Take the Elevator
This podcast is purely about elevating people through individual life stories and experiences in the Elevator. In the Elevator, what's key is maybe changing your perspective; having self-actualization; embracing your purpose; and acting on it as we grow from one another. There is a whole different point of view when you look up to elevate.
Take the Elevator
385th Floor: We Took A Sabbatical And Questioned What Counts As Entertainment
What if your media diet shaped your mood, ethics, and generosity more than you think? We close the year by reexamining entertainment—what we watch, why we watch it, and how it quietly rewires our days. With a 16-day sabbatical as a backdrop, we unpack the pull of short-form video, the lure of shock-based virality, and the hidden costs of counterfeit products that undercut creators and confuse buyers.
Together, we explore media literacy in 2025: noticing how algorithms nudge, spotting AI-generated tricks, and pruning feeds. Hence, they reflect the life we want—not the outrage someone else profits from.
Then a real-world twist beats any reel. In a packed Costco line, a stranger waved us ahead and paid for our entire order. She showed us kindness.. That simple act shifted our perspective more than hours of scrolling—proof that the most meaningful “content” is often experienced offline, where gratitude expands and paying it forward becomes the obvious next step.
If you’re ready to curate a kinder, smarter feed—and trade empty noise for stories that teach, delight, and elevate—this conversation will help you set a fresh tone for the new year. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a reset, and tell us: what will you cut from your feed and what will you add to elevate your days?
Look up, and let's elevate!
Every day. Elevate. Every day. Elevate.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, it's Jen the Builder. And Corey. And it is technically Corey, I think, the last two weeks of the year.
SPEAKER_00:Last two weeks of the year. Jen, you know what's amazing about when it gets down to the wire being the last couple of days, last couple of weeks of the year? You really start to hone in what you've accomplished, what you have not, and what you really want to try to accomplish for the next year. Is that true for you?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. And I have a tool actually that a friend of mine gave me.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And it does a pretty cool review for the whole year. And you really have to sit there probably 10-15 minutes to get very reflective on the year.
SPEAKER_00:Say more.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I actually should have brought it into the studio. But what I'll do is the next time we podcast, I'll share more on it. Okay. But this is a surprise to you. I have a date with you for you to go over your year and me, and then we're going to compare notes.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing. Yeah. So I was thinking about some key things that's happened not only over this year, but just over the years. And one of the things that draws my attention is what we call entertainment today. And so that's kind of where we're just going to jump straight into it because we have no time frame. As a matter of fact, a little secret for everyone that's listening, Jen and I are on a 16-day sabbatical. And so we're just going to enjoy a little bit of time away from the norm and uh get to know each other a little bit better. Let's say let's say it like that.
SPEAKER_03:Wow, which is uh such an interesting thought because I feel like we know each other so well. But I yeah, I I agree. Anytime we have these days off like this, we do learn more about each other, which is incredible. Um, I was gonna say something and I forgot about the 16. Oh, the reason why I think entertainment's coming up for us is because we know that when you have 16 days off, you find ways to entertain yourself. Maybe you have more time than you did before, so you're looking more into what's on your phone, what's on the TV screen, right? And we're like, really? This is entertainment.
SPEAKER_00:This is it, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I think this is a great topic, and I think it's very thoughtful as we go to next year. Like, do we want to be entertained, or how can we change the way we are entertained?
SPEAKER_00:Right, or how can we change the way we're entertaining? There you go. Um, I'm gonna tell a short story about TikTok, and uh it was quite funny because you know, I deleted TikTok quite some time ago. I never really got into it, I didn't understand it to the degree that a lot of people got into it. So I I get you know the videos and the reels and the you know people doing silly things and so forth, but what I couldn't get into was the fact that there was a lot of laughing and joking about people's demise, and that bothered me. So that and that was one of the things that kept popping up. You know, I'd seen um kids fighting or maybe a child talking to an adult inappropriately, and I was thinking to myself, this is not entertainment for me. I I don't like the visual of this, so I had deleted it, and so that was probably about a year and a half, two years ago. Well, just recently, someone told you, as a matter of fact, Jen, you would be great on TikTok. Like that would be your niche right there. If you get on TikTok, you guys would go viral instantly. So I was like, okay, maybe it's changed. Let me try to, you know, try up TikTok again. So I downloaded it and I got ready to uh update my password, and I was gonna change the name because I wanted it to be something uh about the books, so I was in that vein. So I put the name in, put the email address in, the first video pops up. I'm like, okay, not too bad. All right. So I I I think I tried to scroll one more time, and it says, Your account has been suspended permanently due to inappropriate content. And I was like, Wow, what the heck? Okay, so how do I find so basically I I wanted to name the channel the fuzzy furry forest. Well, they they thought flagged him as like something inappropriate, he has some nefarious plans with this channel. Oh wow, let's take it down. So I still don't have TikTok, and I probably won't do it. And if if we're gonna go viral, it's gonna have to be on you.
