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TRIGGERnometry

How the Internet Ruins Young People - Freya India

25 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: Why are young people struggling in today's digital age?

2.039 - 14.458 Konstantin Kisin

Nearly half of Gen Z adults wish social media was never invented, which you don't really get with any other invention. Other women were relentlessly sold products and procedures, but we are the product.

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Chapter 2: How does the internet shape young people's identity and self-worth?

14.678 - 26.697 Konstantin Kisin

This is happening from maybe age 12. Companies like Facebook will even track if a user uses a word like worthless or insecure and then send them an ad.

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26.828 - 32.176 Francis Foster

When I was reading the book, I was thinking the pandemic must have a significant part to play in all this.

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32.436 - 36.402 Konstantin Kisin

It must do. Teenagers were already social distancing before the pandemic.

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Chapter 3: What role does social media play in loneliness and anxiety?

36.742 - 48.499 Konstantin Kisin

So you have online communities, you have online porn, you have online therapy, you have online lectures, online delivery services. You just don't have to look a human in the eye at all.

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49.593 - 71.012 Francis Foster

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71.192 - 74.575 Francis Foster

When sleep is off, even small things feel harder than they should.

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Chapter 4: How is real-world community collapsing in the digital era?

74.916 - 90.55 Francis Foster

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91.07 - 112.433 Francis Foster

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Chapter 5: What is the impact of hyper-individualism on youth culture?

112.975 - 128.048 Francis Foster

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129.057 - 153.377 Unknown

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155.163 - 156.785 Freya India

Priya India, welcome back to Trigonometry.

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156.825 - 158.487 Unknown

Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be back.

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158.507 - 166.638 Freya India

Oh, it's great to have you. Listen, when we first interviewed you, it was very clear that you were a very talented writer, but you were still, I think, working part-time in a cafe.

Chapter 6: Why do young people feel lost and directionless today?

167.039 - 187.466 Freya India

And since that time, your sub-stacks exploded. You've written this great book, which I'm sure will be a big success. You're on all the big shows now. And I think it's because the message that you are delivering and the things that you're talking about is actually something that the entire world is now concerned about. You know, what have you made of the journey you've had so far, if nothing else?

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187.746 - 194.735 Konstantin Kisin

Yeah, I mean, I think when you asked me to come on, I was literally cleaning toilets in the cafe. So it's very meaningful to be back.

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Chapter 7: What are the problems with online activism and outrage culture?

195.296 - 211.299 Konstantin Kisin

I think that Jonathan Haidt obviously has accelerated this conversation and he's given the foundation for a lot of the stats in the book. But I kind of think of it, when I first came on, I was talking about the first part of a story, which was a generation falling apart.

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212.02 - 230.31 Konstantin Kisin

And that's what psychologists like Jonathan Haidt, Jean Twenge have all been talking about, which is the rise in anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide among Gen Z. But the book is really the second part of the story, which is a generation being remade. So what we were turned into.

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230.493 - 240.729 Konstantin Kisin

And I actually think that young women have turned from people into products and that the reason we're unhappy is because we're no longer human or at least treating ourselves as human.

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241.451 - 267.807 Freya India

Do you think that part of it is We've just got more powerful technology now. Women have always been treated as a product by the people who could sell them stuff and profit from their insecurities, from their natural tendencies to feel certain ways about their looks and stuff like that. And now we're just in a place where the technology is so much more powerful.

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268.057 - 288.917 Konstantin Kisin

Yeah, so the book is all age-old anxieties that every generation of women has felt. So it's like how you look, how you feel, your relationships, everything. But it's all been magnified now until it's unmanageable. And then it's more sinister than that. It's actually been exploited by all of these industries and companies.

288.897 - 313.526 Konstantin Kisin

And so, yeah, I think other generations of women would say they've been objectified or treated like a product. But I think this is like the core experience of girls today is commodification. So every experience of growing up, whether it's, you know, dealing with your developing body or going on your first date, it's all commodified and intruded upon by the market.

313.867 - 316.71 Freya India

Tell us more about that. Like, what does that mean, commodified?

Chapter 8: What advice does Freya India have for parents and educators?

316.994 - 336.733 Konstantin Kisin

Well, so you're constantly marketing and selling yourself. So all through adolescence, you're performing obsessively, analyzing your metrics and then your self-worth is determined by your ratings and reviews online. But this is happening from maybe age 12. Let's say you're on Instagram at age 12.

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337.714 - 361.987 Konstantin Kisin

Then your entire experience of growing up is packaging yourself up for Instagram, displaying yourself on a dating app like a product. And then in your 20s, turning yourself into a personal brand that has to be monitored and managed all the time. And so I think the difference today is other women were relentlessly sold products and procedures, but we are the product.

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363.188 - 385.048 Francis Foster

It's very interesting you say that, because when I was reading the book, I remembered this scene in Bowling for Columbine, the documentary by Michael Moore, where they interviewed Marilyn Manson, and he was going... Our entire consumer culture is based on fear. You've got pimply skin. No girls are going to want to date you. Buy this product. You've got greasy hair.

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385.068 - 391.838 Francis Foster

You're going to need this shampoo. And that sprung into my mind when reading about this. This is entirely a fear-based culture, isn't it?

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391.818 - 413.221 Unknown

You're watching television. You're watching the news. You're being pumped full of fear. There's floods. There's AIDS. There's murder. Cut to commercial. Buy the Acura. Buy the Colgate. If you have bad breath, they're not gonna talk to you. If you got pimples, the girl's not gonna fuck you. And it's just this... It's a campaign of fear and consumption.

413.281 - 419.968 Unknown

And that's what I think that it's all based on, is the whole idea that keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume.

419.948 - 440.893 Konstantin Kisin

Yeah. And also, if you are online, that's what the algorithms pick up on very quickly, is fear and insecurity and vulnerability. So companies like Facebook will even track if a user uses a word like worthless or insecure and then send them an ad. If a girl deletes...

440.873 - 466.366 Konstantin Kisin

a selfie Facebook will send her an advert for a beauty product and this is the issue with social media is it will pick up on any small insecurity or vulnerability you have immediately and then serve you more of it and this is the problem particularly with adolescent girls is that it's such a vulnerable time that you don't really have the same amount of agency or discernment to deal with it.

466.466 - 471.313 Konstantin Kisin

It's just you will feel something, you'll look at it longer, and then it will get out of control very quickly.

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