Parenting, Digital Safety, and Old School Gadgets

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You are tuned

in to Steve Megatron on altered geek Hello and

welcome to altered geek I'm your host Steve Megatron

Phillips and in this episode of the podcast I'm

flying solo and in case you're wondering Will

we have guests on the show again on the regular

program? And the answer is yes. I just had to

wait a few weeks because the way I've been block

recording these episodes of these spotlights

for the Wednesdays, I didn't leave myself enough

time to edit it and to have regular episodes

with guest hosts, so that didn't really leave

me with a lot of time for co -hosts at all, for

any show for that matter. So that's why there's

been a lack of All Things Transformers, Future

Imperfect, even though like Future Imperfect

should have had like four by now at this point,

and All Things Transformers should have had one

at least. But those will make a triumphant return

next week, nicely enough. If you're listening

to this episode, you've already listened to the

interview spotlight episode with Peter Westwood

of Poppin' Off and some Mixer series and Super

nice guy super down -to -earth talking about

Just you know how to go through that journey

and and of being a Just a you know decent human

being and He did the 10x talk and I got the the

fun of getting to guest host on their their YouTube

show popping off this week which actually aired

yesterday according to this recording I'm actually

recording it right after so I'm super jazzed

up from it We talked about a variety of topics

on that episode, so if you want to see that,

I will link their episode below on Altered Geek's

episode post on Geekcast Radio. I am stumbling

like a crazy person. The adrenaline's still going.

So anyways, I was a special guest. I did drop

some different voices and kind of intro'd myself

as Megatron. And then had fun messing with them.

We talked about the coming Netflix shows for

February, the Hulu's showing ads, Nick Jonas

throwing in his hat for Ben Affleck's role of

Batman, and there were a variety of other topics

we didn't get to on that particular segment,

and they had very... structurally sound segments

but it allowed them to kind of not dwell on things

too long and that was kind of nice too. And then

we went over to the gamer section and got to

talk about our console of choice and the PS5

compatibility and Resident Evil getting some...

new games or rehashes, as it were. And then we

went over to the trending section, which talked

about how you can get married at Denny's on Valentine's

Day for $100, which is kind of redonkulous. For

one, why would you get married at Denny's? Why

would you pay $100 for Denny's? And then... Again,

Denny's? Like, yeah. And then they talked about

Costco selling a five -tier wedding cake made

entirely out of cheese. Not a cheesecake, actual

cheese. And then it basically insinuates how,

you know, Costco is going to keep adding things

and, you know, pretty soon they'll have a library,

they'll have a College of Costco where you can

get your degree within Costco and you can get

in their monorail system in the middle of the

store and go from one end to the other. But yeah,

I also heard rumors that they're going to build

a Costco close to me, which will be interesting.

We have Sam's Club, so yeah. And I'm thankful

we didn't get to the last topic on that, on the

trending, because I did not. I was scared of

that. So they did bring me in for the Rapid Fire

game, which were quick answers and that was a

lot of fun too. So definitely check out their

show if you want to hear everything that went

on in that episode. A lot of fun went on and

a lot of joking and some of my crazy voices.

So that is what happened. So without further

ado, we're gonna get over to some geeky news,

some of which is, as we already know, the Big

Bang Theory's ending, but William Shatner is

going to have a guest role for an upcoming Dungeons

& Dragons -themed episode, which will mark the

first time that Shatner's appeared on the show.

And it's kind of fitting because, you know, the

one guy that's, like, got that look that, you

know, you see him and you just think, Star Trek.

or Priceline, however you want to go about it.

