungest generation, you know,
the people that are kids rightnow, teenagers and even younger
than that.
I feel extremely hopeful forthem, because it feels like the
(25:12):
pendulum swung so far for fiveto 10 years there in one
direction and now it's swingingback in another, to where common
sense is coming back into play.
I feel hopeful for the futureof this country and grateful to
be a part of it.
So, on future episodes, just soyou know, the other topics we're
(25:32):
going to cover, that I promisewill be much more light than
this, and we're going to talkabout the status of sports.
Next week we're going to talkabout the status of the
financial markets, preciousmetals, stock market, crypto.
I'm actually going to have aexpert on from the precious
metals industry on one of those.
(25:53):
I'm excited about that.
And then, of course, we'll wrapit up with the status of the
real estate market, with thefinal episode of the month, and
then I'll do my predictions forthe market for 2025 as a whole,
and then we'll have anothermonth's worth of data at that
point.
So I hope I didn't bum you guysout with my rants on social
media.
I think you can learn a lotfrom it.
It's a blessing that we haveaccess to all the knowledge and
(26:15):
resources we do that we've neverhad before and that can be
utilized in beautiful ways.
Just strongly encourageeverybody, try to make it a part
of your plan this year.
Set aside an hour every day, orsix hours every day, whatever
you're comfortable with doingmaybe it's 20 minutes to go
outside of your house and dosomething active and physically,
do something with your hands,or do a project you know with
(26:39):
another human being in somecapacity, do something that
makes you feel good, get thatsense of accomplishment.
It's such a wonderful,beautiful thing to engage in a
goal and then be fortunate toachieve that goal, and I hope
that we all continue to beblessed to do that in 2025 and
beyond, and I thank you forbeing a part of my network and
(26:59):
we look forward to seeing younext week.
Thanks so much, thank you.
Thank you so.
So All right, guys.
Thank you so much and welcome.
(00:49):
This is Stephan Piscano withthe Stephan Piscano podcast and
happy 2025,.
Guys, before we get into themeat of the show today and
before we kind of go through mynormal intro stuff, I just want
to take a moment and talk aboutthe horrific fires that are
going on right now in SouthernCalifornia.
(01:09):
My personal prayers and theprayers of my family go out to
everybody who's dealing withthat.
As somebody that's lived inNorthern California and actually
off and on parts of SouthernCalifornia as well over the
years, I've been here for about18 years now in the state and
we've got a lot of family downin SoCal and some properties
(01:31):
down there as well, and so inthe areas that have been
affected by these fires are someareas that are near and dear to
me.
I've spent a lot of time downthere for many years.
It's it's just horrific to seewhat's going on down there, and
we've dealt with that quite abit myself here in Napa.
I remember coming back.
(01:52):
I was actually out of town whenthe Napa fires happened.
I got back to town and drivingin even this was a couple days
after it was really dealt withjust driving into into town as
soon as you came in, your cellphone stopped working just
because of the smoke cover thatwas still there and driving
through Silverado Country Clubwhere we have a condo there and
(02:16):
seeing so many of the devastatedfamily homes that there was
nothing left but the chimney.
It's a very Armageddon-likefeel and very devastating to see
how these things are and I knowwhen you hear about it on the
news sometimes it might be kindof hard to put a picture with it
(02:36):
.
But both with Napa and mymother's house actually did burn
down in Redding California backin 2018.
So you know it's something that, thankfully, I haven't had
experience with my own personalresidence.
But about as close as you canget to that and I know what I
know.
I'm not going to say I knowwhat you're going through, but I
(02:58):
know a piece of what you'regoing through, with the fear
that comes with it, and it's aunique experience.
Even those of you that arefortunate enough that your home
doesn't burn down even just theevacuation process.
It's a wild feeling when you gointo your home and you're told
there's a good chance it mightburn down and you've got two
(03:19):
hours to get everything out thatyou want to get.