SPEAKER_03:Well, the interesting thing about TikTok is I'm not involved. The only reason I have my account open is because I have some good friends that send me reels. So to watch them, you have to have your TikTok account. I'm gonna take a little detour here. I have two TikTok accounts, and I'm a little upset because the first one I felt like I was building pretty good. Okay, and somehow I lost it, and so I created another one and I just didn't feel it, but then I still see my other one lingering around.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:That makes sense, yeah. So uh yeah, any I I think and I have good friends who love TikTok, so don't take this personally. In fact, they use it for a lot of their like education and learning new things, and so maybe I have not or we we have not figured out how to look for things on TikTok.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:Um, it's just weird when I see like these live people and they're doing weird things, and the idea is to engage with them and send them. I'm thinking it's some kind of money, you know, like your certain ways to pay them, and then they have the TikTok shop. And now, Corey, we're creative, so I think you can understand where I'm going with this. A friend of mine ordered like uh an annual Bible study thing, and then I saw it on a reel or advertisement on YouTube, and the price difference was way different, like vastly different. So the original company had it for sale, and it was on YouTube, Instagram, and things like that. The one they had on TikTok was stolen and photocopied. Um, and I guess it's quite all right. In fact, the person who put it together said what mattered to her is that it gets in the hands of people because it is a Bible study. But if you want the real thing and you want the hard book cover, then get it through them.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know that kind of way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's happened to us before. Uh someone photocopied keep it from me. No, I thought I told you.
SPEAKER_03:I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, someone photocopied a book and was attempting to sell it, and it was driving me crazy. Like, and then it was at a very reduced cost.
SPEAKER_03:This was on Amazon, yeah, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00:It was, yeah, and so I ended up having to buy the book and it was crap. And I was like, okay, at least it's not floating around out there. But it what it did was it it slowed down sales because that one book, and it didn't look right, and I knew it didn't look right. Yeah, so um, but yeah, that that's what people do for entertainment. Someone thought, oh, let me photocopy this book and and try to sell it. And so it it makes people go, wait a minute, I don't think I want that thing. That looks raggedy.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And for entertainment, I know you mentioned months ago uh with Charlie Kirk, I think you looked at TikTok and you saw the actual shooting, and that wasn't something you wanted to see. Again, entertainment. So people are putting these reels and shorts on to get more likes, to get more comments, right? And even people who get com who um comment, if they get a lot of reactions, then that causes them to get a hype because then people are looking at their page, you know, that kind of way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So it's like just this ripple effect, and sometimes it's just pure nasty and negativity, right? That really gets people to look at this stuff. Um, I'm kind of curious, Corey, and I'm sure people listening might be, well, what kind of stuff do you guys look at then? Like, what what are you looking at right now? What is your attention on your reels?
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, are you serious? Like, well, don't do it all.
SPEAKER_03:Kind of do the ones that you know you think like your top two to three or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:So there's a lot of science stuff that I'm into. I you know I'm I'm super nerdy. I'm super nerdy.
SPEAKER_03:I love it. You are extremely nerdy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I I when I say science, I don't mean like um rockets and and you know rocks and space and stuff like that. I just like a lot of things that have actual factual substance. And so I I love seeing documentaries, I love seeing science type stuff.
SPEAKER_03:And history and history, history, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that that's that's pretty much what I I follow. Some of it turns political, but when it gets too deep into politics, I'm like, nah, don't want to deal with that. Because I I'm not one of those people that say, oh, you have to be this or you have to be that, because I think it's very smart people on both sides, and there's very loony people on both sides, and we've proven that over the course of years. You know, I'm I'm in my 50s, so I've seen both sides do extreme things. So yeah, I don't feel like I should have to pick uh one or the other at any given moment to prove, you know, one thing or another. Heck, I'm I I still choose not to talk to certain family members, so right. I'm definitely not gonna make a definitive decision on a politic, you know.
SPEAKER_03:So the reels that you watch, um are they watched by a lot of people, or is it that niche where it's just a smaller group of people?
