Why'd You Push That Button - reviewed

Dave Jakson [00:00:03]:
Welcome to The Podcast Rodeo Show. I'm your host, Dave Jackson, from the school of podcasting.com. This is where we grab a random podcast and see how long we can hang on, Then I give you an honest first impression. And today, we're gonna listen to a button called, why'd you push that button? It's from The Verge. I found this from the trending list in Podurama, and here's their description from our good friends at Apple Podcast. It says, why'd you like that celebrity photo on Instagram? Why'd you leave that restaurant review on Yelp? Why'd you text in lowercase or turn on read receipts or share your location? The Verge's Ashley Carmen and Caitlin Tiffany asked the hard, weird, and occasionally dumb questions about how your tiny tech decisions impact your life. Well, I I don't know Ashley Carmen, but I read Ashley Carmen. Her articles are awesome.

Dave Jakson [00:01:00]:
So I'm kind of, pumped to, hear this. And, we will be listening to their latest episode, which is, well, virtual dates stick around after the pandemic, which was done back in July of 2020. So apparently, this show is dead, but as you know, podcasts live on, and we'll check it out right after this. Well, there's a lot of hiss in that.

Ashley Carmen [00:01:31]:
Hello, and welcome to Why'd You Push That Button, a show where Caitlin Tiffany

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:01:36]:
Hello.

Ashley Carmen [00:01:37]:
And Ashley Content, that's me, examine all all the choices technology forces us to make. We are back, sort of.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:01:46]:
Just for now. Just for today.

Ashley Carmen [00:01:49]:
Yeah. A little one off for all of you who have stuck with us for this almost year since we last released an episode.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:01:57]:
I have absolutely no sense of whether that's accurate because I no longer have any idea of the use of calendars.

Dave Jakson [00:02:04]:
Okay. I I get this. Remember, this is recorded in 2020. So this is in the middle of a pandemic. But also realize that to a new listener like me, I don't know you've been gone. So don't make a huge deal out of it, and I would do it at the end of the show.

Ashley Carmen [00:02:20]:
Yeah. So, it's a pandemic. Kate, how how have you been doing? Let let's give the listeners a little bit of a sense of our mental state these days.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:02:28]:
Yeah. I think I'm getting into the swing of it. When a couple of months ago when we started talking about doing this episode, it was chaos here in the Tiffany home. I had re

Dave Jakson [00:02:40]:
Wait. So they said they were talking about doing this a couple months ago. So you've been working on this episode for months, and you're gonna start off with how you doing?

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:02:47]:
Something broke in. A mirror, a window, 2 wine glasses. It was basically like I was just kind of crunching around like a floor covered in glass, being like, I wonder if I'll ever see my friends or family again. So that was a dark time. But, you know, things are picking up in New York a little bit. We're allowed to go to the beach.

Ashley Carmen [00:03:09]:
Crucial.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:03:09]:
Yeah. We're allowed to look at each other outside, if not touchy.

Dave Jakson [00:03:13]:
This is funny because I have to go back and listen to my 2020 stuff because we were all talking about the pandemic because everybody was going through it. Now 4 years later, we're like, okay. Can we get to the good stuff?

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:03:26]:
Each other so things are on the on the app.

Ashley Carmen [00:03:28]:
Yeah. We've we've seen each other, which is really great. I think I've sort of settled into a routine of sorts. I've done pandemic bingo. I've done Peloton workouts. I've made various foods and baked. I've done a puzzle. I hate to admit.

Dave Jakson [00:03:44]:
Yeah. Okay. So let's get to some real content. Loud?

Ashley Carmen [00:03:48]:
Yeah. I've learned TikTok dances, and I've had jello shots for my birthday that you made me. Yes. Anyway, so we wanted to do this episode where

Dave Jakson [00:03:56]:
Good. Back to the show.

Ashley Carmen [00:03:58]:
You know, of course, why'd you push that button? We are always curious about how dating is affected, what's changing in dating these days. And so we wanted to do an episode about how COVID 19 and the pandemic has forced us to make a ton of decisions about how we live, work, relax, etcetera, and how we date. Everyone's been staying at home as you all know and so that means they haven't been able to go on real dates and virtual dating has become a thing And we wanna know, is this a thing that's going to last forever, or is this a pandemic phenomenon that we're going to all forget ever happened, repress it, maybe mention it to our therapist once, and then that's it.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:04:32]:
Yes. So virtual dating I guess the first half of virtual dating is, like, a concept that was already part of normal dating. It's just like swiping on Tinder or OkCupid or Hinge, which I guess is more of a scroll type action, but, you know, whatever. And then the virtual component is that because we have been under stay at home orders and because people have been encouraged not to hang out in close proximity.