He's going to make his debut on the show and

so it'll be not much different than how Carrie

Fisher was on there or Mark Hamill or Leonard

Nimoy or really any of the people, you know,

LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner. So it's really cool

that he's going to be on there. It is kind of

sad that it's happened this late, but you know

it's it is what it is I'm I'm just kind of glad

that it's gonna have shatter on it, and it's

gonna be fun So yeah They're saying that They're

gonna have Joe Mangelino director Kevin Smith

Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Will Wheaton Also guesting

the roles in that episode, but it doesn't say

if shatter will play a Character of himself or

he'll be playing a version of himself or part

of the game or But yeah, it's it's gonna be it's

gonna be interesting to say the least when that

that comes out So Now we get to the CW And the

CW renews, of course, every DC TV show, or among

other things. They've renewed basically their

entire slate through 2020, in addition to Riverdale

and Supernatural, which Supernatural is no surprise,

they're hitting episode 300 in the next three

episodes. And they're gonna have John Winchester,

Jeffrey Rudin Morgan, come back and play the

father, so that'll be interesting. I'm not surprised

that the Flash, Arrow, or any of the Arrowverse

shows in Black Lightning got a renewal just because

they're awesome. And Batwoman will be making

her appearance at some point on the pilot or

on the series, on the network, as well as Crisis

on Infinite Earths, which could end up altering

everything. In permanent ways and kind of soft

reboot in the universe or integrating everybody

down to the same level But yeah, I'm not surprised

in the slightest CW's got a bunch of cash cows

there. They're not gonna let those go Not not

in the slightest And then we get to the news

that Disney is promising more Marvel will keep

making our rated Deadpool movies, which means

that you'll probably see like a Black Widow movie

rated R, you'll probably see a lot of other ones.

Bob Iger's basically said that they're gonna

keep doing it and going with their adult -oriented

Marvel adventures after it absorbs much of Fox.

So yeah, I'm not surprised. I mean, that's big

cash cow there. There would just be stupid not

to do it. One of the things though that I noticed

in the news that had me really excited and it

has nothing to do with The Batman is that Warner

Brothers is developing an animated Batman Beyond

movie for theatrical release possibly to tease

interest Or just because they want to do something

in that universe. But anyways It doesn't say

if it's gonna be and like taking place in that

like during the series It'll be based on the

animated series. It doesn't say that it will

be within the series so We'll have to wait and

see but it's gonna be released through the Warner

Animation Group It's supposed to begin production

in 2020 with theatrical release around like 2022

kind of Their their version of Response to the

spider -man into the spider -verse Is kind of

why they're doing this and some leaked art kind

of showed up and it's not really anything special.

It's just kind of scribbled like Made to kind

of similarly look to Like the spider verse Animation

and I hope it's not that type of animation. I

hope that's just playing on it, but Yeah, it's

I honestly wish that they would just kind of

skip. I mean, I'm fine if they do the Matt Reeves

Batman and they do his trilogy and kind of playing

the young Batman, but I would love to see, since

DC's kind of abandoned the DCEU and kind of recreated

it as standalone films, I would love to see them

do a Batman Beyond trilogy and have Michael Keaton

reprise his 89 and 92 Batman role to... play

old man Bruce Wayne in the Batcave and have a

young actor play Batman Beyond and then it could

be literally anybody but there's so much that

they could do with it and and I think that that's

kind of been the thing and honestly the rumor

of a Batman Beyond live movie has been going

on for quite some time I mean there were rumors

of it in the mid -2000s around the time that

Batman Begins came out And I still am holding

out hope that eventually that will come out.

But, you know, we'll see what happens when they

do decide to do something with it. I hope the

animation thing goes well so that they will do

it. But honestly, I would like to see them do

it sooner than later so Keaton can still kind

of play some of a somewhat of an integral role

because he still considers himself much like

Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond. he considers himself

to be Batman whenever he shows up somewhere.

And so it's kind of a nice nod that he does when

he gets into that rhythm of playing that anyway.

So the other thing that's kind of interesting

is Disney, and this was posted by Geek Vibes

Nation, They kind of basically recap this whole

thing going on saying that Disney is betting

the future on Disney Plus they plan to fully

utilize Fox's IPs and other purchased IPs to

create and transfer content to Hulu and Disney

Plus and Ticket prices for the Disney parks will

go up rated our content will be made so yeah,

it's Yeah, it's It's gonna be an interesting

year With Disney involved for sure Changing gears

a little bit. I don't know if you guys have seen

the Star Wars shorts that are making kind of

the rounds around the internet getting very high

Praise the the galaxy of adventure series that

they've been pumping out Super short like three,

you know two to three minute episodes The recently

released one, which got everybody's attention,

of Yoda versus Count Dooku, kind of showing the

attack of the clones battle, and then the Vader

and Luke's duel on Bespin from Empire Strikes

Back, and they focus on the action of the movies.