SPEAKER_00:I have no idea. Um I'll give you a couple of examples because I know a lot of people are like, okay, so what is it like how the sound barrier is broken? How fast rocket ships have to go in order to break into the next atmosphere and and not even into outer space, but there's layers of atmosphere, and so if I go down this rabbit hole, it's gonna get very nerdy, very geeky, real quick. Um, you know, stuff like that. Uh, history, as in like Easter Island, fascinates me just beyond belief. The pyramids, uh, the hieroglyphs inside the pyramids. I've bought multiple books on uh the history of the pyramids and what's inside of them and what wasn't that was told to us was supposed to be. And so a lot of archaeology type stuff. Uh, and then my my um guilty pleasure is Bigfoot.
SPEAKER_03:Sasquatch. Yeah, and actually, Corey and I we were looking at okay, what movies do we want to line up for entertainment on while we're off? And there's actually a movie, um, a documentary on Sasquatch.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and it's a new release. I don't remember exactly what it's called, but I think it's on Prime. Thing is, is you can only rent it or buy it, I think, or you can only buy it.
SPEAKER_00:You can only buy it.
SPEAKER_03:And I don't know that$14.99 is like something we want to spend on a Sasquatch thing. Maybe you do, but not me.
SPEAKER_00:Well, no, I mean not when I have, you know, all these Bigfoot Hunter and Expedition and stuff like that, you know.
SPEAKER_03:So if I haven't shared this, I want to share this now because the guilty pleasure is very real. So, Corey, you've you've told me that since you were younger, like the sound of TV or just sound helps you sleep better. Yes. So we have our TV on, and eventually it does come off, but it's on for a little bit. The thing about please look this up and know that I'm not exaggerating because I know when I tell a story, it sounds a little bit outlandish, but the TV's on and Corey's dead asleep, and it's just me in the dark with the TV. And the TV, and they're saying, like, what was that? Did you see that? And it's so scary because then they have the music in the background and the whispers, and I'm in the dark, and we already know I get terrified in the dark.
SPEAKER_00:No, it's it's so real, it's such a real thing. And it just adds the suspense and the and the intensity of the show when they're in the dark, it's over the top, they're whispering, and then they show some random and there's nothing looking shape that it's pitch black.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
unknown:It's like, what was that? I heard something.
SPEAKER_03:Anyhow, so yeah, that's sometimes the middle of my evening. Um, but I what I also love, Gory, so you do science, history. How is it? How are you using reels and stuff for current affairs? What's that like for you right now?
SPEAKER_00:Um, so it's it's a very high mixture of things. And and what's strange is like I never type anything in. I I just refuse to try to find one particular thing. So usually I just scroll until I see something I like. I'm like, oh, okay. And so if you look at that, I'm under the impression that it starts showing up on your feed more.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So that that's kind of Or even right now, it's talking about it because I have my phone on me. What will happen is I'll open up Instagram or YouTube and the reels will be I I'll start seeing Sasquatch stuff. Right, right. And I was saying, no, I'm not interested in this.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So okay, so for my entertainment, very different than Corey's.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it is. Now we must slow down just a bit because this gets real, this is some like you you see Jen's feed and you're like, wait, what? How do you even get to that?
SPEAKER_03:So crazy. So when I compare myself to Corey's reels, I'm like, girl, you need to get more serious about life. About your life. Yes, just about and be aware more of what's happening in the world. But I just feel like it's such a good time for me to just dumb it down. I'm gonna be honest. I know that you know, there's this old dumb you down. I actually welcome some dumbed down moments because I feel like everything that I do in life is pretty elevated, which is great. Um, so let me just tell you what I do. Okay, real quick. I'm gonna try to make it real quick. Oh and this is not in order of any importance, but true story. When I work from home, and this started during COVID, I watch things on YouTube like study with me or work with me, and I intentionally put typing sounds. Like I need to feel like someone's with me, working with me, and it helps boost my productivity. It's so real. So my reels, and I'll watch it, I'll watch people unbox their new keyboards, new stationery, unbox books, Bibles, journals. They'll do like a flip-through, and it's really bad when they flip through five years worth of journaling in the Hobonichi thing because it's like five years, and and you just flip, and it's so intriguing to see what people capture in their journals.
SPEAKER_00:Permission to interrupt, please.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So COVID no judgment. No, no, I'm judging. I got all the judgment in the world, and I gotta and I gotta tell you this COVID messed our pocketbooks up. Oh my god, COVID brought for real new habits, new desires, honestly, keyboards, galore, and they have to have sound and color and style and and and do different functions, and then the keys got little characters on them, and the lights and the oh my goodness. It's just like what happened?