It really is, and a lot ofpeople 99% maybe of the people
in this country will go theirwhole lives and never experience
what that's like to have tomake those choices of what are
you going to put in the bag,what are you going to put in
your car and even that alone istraumatic and just a wild thing.
So again, we're praying for you.
(03:40):
Hopefully this will be resolvedfully and as safely and quickly
as it can, and sincerecondolences and thoughts and
good energy for anyone that'sbeen damaged by that and
certainly for the lives thathave been lost there.
So I wanted to mention thatright off the top.
(04:01):
We'll get into our normal stuffhere and try to get into a
little bit of levity for thesituation, and if you're
listening to this, then thatmeans that you're safe and
hopefully having a good start toyour year in 2025.
And I apologize too.
I wanted to do this one allweek, this episode, but I've
been pretty sick from theholidays and getting back in
(04:24):
from the travel and all that funstuff, and every time I was sat
down to record this, somethingelse would pop up, and so we're
finally doing it.
So before I get in.
Thank you guys again In 2024,.
We launched this show back onOctober 2nd 2024.
2024.
(04:48):
And in the last few months ofthe year we managed to hit
11,000 downloads across allplatforms, which greatly
exceeded my expectations for it.
So thank you guys sincerely forthat.
I hope that you spent some timemaking your New Year's goals
and all that fun stuff and thatyou take it seriously and stick
with it.
One of our goals for thispodcast is to reach 10,000
subscribers on all of thepodcast platforms.
Right now we're at about 4,100.
(05:11):
Almost all of those are on mygreat buddies at Player FM.
Thank you guys.
Player FM, you guys really, forwhatever reason, they seem to
like me over there.
I really like you guys too.
If you guys can help us hitthat goal, it really means a lot
on Apple, spotify or YouTube.
Go ahead and subscribe and thenyou can join our family here,
(05:31):
get access to not only the showsand listening that we do on the
real estate side investing ingeneral and then actual hot
deals that, not only with mygroup, vacation Wealth Partners,
(05:52):
but with other groups thatwe're going to showcase
throughout the year as well and,on that note, realtors out
there and investors one newthing we're going to start doing
in 2025, if you have a propertyor a partnership opportunity
that you want to showcase evenif it doesn't have anything to
do with me whatsoever you cansubmit that and if we think it's
(06:13):
a good deal, then we'llshowcase it on the YouTube
channel.
So if you want to do that,email Stephan at
StephanPiscanocomstefanpisconocom.
Basically, the reason we'redoing that is honestly just
because of demand, because in2024, as we started trying to
grow out the YouTube channel andI was doing all of this silly
(06:33):
stuff, we were giving away freevacations with Airbnb giveaways
to some of our properties wealready own and a lot of
educational stuff, and you knowthat it got decent reception,
but by far and away.
Again and again, thankfully,the thing that people seem to
really like to see is actualpartnership opportunities, and
that's a credit to my network.
I always say I'm reallygrateful to be blessed to have
(06:56):
the best network around, and Ithink that we're all pretty
sophisticated people, and so Ithink the reason that I figure
for that is is that you guysdon't really need the training,
because you already know allthis stuff.
You just want to see the actualmeat and potatoes, you want the
action and so there's only somany deals that we're buying.
Every couple of months or so wemight buy one or two properties
here and there.
(07:16):
So if anyone else has any greatdeals, please send those to me
at the Stephan atStephanPascanocom email address
and then, like I said, if Ithink it's good, I mean you want
to showcase it, we'll showcaseit, and that's mainly just a
benefit to the people that aresubscribed.
So, thank you, guys, so much.
So today I want to do the whatI'm calling the the status of
(07:37):
everything series, which is arip off of probably my favorite
podcast I like to listen tothese days, which is the Bill
Simmons.
He does that about twice a year.
He'll bring on a guy and theykind of talk about the status of
everything and they'll pick acouple of topics sports, tech,
whatever it is and since we'restarting off 2025, I wanted to
do the same thing, but do it ina series style format.