They even have one of Palpatine showing his rise

to power throughout this clip. Gotta be truthful

on this, they look pretty awesome. And the reinterpretation

kind of gives new meaning that they don't necessarily

have to replace the movies, but they could kind

of tell an alternate version of the classic films

with these and kind of play in that universe.

Because they've turned all of the. Original films

into these animated shorts and in kind of been

fun with it and playful with the Canon and it's

It really is really interesting how these have

come out and With episode 9 coming out this year

It's only a matter of time before they do more

of this with the other parts of the franchise

But they don't even have to have the original

actors because a lot of has been replaced unless

you're talking like James Earl Jones or something

Where they can just lift the voice track or something

But it's still amazing like how well it's come

out And there was also recently like a trailer

for Justice League vs. The Fatal Five which Bruce

Timm is back in the saddle producing this and

or executive producing and Sam Liu the Gotham

by Gaslight is directing it he's done a couple

of the other ones I believe too but it's supposed

to come out later this year and it it's kind

of spotlighting to unlikely young heroes they're

kind of fighting off futuristic villains But

they brought back Kevin Conroy as Batman, Susan

Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, and George Newburn

as Superman to reprise their roles as the DC's

Trinity in the Justice League. And then they

also have Mr. Terrific and New Green Lanterns,

and then they've got Miss Martian. But the fun

part is that the characters from the DC Justice

League Unlimited series look identical. to their

original roles. And that's why it's so spectacular

and kind of cool. So yeah, I'm definitely pumped

for this. I cannot wait for this to come out

in the near future. And then finally wrapping

out the geeky news, there was a Google commercial

for Google Home where Joe Pesci was... waiting

basically it was a Super Bowl commercial and

he's waiting to see what his favorite commercial

was and there's Home Alone and it's got you know

like the Kevin McAllister thing and the Macaulay

Culkin so it was basically a commercial other

than a commercial but it was still great because

it was it was just funny how it how it played

out but nonetheless it was it was still a lot

of fun. There were a lot of trailers that kind

of dropped. There was an Avengers in -game trailer

which was kind of... I mean, it showed all the

heroes who'd been vaporized by the snap and then

the rest of them kind of getting in line to begin

the battle. And then it kept a Marvel one which

did the, you know, fly higher and all that jazz.

And it's... I'm still excited for both those

films. I think that they're gonna be a knockout.

It remains to be seen how post end game goes,

but up until that I'm pretty stoked for everything

that's coming out. That being said, gonna move

to a topic. So we'll be back after this quick

flip of the audio switch. So we're back and there

was an email from scanner 51 and it was the subject

of screen time Which was recently brought up

on the show And then he says that he's seen battles

over the screen time take place and you know,

thankfully not his kid It's getting harder to

limit such things, etc, etc And there's schools

wired and everything else and teachers using

Kindles and everything else and and I kind of

briefly touched on this but what the interesting

thing is is people have gotten so addicted to

these devices, myself included. It is ridiculous

how tied to these devices we are. And I actually

wrote an article about this, and it more or less,

more or less, kind of encompassed The state of

things like in what you should do as a parent

when when you're kind of stuck between a rock

and a hard place with with these items and I

Being that I just was laid off. I'm writing freelance

and doing other things like that now But I wrote

one on kids and in tech safety And basically,

you know technology has changed the way we parent

our kids I mean, think about it, when we were

young, there was nothing like YouTube, nothing

like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In the

late 90s, we had dial -up modems with the awesome

blazing speeds of 56k, if we were lucky. But

with the digital landscape as it is today, there's

limitless content within reach of any small hands.

