Listening to the ring camera conversation made me think of baby monitors. When I was researching what monitors on the market I came across an alarming number of personal stories where WiFi monitors had been hacked and people could watch inside your home/use the microphone feature. That always turned me away from doorbell cameras. Plus I see so much doorbell footage online that I’m not entirely sure has been uploaded with owner consent? I guess I’ve never been particularly concerned about government spying but rather creeps, although lately those seem to be pretty similar.
Joy and Confidence! Yes! My old boss used to say that Jesus led with humility and confidence so we can too. Love the addition of joy in there - joy, humility and confidence!
To Sarah’s last point about the disclaimers and caveats… I heard the hosts of the podcast Yo, Is This Racist? once say, “If we’re not talking about you, we’re not talking about you.” Changed my whole life in navigating hard stuff and listening to/participating in conversations about really sticky societal issues.
I don’t know how much this is related to the last segment, but it’s where my brain went. I work as a Spanish interpreter in the Twin Cities and the company I work for has not had a lot of work available in the past couple months because people are afraid to go to medical appointments. I finally got an email from the company about it this week and it felt very unsatisfying, like there was no recognition on an emotional level of what people are going through. I showed it to a friend who said it was probably written by AI. I don’t want to always get information like I’m a robot, sometime I would like to sense a human connection.
Also it has been bugging me lately that it feels like a lot of political posts have the same tone to them like they are written by AI. I don’t think I’m that good at telling what is AI but I don’t want everyone’s voice to sound the same.
I think the surveillance situation is a double edged sword. On one hand, ring cameras, etc can be used to show accidents, misuse of authority by officers, porch pirating, etc. That surveillance can be good and helpful. But the government using it with the entire apparatus that it is against citizens is scary. The same surveillance that the people are using to seek accountability for ICE is the same surveillance that can be used against citizens. I don't know the answer but it does feel like there's no going back. Cameras are everywhere.
As a personal story, I will likely always have a camera on my front door and here's why: In 2020, my house was broken into....while I was in it. My partner and I both work from home. Our house is built into a big hill. Both of our offices are downstairs. So, we had lights off upstairs. Two men broke in assuming the house was vacant. My partner was on a call and I heard feet upstairs. I was so confused...trying to convince myself that a delivery person got in and was confused. Don't even get me started on the level of mental gymnastics going on there. I started up the stairs to see someone in a mask make eye contact with me, yell for their partner in crime, and they both ran for it. Luckily, nothing was taken and there was no damage, but it was scary and the feeling of having my personal space violated has lingered in ways I didn't expect. I know this could have turned out so much worse if they'd opted for violence rather than running. I am so incredibly lucky. But it turns out, these people drove around neighboring houses looking to see who had a camera. Our house was selected because it didn't.
I'm so glad you're safe and the intruders left. That's so scary.
I've written here a lot about the drug-related crime we had in our Seattle neighborhood. Almost everyone had cameras, and we shared footage with each other all the time. It's the modern way for neighbors to look out for one another.
Oh wow. I think I'm the only one in my neighborhood without cameras. We have intentionally not bought cameras because of this lack of privacy, but it does worry me for the situation you described. I'm glad you were/are safe.
1. I work in influencer marketing and we had a brand who wanted to work with the kid who was known as the peanut butter baby, an early internet meme that went viral because the kids sister covered him in peanut butter as a baby. The brand wanted them to redo it now some 18 years later. I was supposed to track this person down and I wasn’t successful and it felt wrong. I was able to find a TikTok that someone had made saying they knew the kid and he hated being known for that.
2. One of the worst experiences of my life was when my daughter had a panic attack in a plane. She was screaming and hitting me and as I was trying to help her all I kept thinking was please don’t let anyone be filming this.
I wish we would stop filming people in public, especially children
Loved the outside of politics conversation today! I tell my (mental health/substance abuse) clients all the time, “you are a human being not a human doing.” ❤️
As someone who has been making grocery lists and cooking for decades-much longer than AI has been intruding on our lives-I would certainly be put off by an artificial “good job”. So insulting . NO way .
As Beth and Sarah often ask about the ways life has changed, who wants this?
