Social Media Distancing: Sabbath Rituals, Social Media FOMO, and Reclaiming In-Person Connection (ft. Matt Feiler)

Welcome back to Let's Talk Media! In this episode, host Vedant Akhauri sits down with his Ithaca College WICB radio friend, Matt Feiler. We explore why taking time to unplug is vital for our mental health, relationships, and basic humanity.In this episode, we discuss:The Jewish Sabbath Ritual: Matt shares his weekly practice of completely disconnecting from sunset every Friday to sunset on Saturday to observe the Jewish Sabbath.Our Toxic Relationship with Social Media: We unpack the "fear of missing out" (FOMO) and the constant societal pressure to post. Matt shares a funny childhood story of being trivia-tested as the only person in his entire high school grade without a Facebook account, and explains why he still chooses to live without Twitter or Instagram (as of 2020).The Rise of Screen Time in Younger Generations: We discuss the risk of "deadlier and lonelier consequences" for kids who grow up interacting primarily through screens instead of physical, in-person socialization.Striking a Professional Balance: How do you build a necessary professional media presence without letting social media take over your life?If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating to be notified of future episodes. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram @letstalkmediavaRemastered: July 15, 2026'Signal to Noise' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au