Dave Jakson [00:04:57]:
Here's the thing about this episode. I don't care if electronic dating sticks around or not. I'm kind of not sucked into this topic, and I'm single. Now granted, I'm not in my twenties or thirties with an active dating life, but, I I'm kinda bored at this point. And it's not that what they're doing is bad. I'm I just don't care.

Kaitlin Tiffany [00:05:20]:
You have people who don't live with them. You just don't do the whole thing where you meet up in a bar, which you can't do. You don't do the whole kissing thing. You don't do any of that. You just, like, FaceTime or Zoom or Skype or insert alternative secure video conferencing software here to see if you have a connection, which all of that, I think, makes sense. We're kind of interested in what happens after the first time you FaceTime with somebody when you know, how do you build momentum? Can you build momentum? Is it actually dating? And will there be, like, remnants of virtual dating in post pandemic romance?

Ashley Carmen [00:06:04]:
Yeah. Like, how effective is virtual dating really? And I think broadly, geographic location has become increasingly less important. Like, when you're doing remote work, it doesn't matter where you are. I could be doing it in a forest or a beach or in a city, and it really does not matter as long as I have an Internet connection. But, you know, with dating, these dating apps have kind of made it seem like maybe geographic location doesn't matter for that either. So we wanna know how effective it really is to date from afar. And so here's here's some stats. We're just gonna throw some numbers at everybody.

Ashley Carmen [00:06:33]:
OkCupid said that it saw a 62 percent increase in daters on OkCupid going on virtual dates in April compared to March, and it started including COVID 19 questions in people's profiles so they could talk about how they feel about the pandemic. Eharmony reported a 27% increase in messages in April. Match said that daily swipes were at an all time high during its last earnings report, which was mid pandemic. So, obviously, all of these stats are a little bit older, but they are from the peak of the pandemic, which is when we would expect most people to be using their apps and video calls the most. So, presumably, while the pandemic kind of wanes and then comes back during the year, we'll see people stay on the apps, but probably change how much they're using them depending on the state of lockdown in their state or country.

Dave Jakson [00:07:21]:
Yeah. And here is the thing. I'm not a huge fan of this episode. Although, right before I hit pause on the player, they were bringing on a dating expert. So you gotta remember that Ashley is a reporter. So I just don't care about this topic. So it's not that it was bad. I don't know that they had any kind of yeah.

Dave Jakson [00:07:44]:
They did an intro. Remember that? I'm so and so, and I'm so and so. So this show has an interesting thing and they have a topic. The only thing they did, and I mentioned this earlier, is I would have done all that holy cow. We're in a pandemic stuff at the end, and that's really not fair to say in 2024. Because in 2020, we were all like, what? What are we doing? Pandemic? What? What's going on? What's wrong with the world? And then how yeah. So I get that. So I'm kinda giving them a pass.

Dave Jakson [00:08:15]:
And, I'm I'm glad to see that Ashley, at one point, was a podcaster. Sure. Her articles for The Verge are always well done, and I always like to read her stuff. But as for this podcast now, here's the other thing that I think is dumb. Their website is you ready for this? The verge.com/ydashudashpushdashthatdashbutton. Yeah. And if I go to just The Verge, it doesn't show links to any of their podcast. That's pretty funny.

Dave Jakson [00:08:52]:
If I click on the more button, podcast there, but it's not really on the front page. All podcasts. Okay. And there are all The Verge casts. All with SEO play or all with show players that are getting absolutely 0 SEO. Okay. So if you would like your show right here on the podcast review show because remember that, you know, it's not just me listening, and you can pick up some listeners. I always put a link to your website, so you get a little link juice there as well.

Dave Jakson [00:09:27]:
It's only $5. Now why is it only $5? Because I like doing these. It's kind of fun. It is something that I am pondering, in the future because I've got a lot on my plate right now. We might switch the schedule from weekly to every other week temporarily, but, it's something I do enjoy. And if you would like to have your show right here, it's super simple. Podcast rodeo show dot com slash store. That's it.

Dave Jakson [00:09:57]:
Podcastrodeo show.com/store. And the other thing is, well, I am Dave Jackson. I'm from the school of podcasting, and I like helping podcasters. And I would love to see what we can do together.