Just commenting on the ring camera. I had the same reaction as Beth…and my husband was like UH NO. SURVEILLANCE STATE! He just sent me a screenshot from some social media (I’m not on any), the headline: Ring Drops Police Surveillance Company Partnership After Super Bowl Ad Backlash. So, I think that’s some good news!
I actually read that article earlier today! And the headline is misleading. The police surveillance company had nothing to do with the feature in the Super Bowl ad.
I’ve been thinking about the case of Liam Ramos and others whose interactions with ICE have gone so public. On the one hand, it seems like publicity helps these cases but what must it be like for these families to have all this national (probably international?) attention on them?
I applaud you, Sarah, for brining up your refusal to “caveat” your statements and how if someone “needs” your affirmation the problem is theirs not yours. I literally cringe when people do this- and it’s so antithetical to “joyful confidence”. It’s also infantalizing- if I went no contact with a family member, I certainly don’t need someone to tell me it’s okay. I hate the “permission giving” thread that so many content creators I follow do- I know it’s hitting the “big sibling advice giving” need that so many people think they “need” but it drives me nuts.
Might I humbly suggest something along these lines- if you don’t need to quantify everything you say to “affirm” and basically pre-apologize for any statement made- I don’t think you need to apologize or give reasoning for when you decide to do an episode that’s focused outside of the Trump administration’s latest dumpster fire.
Hot take, maybe. But, I think it would be joyfully confident.
I don't have a Ring camera, but sort of understand the appeal. What I have trouble understanding is cameras inside. So many of the videos on AFV are cameras inside of the house! Of course, that makes sense that they would catch the hilarious moments of life, but I wonder if it's common and if people are concerned about their privacy with those as well.
I have a couple of Wyze cameras that I use to monitor inside my apartment when I leave town for extended periods. I initially bought them to keep an eye on pets and I've had them for 6+ years, so they are older models. They connect to an app, so technically that information is somewhere, but I keep them off/unplugged when I don't need them and change my password a lot.
I don’t have a ring camera, but I do have a camera on my door inside my house - cause like…it can’t be disabled from the outside. It’s not a ring though, it’s Simplisafe - so you can have a security system that is affordable and not Amazon
The Alexa convo made me think of customer service reps! Everytime I have to call, I dread the fake “I am so sorry this happened to you, I will do everything in my power to make it right, you are so brave for not crumpling under the weight of this injustice!” Like guys I’m just trying to get a refund on my three dollar moldy strawberries it’s just not that deep. I would lose it if my Google home started speaking to me that way too!
First and foremost - I do not condone political violence. I hate the polarization that has become prevalent and on that fact, I appreciate the conversation here.
However (and this is a HUGE however), I find it more than a little ironic that Abby Cox is saying "We need to disagree better" when here in Utah, the Republican Party (led by her husband) is consistently and vigorously trying to ensure that the majority is never questioned. We are fighting right now for a citizen's ballot initiative (Prop 4) to be enacted - give us new un-gerrymandered maps so that those of us who vote differently are appropriately represented! Not only that, but a new piece of legislation just introduced in this session (HB 487) has this goal: "a legislator may introduce and vote on legislation according to the legislator's own judgment and conscience" and simply ignore the voice of their constituents.
So here's what I would say straight to Abby's face, and as civilly as possible, "Absolutely! Let us disagree better. But that means you have to actually allow us to speak."
We have family in Utah and they've told us about the stranglehold on local government that makes it difficult to even have privacy around their property because the powers that be (who don't live in the neighborhood) "vote their conscience" and determine what's good for everyone else. It sounds exasperating.
Living in Utah is not for the weak. It’s my state though, I was born and raised here, and I can see a better future for us here. It’s a slow, steep climb though.
I forgot to even mention that the Republicans are also trying to pack our Supreme Court to overturn the current ruling demanding they move forward with Prop 4. 😮💨 It’s exhausting.