getting to be more important than ever for parents

to be educated and proactive with what they allow

in front of their kids. So everything we have

available to us today, it can be kind of daunting

and scary to become a parent, have to figure

it out and find that fine line and where it has

to be drawn. I mean, you guys know I have two

boys, you know, a six year old, a three year

old and Both my kids have already figured out

how to navigate our smartphones My oldest in

particularly tries often to steal our phones

to play with the device To use the camera, you

know to get to YouTube. He knows how to get to

the call screen. My wife is Nicer than I am she

passwords hers with the touch Authorization So

You know it since you know, they're past screened

and everything else You know, we can't hide technology

from them nor would I try to but what we can

do is guide them to what is appropriate for their

their developing minds and Honestly, I I see

like our quote -unquote millennial generation

and and the next generation after that whatever

that's called Z or whatever We're so disgustingly

tied to these devices. And one of the interviews

that, funny enough, we'll get to later on, when

I asked the guest speaker about getting in contact

with his social media, and actually comes out

next week on the 13th, he says, I don't have

any. And I was like, you what? And he's like,

yeah, I know I get that a lot. But he said that

he's had a lot of people tell him that they've

gotten rid of their social media. Like he's gotten

rid of it. He's got a lot of people that subscribe

to him that have gotten rid of it. They've gone

back to the traditional forums. They've gone

back to the emails. They've gone back to a variety

of other ways. And so it's very... difficult

in this day and age, and so to kind of traverse

that, I mean, you have to guide them. So if you've

got multiple devices in your home, whether it's

a Kindle Fire or a Google Home, a smartphone,

smart TV, smart Blu -ray, iPad, any of those

devices, The main concern is safety guidelines,

and you need communication. And that seems to

be the one thing that nobody wants to do. Everybody's

like, eh, just throw a device at them. Let it

parent them, and I'm good, because they're not

bothering me. It's not supposed to work that

way. And yes, there's a lot of learning potential,

but I'll get to that in a minute. So basically

what we have to do is allow them to use it. to

expand their exposure to it but we also have

to explain the acceptable behavior and the expectations

with those devices and we have to encourage them

to make the right choice but at the same time

we always have to keep a close eye because you

know they're kids you know think about all the

things that you did that was screwed up with

you know the tech devices in the day I mean I

remember dialing on the internet at like 11 o

'clock at night or like five in the morning and

I figured out how to turn off the dial -up modem

sound which was good until I got caught because

the screen like I had my light off in my room

because it obviously was late or super early

and the screen light would give off that that

bright hue and so I learned how to turn the the

brightness down but it still didn't save me from

under the door and Eventually, I got caught because

I was playing video games And and working on

my Dragon Ball Z website at the time and transformer

site, but that's neither here nor there Yeah,

I know huge nerd could have been looking at other

things that probably weren't as consistent You

know were worse off than that, but that's what

I was doing So anyways, you know these these

are kind of my basic rules with it not getting

too much into it And it's more so just limit

usage, you know treat it like anything else moderation

set a time limit I had a time limit as a kid

the unfortunate part is I use it as a coping

mechanism because when my parents got divorced

I had nothing I had nobody to relate to I wanted

to disappear and How I did that was I played

on my computer. I learned how to design graphics.

I built websites I Taught myself anything I could

to become someone else and I learned a lot about

pop culture. I learned about Like I said web

design graphics. I learned about I Created my

own persona online. So I literally would be a

totally different person in person and online

and it wasn't until really the formation of Geekcast

radio that I was able to put those two halves

back together and just become Normal like fully

functional and it took a long time and my wife

has been instrumental in that Reintegration because

I was a stingy Just not yeah, I had to get off

my high horse and so it's it's It takes a lot.

But anyways, that's deeper than what I intended

to go but Regardless, limits are needed, and

knowing what your kids are doing. And if you

set certain times and they abuse it, that's one

thing, that you can kind of gauge it on that.

But if they're following the guidelines, I mean,

it's still moderation. But toddlers and kids,

children ages two to five, or even birth to five

or six, should be limited. to high quality content

such as low intensity educational programming

not all the kind of crazy crap that's going on

and that's kind of why we have a lot of rambunctious

kids or kids that can't sit through uh any kind

of program why you know it screws with your brain

it really does and uh I've even noticed it since

I've gotten off a lot of the high intensity we've

stopped letting our kids watch it, and they've

kind of mellowed out for the most part. But screen

time, this is number two, screen time isn't alone

time. And you need to have your children in a

central, highly trafficked area, because kids

are less likely to get into something questionable

if mom or dad could be walking by any moment.