SPEAKER_03:We just oh we're typing. Yeah, I know, I know. I just I blame it on COVID.
SPEAKER_00:COVID did end up. Oh, and one last thing, and then I'll and then you're back at it. That that gum ASMR, oh my, you think Bigfoot is is traumatizing. Try hearing someone tapping on something or rubbing on something their nails. Oh my gosh. And so you're like, what is that? Let me whisper. Yeah, so my the whispering for my stuff is bad.
SPEAKER_03:But their whispers are like, Welcome to the green spa.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and that's not freaky.
SPEAKER_03:So good to have you here. And what kind of facial would you like today? No, it's that kind of way, but true story. So ASMRs, I'm going to say, be careful. I don't, Corey, true story. I don't watch the ASMRs that I used to, like as far as like um them speaking and doing makeup and all that stuff. Because one night I left it on and I woke up and this chick was just whispering gibberish. It sounded like chanting. Yes, chanting and placing curses and everything.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I don't know, but it gave that kind of vibe.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I say I I don't know about that. Like, I don't subscribe to that uh messaging at all. Like if you want to whisper, I say I'm I'm good.
SPEAKER_03:Because I feel like in the beginning it's one thing, but then the idea is you eventually fall asleep. And if they're running long, and their idea is just to keep giving you that ASMR thing, you know, who knows what they're doing. So I'm very picky now, and I have one person, and when she does go off, she reads the Bible. And I've stayed up all night and looked through and I fast forward all her stuff to make sure. Sure. So there's that. Um, but yes, ASMR is a very real thing, and I hate to say this, but I don't know if a lot of Asians do this. I kind of feel like we do. Um, the mukbongs, right? Just uh watching the cooking and the eating.
SPEAKER_00:And so I seen and it just blew me away, and I I got stuck. And I think this is what happens with most people. There's this little tiny Asian girl. Like she's like tiny little and she's going to all these restaurants and sometimes multiple restaurants in a day, and she's trying this food, and she's just, and we call it grubbing. She is grubbing, she's eating everything. And I'm like, how is she able to do it? It's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:It is now they I have read this, like because of the magic of the camera, uh-huh. These people are actually putting the food in their mouth and like spitting it out, and then so they're just editing it that way. So they're like a button. Now that's when it's extreme, but there are people who don't, right? But you know, so there's that. I'm trying to come off that because that's just ridiculous. It's such a waste of time for me. I mean, that's just not the thing. Um, one of the reels, some of the reels that I like to watch too are um funny ones. Like the animal ones always get me. They're so cute. Like the dogs and the cats, and how they're so smart. And um, the last one I saw was the one where the owners like um penny and penny and not looking at the dog, but like the dog's right there, and the dog's like, What do you? I'm right here. Like, what's going on? Right, right. And just their reactions are so cute. So those are some of my favorite. Of course, the little kid ones where they're doing funny things.
SPEAKER_00:Cute things, cute things, cute things, yes. Not not adult things and not saying adult things. Right.
SPEAKER_03:I just I don't like when the kids are cursing or when they're telling, you know, adults off, not that kind of way.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:But just they're it just so happens that the camera's there at the right time.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:And then I'm also looking to see what's AI because there's that piece. And right now you can tell what AI is, but as it gets smarter, I'm sure we won't be able to. Another one I like um on reels is like cop stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Oh.
SPEAKER_00:When people get arrested and want to buck the system that kind of way. No, no, no, no. That that's not entertainment, especially when you grew up where I grew up. Like we're nowhere near there now, but yeah, I just don't like to see I don't want to see no one behind in a bad situation like that. But I mean, I get it. I know what happens, I know it has to happen.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think for me, it's really testing how people behave. I've always watched shows that show behavior and then relationships in whatever setting. Like very tricky. Okay, so last but not least, and I really want to share this and Corey and I are gonna connect this to something that was so amazing today. I just kept crying in the car after. But I think everyone has seen reels where it's one of a few things. Um, someone goes to a store and is hungry and pretends not to have enough money. So it's really testing the people around this person to see who's gonna help. Right. And then the person that helps this guy ends up giving them like hundreds of dollars as a reward for helping. Right. And then there are people that um you just see helping each other. And I remember speaking of COVID back in the day, I don't remember what it was called, but it happened a lot where if you were in a drive-thru, and I think it was on a Wednesday, um, people just went ahead and paid for the person behind them. Right, right. As a kind gesture. I don't know that that's happening anymore.