(07:59):
So for every week in January,starting today, since we're a
little bit behind January 11th,when this will probably be
posted, then we'll do the 18th,the 25th and then the 31st,
we'll do four episodes and we'regoing to look at the status of
different sectors, and the one Iwanted to look at today is the
(08:19):
tech sector and social media,and just how that's impacting
our lives as a society, as I seeit, and just how things have
evolved over the last really sixto ten years here and where I
think they've improved and couldcontinue to improve over the
next two years or so.
So this is something that Italk a lot about.
(08:40):
If you know me personally,you've probably heard me rant
about social media and theeffects that it has on human
beings and society quite a bit,and it's something I haven't
really talked that much aboutpublicly.
But one of the reasons I wantedto do this topic.
I started thinking about statusof everything where everything
(09:01):
is at in society right now, ofeverything where everything is
at in society right now and howthings have shifted in the last
10 years and then really just inthe last 18 months, and about,
I'd say, 2017, 2016 to 2023.
And then I thought, well, whathappened five or six years ago?
And that was the time whenTikTok really started to blow up
(09:22):
in the United States and thatwas the time when TikTok really
started to blow up in the UnitedStates.
I don't know how long it wasaround in China or wherever
before that, but that's at leastwhen I heard of it and I
remember it was kind of a funnystory.
One of my good friends, he, hecalled me up and we were just
randomly talking and he had hisdaughters in the back at which
at the time I think they musthave been maybe eight years old
(09:43):
and 11 years old or so, and hesaid they had just made a big
video on TikTok and I saidwhat's TikTok?
And then they all laugh.
He said, oh, uncle Stephandoesn't know what TikTok is.
And they all laughed at me.
It was sweet.
But then I went and I told mywife.
I said you know what's thisTikTok thing?
And now TikTok has become soingrained in society to where
(10:07):
society had gotten to be sodependent on tech, even in
growing this podcast.
Honestly, as we've tried to putmore links out over the last six
months and try to really growthis on the tech side, and as
somebody that does own a digitalmarketing company and has for
the last 15 or so years, youknow, I know how to drive
traffic, I know some things arenecessary and I know the power,
(10:30):
from an SEO standpoint, ofInstagram, facebook, all of
these websites, but I justphilosophically I don't want to
be a part of it point wheresmart people that are very deep
(10:50):
thinkers are being pulled intothis, to where you live your
life on social media, and it's avery scary thing.
I do think we've started to seesome pushback on it just in the
last 12 to 18 months here, butwhen I started to think about
2025 and where we're at, you getreally worried about the next
generation.
Growing up in the 80s and the90s, I remember a time when
(11:12):
there wasn't internet and I also, being, you know, young enough
I know how to use pretty muchall of the tech that's out there
right now.
So I think my generation's in aunique spot to have kind of a
bridge between both.
But I think the big differencewas it used to be if you wanted
to learn how to do something,you really had a few ways you
(11:34):
could learn how to do it.
You could ask someone, youcould ask your mentor or your
father or your mother or yourfriend and they could explain it
to you.
You could go to the library,you could read about it or you
go and do it.
Now, anything you want to know,you can Google it and then you
can watch a YouTube video on howto do it.
(11:55):
You want to learn how to put aspark plug in your car?
You can watch it on YouTube.
You want to learn how to buy aseller finance property?
You can watch my YouTubechannel.
I'll explain to you how to doit.
And that's great.
That's a gift to be able tohave access to all this type of
information, but it also can bea detriment too, because what
happens is, if everything'saccessible without ever having
(12:17):
to even stand up and withoutever having to leave your home,
then you don't have thatexperience of actually learning
how to do it.
Then you don't have thatexperience of actually learning
how to do it, and so you have anentire generation of people
that have learned this way, butthey're not getting the life
experience.
It's honestly, it's scary to me.
(12:38):
Guys and the TikTok.
I think almost every humanbeing I know of all ages has one
, whether they're in their 20s,30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and
it's utilized in so manydifferent ways towards some
great and honestly, there's somegood things on there too.
I mean, like I said, I don'thave one, but we were just in
Florida with family there.