You know, it could also be a time for parents

to sit down and explore the digital activity

with the child, giving them the opportunity to

ask questions or let the kid teach them because

kids love to do that. My oldest loves to come

up and show me something. I was drawing up graphics

on paper for a side business thing that I was

creating and trying to draw logos up and trying

to come up with just kind of rough schematics.

uh just a rough basis and uh my son comes up

to me and he's like can I draw some and so I

started designing him and I built him or I I

was doing my own while he was drawing his own

and he was trying to copy some of what I was

doing so he was sitting really close and it was

really cute how he was um trying to emulate what

I was doing and that kind of showed me too that

They learn more from you than they do from these

devices. While co -viewing is still the best

option for young kids, it's still better if you

teach them yourself, because there's a lot of

life lessons they can learn from you as long

as you're available. It's just learning to put

down the stupid device, and that's something

I have to learn, too. But I did see there's a

couple of good options. I know I talked about

Pinna. on the previous episode, the subscription

service for kids, the screen -free, ad -free

audio streaming of audiobooks, podcasts, and

music. It's subscription -based, but it's still

probably the best option if you don't want them

watching things, but you want them listening

to things to enrich their minds. But if you're

gonna let them watch something, the closest thing

to like a Mr. Rogers that we have today is LeVar

Burton Kids, which is another subscription service.

that both educates and informs. And if you're

not familiar with the Var Burton, what rock have

you been under? But anybody from our generation

should know who he is because he was, you know,

Mr. Reading Rainbow himself. You know, don't

take my word for it. You know, that's his slogan.

And then he does a lot of those things with like

how Mr. Rogers would have the Mr. McFeely elements

where, you know, you'd see the crayon factory

and things like that. So like I've watched a

few of those and they're interesting. Also, Geordie

from Star Trek, the next generation. So. Just

putting that out there. I mean, and then YouTube,

you can do stuff from that. And it's free for

the most part for many different types of content.

But you have to use a lot of caution on there

because unless you create a playlist of the content

and the duration of content that you intend for

your kids to sit in one sitting, you never know

what will pop up during your viewing time in

the advertisements or the follow up videos. Despite

the YouTube algorithm for YouTube kids you should

still be present or close by While your children

are making videos no matter what you choose to

do Just be aware be present and make yourself

knowledgeable about the content devices you like

your kids use I mean just don't set them in front

of something and expect them to police themselves

because they won't But yeah, that's that's kind

of my thought on on all that You know With having

the devices I just Interaction, I mean my kids

were bouncing off the walls this morning. What

did I do? I sat down and I played Legos We built

creations out of Legos the boys were building

their own boats and ships and stuff and I built

this immaculate jet which is ridiculous But yeah,

I mean I had fun doing that and It's something

that we all do. I have a lot of fun building

with Legos, probably more so than my kids, but

that's just because I'm a Lego nerd. I know that

Scanner wanted the opinion from guys who don't

have kids, such as Birdman and Booth Ninja, but

one, again, scheduling didn't line up, and two,

it's... I really wanted to talk about it, and

I thought it was kind of fun. The other topic

that I have is... I posted this on Twitter, but

some of our friends that are moving away, they've

been called to... uh... serve in another state

uh... and it's our local pastor and he's he's

going to another state and uh... uh... we were

good friends with them close friends and uh...

the boys were close friends with their kids and

uh... so anyways they they were letting us borrow

some you know their vcr and their their portable

uh... dvd player uh... which Had the opportunity

of using the old tech again and remembering the

good old days of Copying because they they had

some old VHS tapes that were starting to go bad

that they they wanted Converted and that they

were gonna give us like I mean they gave us the

VHS tapes and These particular ones and and said

we could burn them to DVD because we don't have

a VCR and then we're throwing them away after

but That aside, I had to hook up the red -white

-yellow cords again between the two devices and

daisy -chain them together through the ins and

outs, and then the HDMI from the DVD player to

the television, because my television, my 50

-inch plasma Samsung, does not have a red -white

-yellow. I think it has the RGB... plugs the

higher definition versions of the red -white

-yellow cords, but I don't entirely know. I think

there's only one set of that, but there's two

HDMI slots. It has a lot less connectors than

my old TB. My 42 -inch plasma that was Panasonic

had like everything on it. I could have hooked

up double red -white -yellow, and then the RGB,

and then I think it had like four HDMI. No, it

had two, because I had a splitter. I had a lot

of stuff hooked up to that TV, though. But anyways,

it was funny because the kids asked what that

big machine and the tapes were. And I was like,

ugh, really? But I also have an old boombox.