Listening to the ring camera conversation made me think of baby monitors. When I was researching what monitors on the market I came across an alarming number of personal stories where WiFi monitors had been hacked and people could watch inside your home/use the microphone feature. That always turned me away from doorbell cameras. Plus I see so much doorbell footage online that I’m not entirely sure has been uploaded with owner consent? I guess I’ve never been particularly concerned about government spying but rather creeps, although lately those seem to be pretty similar.
16 minutes in. I am beyond confused. What did people think a Ring doorbell camera was for?
Joy and Confidence! Yes! My old boss used to say that Jesus led with humility and confidence so we can too. Love the addition of joy in there - joy, humility and confidence!
To Sarah’s last point about the disclaimers and caveats… I heard the hosts of the podcast Yo, Is This Racist? once say, “If we’re not talking about you, we’re not talking about you.” Changed my whole life in navigating hard stuff and listening to/participating in conversations about really sticky societal issues.
I don’t know how much this is related to the last segment, but it’s where my brain went. I work as a Spanish interpreter in the Twin Cities and the company I work for has not had a lot of work available in the past couple months because people are afraid to go to medical appointments. I finally got an email from the company about it this week and it felt very unsatisfying, like there was no recognition on an emotional level of what people are going through. I showed it to a friend who said it was probably written by AI. I don’t want to always get information like I’m a robot, sometime I would like to sense a human connection.
Also it has been bugging me lately that it feels like a lot of political posts have the same tone to them like they are written by AI. I don’t think I’m that good at telling what is AI but I don’t want everyone’s voice to sound the same.
I think the surveillance situation is a double edged sword. On one hand, ring cameras, etc can be used to show accidents, misuse of authority by officers, porch pirating, etc. That surveillance can be good and helpful. But the government using it with the entire apparatus that it is against citizens is scary. The same surveillance that the people are using to seek accountability for ICE is the same surveillance that can be used against citizens. I don't know the answer but it does feel like there's no going back. Cameras are everywhere.
As a personal story, I will likely always have a camera on my front door and here's why: In 2020, my house was broken into....while I was in it. My partner and I both work from home. Our house is built into a big hill. Both of our offices are downstairs. So, we had lights off upstairs. Two men broke in assuming the house was vacant. My partner was on a call and I heard feet upstairs. I was so confused...trying to convince myself that a delivery person got in and was confused. Don't even get me started on the level of mental gymnastics going on there. I started up the stairs to see someone in a mask make eye contact with me, yell for their partner in crime, and they both ran for it. Luckily, nothing was taken and there was no damage, but it was scary and the feeling of having my personal space violated has lingered in ways I didn't expect. I know this could have turned out so much worse if they'd opted for violence rather than running. I am so incredibly lucky. But it turns out, these people drove around neighboring houses looking to see who had a camera. Our house was selected because it didn't.
I'm so glad you're safe and the intruders left. That's so scary.
I've written here a lot about the drug-related crime we had in our Seattle neighborhood. Almost everyone had cameras, and we shared footage with each other all the time. It's the modern way for neighbors to look out for one another.
Oh wow. I think I'm the only one in my neighborhood without cameras. We have intentionally not bought cameras because of this lack of privacy, but it does worry me for the situation you described. I'm glad you were/are safe.
Woah!!!!!!
2 things
1. I work in influencer marketing and we had a brand who wanted to work with the kid who was known as the peanut butter baby, an early internet meme that went viral because the kids sister covered him in peanut butter as a baby. The brand wanted them to redo it now some 18 years later. I was supposed to track this person down and I wasn’t successful and it felt wrong. I was able to find a TikTok that someone had made saying they knew the kid and he hated being known for that.
2. One of the worst experiences of my life was when my daughter had a panic attack in a plane. She was screaming and hitting me and as I was trying to help her all I kept thinking was please don’t let anyone be filming this.
I wish we would stop filming people in public, especially children
Especially children!!!
Loved the outside of politics conversation today! I tell my (mental health/substance abuse) clients all the time, “you are a human being not a human doing.” ❤️
As someone who has been making grocery lists and cooking for decades-much longer than AI has been intruding on our lives-I would certainly be put off by an artificial “good job”. So insulting . NO way .
As Beth and Sarah often ask about the ways life has changed, who wants this?