(12:59):
And if my brother in law showme some funny stuff on, you know
, or there'll be a cookingrecipe and I go, that's neat,
you know.
Or my wife will show me, youknow, motivational stuff and
it's great.
I can see how I personallywould get sucked into it,
because it's fun, it is.
The problem is and I experiencedthis without even having a
(13:21):
TikTok just with using YouTube.
I had this experience to whereI saw a motivational clip on
YouTube pop up from DenzelWashington and I watched it.
The first time you watch it,you go, oh man, that made me
feel really good.
That makes me want to go outand do something.
This is great.
But then it leaves you so shortthat it leaves you wanting more
(13:42):
and you say, okay, well, let mesee if I can find another one.
Then we watch the second one ohman, that felt good too, before
you know it.
And then the things you have towatch to get to the thing
you're trying to watch.
The next thing, you know, bythe fifth or the sixth or the
eighth or the twelfth timeyou've watched a motivational
clip, you realize you've beensitting there for an hour and a
(14:03):
half, you haven't done anythingand now you're mentally tired
and you feel like you've donesomething.
That's the problem and I,without getting too far off on
it with TikTok specifically Idon't think that's an accident.
I think these short base clipsour brains are not meant to
process information in 60seconds or less.
(14:24):
I do think there's genuinelearning value, if you want to
learn about a specific topic, inwatching a 40-minute YouTube
tutorial on how to do that.
I think there's value inwatching a video on how to
calculate a cash-on-cash return.
Of course I'm biased there.
I think there's a value in along-form interview with
(14:46):
somebody that you respect or areinspired by, but our brains you
can get a little hit in 40 to60 seconds, but you're not going
to actually be fed withknowledge in that amount of time
.
So what happens is it leaves youwanting, which is not an
accident.
I mean, anybody will tell youwho's ever been in the tech
industry and I guess Itechnically am in the tech
(15:07):
industry because I've ownedmultiple websites and I still do
own the digital marketingcompany Lots of money, lots of
brilliant minds and resourcesand time are spent trying to
figure out how to keep you onthat platform.
So they don't want you to watchone video and then go out and
do something.
They want you to watch onevideo.
Then feel satisfied enough towatch one video and then go out
and do something.
(15:28):
They want you to watch onevideo, then feel satisfied
enough to watch another video,and another video, and another
video and another video and thenext thing you know you spent 11
hours on Facebook or YouTube orTikTok or Instagram or whatever
the platform is, and you didn'tactually do anything and it
leaves you feeling unfulfilled.
I believe it causes depression,anxiety and it doesn't allow
(15:50):
you the ability to be connectedwith reality in real life.
It's a blessing that we haveaccess, that we can learn in a
way we've never been able tolearn before.
It makes sporting events andmusic trivia, movie trivia a lot
less fun, because you used tohave some great arguments with
your buddies back in the daysaying this person has the
touchdown record, no, thisperson does, this person doesn't
(16:12):
, so on and so forth.
You just go back and forth forhours and never really have a
winner to the argument.
Now one of you just Google itand then the other person feels
silly and sad.
That's the end of that.
It is funny too for me.
Direct story with thisno-transcript about six
(16:54):
properties, actually went in andlooked at them and I looked at
him.
He was so beat at the end ofthe day and I said there's got
to be a better way to do this.
There has to be a way we couldsimplify this process, speed it
up.
And it was that conversation,and then the several years of
work and innovation after that,that led to us going live with
(17:14):
the website listed by in 2012,the goal being at that time, to
try to take the home buying andinvestment research process
entirely online and have a realestate marketplace and social
network and all that.
And we did that.
It didn't quite go how Ithought it would go, but I mean
we still did it, and so it'sinteresting to me.
Even just going back 15 yearsago, there was a real need for
(17:38):
technology to speed things up,and now we've got all that, all
that stuff that I just said thatwe wanted 15, 20, 30 years ago.
We've got it.
From a tech standpoint, that'sgreat.
I'm grateful for it.