It's like, I got it, I was 10, so it's 22 years

old. The CD part of it still works, the radio

part of it still works. I've got a remote for

it. So that's the only reason I keep it to but

the the cassette part of its dead it like goes

are When it starts talking and it just sounds

funny because we were trying to do the hooked

on phonics things for the kids and It just it

was super warped But getting to hear the familiar

wine of the VHS tapes and the VCR rewinding it

don't miss it I don't miss it at all. I don't

miss the impatient part of waiting. But it makes

me think, it makes me remember why we have more

patience as this generation and the previous

generations than the younger generations typically

do. I'm not saying they all are impatient, because

there are people from my generation that's impatient

too, but I am on certain things, but... The fact

that you had to wait for something to rewind

or you had to fast forward to a certain part

The only benefit was is if you left it at a certain

point in the movie You could pick it up where

you left off unless you have like a smart Blu

-ray player like my my Sony Blu -ray If I stop

playing a DVD at a certain point I shut it off

It will pick back up where I left it off or if

I've not watched that DVD in some time Somehow

this stupid device will remember the last time

I used that disc and it will put me back right

where I was the last time. So that's like the

only instance I've ever seen of that happening.

But it is funny, though, because like I said,

the younger generations typically don't have

the same patience because of the instantaneous

watching habits on their videos today. And a

lot of my friends are like, you know, like Eduardo's

like, yep. So it made it made me kind of laugh

on that But yeah, it's it's crazy crazy crazy,

you know But I guess that that's a way of saying

that I feel old And I'm only I'm turning 33 this

year in June like right after the 10 year anniversary

of the network I'm turning 32 or 33 And then

I realized like this past week to that I 100

% need to wear my glasses to read from a book

to my kids because I stumbled so much not wearing

them. I mean, I could read a desktop screen pretty

decently fine, depending on the lighting, without,

you know, without my glasses. But if it doesn't

have uniform lighting, forget it. Like I need

my glasses. Like even sitting here recording

this, I have to have my glasses because all the

words are blurry on my screen. and all the props

and so I can't click without 100 % accuracy on

that but yeah I mean I really feel old when my

kids ask what a cassette VHS CD are they call

everything a DVD if it's a disc like even if

the CD or a Blu -ray it's a DVD to them like

that's all they call it Blu -ray is not even

in their vernacular like they don't they don't

have a clue what it is but It's funny. The kids

know what Netflix is. They know what Facebook

is. They know what a lot of this stuff is. But

when you get into the little nitty -gritty stuff

like that, they don't have a clue. They even

have some old books that are for kids that have

pictures of things that don't exist anymore.

And they're like, what's that? What's that, Dan?

And I'm like... sun that's one of these things

like I had that when I was little and or younger

and they're like whoa that's that's weird it's

just I don't know it just makes me feel old when

I see stuff like that so I guess I'm gonna call

it quits this is probably the longest episode

I've done in a long time on my own I hope you

guys enjoyed it I hope that I'm not completely

boring. So if you have any ideas of topics or

content that you want me to cover on a future

episode, just let me know. I'm pretty open to

a lot of different things at this time. Like

I said, All Things Transformers will be back

next week. Future Imperfect will be back next

week. Yeah, it's just it's gonna be a lot of

fun. I'm gonna get back to some some old -school

conversations on this podcast and Yeah, we're

gonna get Birdman back we're gonna get booth

ninja back. We're gonna get TFG1 Mike back gonna

get some other people back like maybe DJ get

TFG1 Mike yeah, so we'll just see how things

go and kind of play it later, but Definitely

gonna get back into the conversationally opinion

based episodes and less of the the newsy news

Unless it's like a quick segment blitz through

kind of like what happened in the beginning Although

it went on way too long in my in in in some regards

But I also feel like I haven't been here in a

while and a lot of stuff kind of happened so

Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.

Thank you again for tuning in, and until next

time, get altered. Get geeky with the Altered

Geeks.