Just commenting on the ring camera. I had the same reaction as Beth…and my husband was like UH NO. SURVEILLANCE STATE! He just sent me a screenshot from some social media (I’m not on any), the headline: Ring Drops Police Surveillance Company Partnership After Super Bowl Ad Backlash. So, I think that’s some good news!
I actually read that article earlier today! And the headline is misleading. The police surveillance company had nothing to do with the feature in the Super Bowl ad.
I took it to mean that they backed away from the partnership due to the backlash from the ad.
Backlash for good!!!
I’ve been thinking about the case of Liam Ramos and others whose interactions with ICE have gone so public. On the one hand, it seems like publicity helps these cases but what must it be like for these families to have all this national (probably international?) attention on them?
I applaud you, Sarah, for brining up your refusal to “caveat” your statements and how if someone “needs” your affirmation the problem is theirs not yours. I literally cringe when people do this- and it’s so antithetical to “joyful confidence”. It’s also infantalizing- if I went no contact with a family member, I certainly don’t need someone to tell me it’s okay. I hate the “permission giving” thread that so many content creators I follow do- I know it’s hitting the “big sibling advice giving” need that so many people think they “need” but it drives me nuts.
Might I humbly suggest something along these lines- if you don’t need to quantify everything you say to “affirm” and basically pre-apologize for any statement made- I don’t think you need to apologize or give reasoning for when you decide to do an episode that’s focused outside of the Trump administration’s latest dumpster fire.
Hot take, maybe. But, I think it would be joyfully confident.
I don't have a Ring camera, but sort of understand the appeal. What I have trouble understanding is cameras inside. So many of the videos on AFV are cameras inside of the house! Of course, that makes sense that they would catch the hilarious moments of life, but I wonder if it's common and if people are concerned about their privacy with those as well.
I have a couple of Wyze cameras that I use to monitor inside my apartment when I leave town for extended periods. I initially bought them to keep an eye on pets and I've had them for 6+ years, so they are older models. They connect to an app, so technically that information is somewhere, but I keep them off/unplugged when I don't need them and change my password a lot.
I don’t have a ring camera, but I do have a camera on my door inside my house - cause like…it can’t be disabled from the outside. It’s not a ring though, it’s Simplisafe - so you can have a security system that is affordable and not Amazon
The Alexa convo made me think of customer service reps! Everytime I have to call, I dread the fake “I am so sorry this happened to you, I will do everything in my power to make it right, you are so brave for not crumpling under the weight of this injustice!” Like guys I’m just trying to get a refund on my three dollar moldy strawberries it’s just not that deep. I would lose it if my Google home started speaking to me that way too!
“It’s just not that deep” 👏👏👏
First and foremost - I do not condone political violence. I hate the polarization that has become prevalent and on that fact, I appreciate the conversation here.
However (and this is a HUGE however), I find it more than a little ironic that Abby Cox is saying "We need to disagree better" when here in Utah, the Republican Party (led by her husband) is consistently and vigorously trying to ensure that the majority is never questioned. We are fighting right now for a citizen's ballot initiative (Prop 4) to be enacted - give us new un-gerrymandered maps so that those of us who vote differently are appropriately represented! Not only that, but a new piece of legislation just introduced in this session (HB 487) has this goal: "a legislator may introduce and vote on legislation according to the legislator's own judgment and conscience" and simply ignore the voice of their constituents.
So here's what I would say straight to Abby's face, and as civilly as possible, "Absolutely! Let us disagree better. But that means you have to actually allow us to speak."
We have family in Utah and they've told us about the stranglehold on local government that makes it difficult to even have privacy around their property because the powers that be (who don't live in the neighborhood) "vote their conscience" and determine what's good for everyone else. It sounds exasperating.
Living in Utah is not for the weak. It’s my state though, I was born and raised here, and I can see a better future for us here. It’s a slow, steep climb though.
Oh yes I wondered about this! Thank you for that context
I forgot to even mention that the Republicans are also trying to pack our Supreme Court to overturn the current ruling demanding they move forward with Prop 4. 😮💨 It’s exhausting.
The fake voice...no!!! Do not speak to me!!