It helps me when I'm buyingproperties.
A lot of the times theproperties that we buy I
negotiate the whole thingwithout ever having to step foot
(17:59):
even in the city that theproperty's in, which is great,
and it saves a lot of time andallows us to have the volume
that we have.
And other people do the exactsame thing or even much bigger
scales than we do.
But it's funny to me as theperson who, 15 years ago, was
thinking, gosh, we need all thisstuff.
It's gotten so tech heavy nowthat you miss out on the human
(18:22):
being, person to personinteraction.
And this is a blessing too,because one of the other things
when I think about the status of2025, I think about how young
everybody is.
You know, like my, mygrandmother, she passed at 63
years old and at that time Imean obviously as a kid, but I
remember thinking, you know,that was so old.
(18:43):
Now, 63, 60 years old, you'rejust.
You know.
It used to be the joke.
You know, 40 is the new 30.
But now 40 is like 20, 60 islike, you know, 45, 50.
And I have a ton of friends andpartners in their 70 that are
still going stronger than everand doing innovative things and
long term minded things.
(19:03):
One of my good friends thatsells hotels, buys hotels and
builds hotels, you know, juststarted a five-year hotel
project and he's 77, and he'sgot just as much energy as ever.
And so it's a fortunate thingthat, as people are living
longer, not only living longer,but the quality of life is
better.
The knowledge that people let'ssay 35 and up, 40 and up that
(19:26):
actually know how to interactwith people, whereas 20 years
ago, or Whereas 20 years ago oreven 10 years ago, it was a huge
advantage if you knew tech inreal estate or finance or in any
sector, and you know, some ofus could feel like dinosaurs if
you didn't.
Now it's a huge advantage ifyou know how to interact with
people as a human being, becauseI worry about the younger
(19:50):
generation just not havingaccess to it.
It's not their fault.
That's the way society's set up.
Society's set up to where, ifyou want groceries, you hit a
button.
If you want McDonald's, you hita button.
If you want to buy your t-shirt, you hit a button.
Oh, you need a.
You know a cable for yourlaptop hit a button.
You don't have to leave to evengo to the button.
You don't have to leave to evengo to the store, you don't have
(20:11):
to leave to do anything.
And these interactions all takeplace from behind a computer
screen.
And it's just interesting to me.
I'm not really even going tosay I mean, obviously you can
tell I'm not a huge fan of it,but it's interesting to me how
that back and forth has takenplace.
But it's interesting to me howthat back and forth has taken
place.
And if you are among those ofus which I know, several people
(20:33):
that are of all age groups, from20 all the way up to 80, if you
are one of those people thathave the combination of real
life experience, real life humaninteraction and technology,
then that's golden, that ticketis ready to go and I think
that's just a good.
(20:56):
You know, as we start 2025 here,it's a good thing for all of us
to take inventory and stock inourselves and where we're at and
say, okay, well, am I heavierin the tech side?
Have I you know how much humanbeing interaction I actually
have in 2024.
And if you're good there, great.
You know no-transcript.
(21:34):
That's a gift that you have,that skill.
Continue to optimize that.
But just make a point to gooutside of your comfort zone a
little bit.
Maybe go to the mall if mallseven still exist where you're at
.
Maybe, instead of orderingsomething on Amazon, drive to
the store and buy it just so youcan have those interactions,
maybe force yourself to do somethings just to get to feel some
(21:55):
of the joys and the blessings ofbeing a human being.
That would be my only two centson that, and it sounds obvious.
But if you really do an honestinventory with yourself, I think
we'll find a lot of us probablyaren't getting out as much as
we should in the last couple ofyears here.
But, like I said, I do feel like, because it's been joked about
(22:16):
so much in a lot of differentplatforms, I think people are
starting to realize it now and Ido think over the next five to
10 years here, you're going tosee it get back to a nice medium
between the two and thatpendulum will continue to swing
back and forth a bit.
So that has been my take on itis my take on it, and if you
would have asked me the statusof everything in 2023 or even
(22:36):
the beginning of 2024, I wouldhave told you I was very
concerned.
Here's the good news in myhumble opinion this is all just
my opinion that there's been alittle pushback to even the
younger generation, people halfmy age, saying well, this is
just silly, let's go dosomething.
And I think there's a longingfor the past eras, more than
(22:57):
there ever has been before in mylifetime for sure and I think
that's why you're seeing a lotof the old movies and a lot of
the old celebrities come back.
A lot of the old celebritiescome back.
You know, if you think about thelast five years, some of the
biggest movies that have beenmade are remakes of movies from
20 to 40 years ago Top Gun, youknow, bad Boys 4, whatever
(23:18):
they're up to, even BeverlyHills Cop, one of my favorite
ones that they just did theremake last year, which was
actually pretty good, by the way.
But you know, you're bringingback all of these movies
partially because the biggestcelebrities that exist today,
with this crop of young adultsthat are coming up, are
YouTubers and that's a.
(23:41):
It's kind of cool in a way.
I mean it's great that you canbe some kid in anywhere in the
country or the world and you canbe in Omaha, nebraska, be 18
years old, and then all of asudden you can be a celebrity.
But it I mean it's a little bitscary in the sense that there's
something to be said for a MelGibson or a Eddie Murphy.
(24:02):
Pick a person, tom Cruise youknow I know a lot of people for
some reason don't like TomCruise, but I'll throw him in
there too.
That had to work, had to go.
They went to Juilliard or theywere a stand-up comedian in the
bars for 10, 20 years orwhatever it was, and they worked
their way up.
They got a sitcom, they got amovie, they got a big movie,
bigger movie, so on and so forth, and they built their way to
start and there's some longingfor that process and I think
(24:24):
you're going to see a little bitof pushback, especially if
TikTok gets banned.
But I don't want to be overlynegative.
I actually intended to be alittle more thoughtful with this
discussion because I really dofeel great about where society
is as a whole.
I really, just in the last sixmonths even, I feel like to
where people are just tired ofnonsense.
(24:49):
People are ready to get to work, people are ready to be active,
people are ready to learn.
And I especially think eventhough I was picking on younger
generations, I feel like theyoungest generation, you know,
the people that are kids rightnow, teenagers and even younger
than that.
I feel extremely hopeful forthem, because it feels like the
(25:12):
pendulum swung so far for fiveto 10 years there in one
direction and now it's swingingback in another, to where common
sense is coming back into play.
I feel hopeful for the futureof this country and grateful to
be a part of it.
So, on future episodes, just soyou know, the other topics we're
(25:32):
going to cover, that I promisewill be much more light than
this, and we're going to talkabout the status of sports.
Next week we're going to talkabout the status of the
financial markets, preciousmetals, stock market, crypto.
I'm actually going to have aexpert on from the precious
metals industry on one of those.
(25:53):
I'm excited about that.
And then, of course, we'll wrapit up with the status of the
real estate market, with thefinal episode of the month, and
then I'll do my predictions forthe market for 2025 as a whole,
and then we'll have anothermonth's worth of data at that
point.
So I hope I didn't bum you guysout with my rants on social
media.
I think you can learn a lotfrom it.
It's a blessing that we haveaccess to all the knowledge and
(26:15):
resources we do that we've neverhad before and that can be
utilized in beautiful ways.
Just strongly encourageeverybody, try to make it a part
of your plan this year.
Set aside an hour every day, orsix hours every day, whatever
you're comfortable with doingmaybe it's 20 minutes to go
outside of your house and dosomething active and physically,
do something with your hands,or do a project you know with
(26:39):
another human being in somecapacity, do something that
makes you feel good, get thatsense of accomplishment.
It's such a wonderful,beautiful thing to engage in a
goal and then be fortunate toachieve that goal, and I hope
that we all continue to beblessed to do that in 2025 and
beyond, and I thank you forbeing a part of my network and
(26:59):
we look forward to seeing younext week.
Thanks so much, thank you.
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