SPEAKER_00:But can I tell my story? Yes, the sweetest thing I've seen as far as a reel like that is um two guys walked up on a girl that was homeless, and she had a guitar with her. The guitar had two strings on it, and she had just got like some food, but it wasn't like food food. And the guys asked her, Do you play the guitar? And she said, Yeah, not much anymore, though, because of the way that one was messed up. And they they said they asked her, is she was she hungry? And she said, Yeah, she has a little bit of food. So they went and got her food, brought it back, and then they said, We'd like to, you know, give you something else. So they gave her some money, and then they took her to a um a music store and bought her a brand new guitar, and then she played, and the girl could really, really play. It was amazing. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I can only imagine what her face Massilla looked like when she was able to play just joy five strings. Yeah. Wow, I haven't seen that one yet. Maybe in talking about it, it'll put it on my reel. Maybe so. My feed. Well, with that being said, we met a woman at Costco who was the real deal. And so it happened in Costco, as you can imagine right now, it is just packed.
SPEAKER_00:Chaos.
SPEAKER_03:And we had four items. We were going in for a quick pickup here and then go. And so everyone had their carts and their flatbeds, and she's like, if that's all you have, you know, you can go in front of me. And we're like, Are you sure? you know, and she said, Yeah, we're thank you. And so as we're standing in line, she had forgot something, and so she asked if we could watch her cart, and so we did that. And Corey, as we were moving in line, you moved her cart with us, yeah. And so she came back. Do you want to tell the rest of the story? So she came back and she sits down, can't tune in. She says, The one thing that I came here for, I almost forgot. Corey says, I know that feeling that's happened to us a lot too. So as we're in line and they're ringing us up, Corey and I are paying with cash this time. And because we had so many ones, we said, let's go ahead and get rid of these ones because we've had book sales lately. So we had just stacks of ones. And I don't know how it appeared to her. Maybe it didn't appear like anything to her, but either way, we were paying with a bunch of ones, and the bill was like over$55 or something. And this woman who let us go in front of her then decides to give a double whammy kind gesture and says, I want to, I'm gonna pay for theirs. That's never happened. And I and I was like, Wow, really? Like, and I'm like, Thank you so much. And of course, you express your gratitude, and we're just kind of hesitant, didn't know what to do with that, but wanted to just receive that gift that she wanted to um send our way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and as a matter of fact, she had already paid, she was as she was saying, I want to pay for it, she already had her money out and was handing it to the uh cashier, and we were in shock trying to figure out what's going on right now. You know, I just scanned my my uh card for Costco, and then we're about to pay, and she's making that gesture, and it was just overwhelming, like polarizing when you realize someone wants to be kind to you for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and then we get in the car, and I'm just so touched by it because there were other things that you and I, Corey, have been talking about, and then here's this woman, and then before that, there was another surprise we had. Um, and I still can't explain it, but either way, it was that kind of way too, right? So, and then we have this woman. I just thought, wow, talk about the way to end 2025 with just so much love and hope and goodness all around you when you see things that are of entertainment value that aren't necessarily good or kind. Right. Right. And it's still it's just beautiful when you do see it and it's happening real time with with actual people, you know, that you're there with.
SPEAKER_00:Indeed. Uh I'm I'm speechless right now, Jen. Um just going over that whole I mean the truth of the matter is we had the money to pay. But the fact of the matter is her kind gesture overrode anything that we were thinking of or doing at that very moment. So it took us to a whole nother space in gratitude and being humble to say, okay, this person wants to do this, and it may not look or feel the way we think it should look and feel, but this is the right thing to do, and we need to receive this with open arms and take note so we can pay it forward at someone at some uh point in time, right?
SPEAKER_03:Right. It's just it was super special. Um because a stranger, you know, it's like wow, this is beyond amazing. But man, this was such a great episode.
SPEAKER_00:Good episode to end some things in 2025, yes.
SPEAKER_03:For sure. So next episode, I will bring um those questions and stuff that I was talking about, something we're forward to. Make sure next episode you have something to write with because you're gonna write, want to write these things down. And actually, um, you can email me and I'll email you the the whole packet, not a problem.
SPEAKER_00:Nice, I like that.
SPEAKER_03:But anyhow, Corey and I are gonna enjoy our time off, getting to know each other more, creating more things.
SPEAKER_00:Um, just can I tell you what I learned about you last night while we watched Home Alone number one? Okay, I learned that Jen does not mind laughing at the same things over and over and over. That was so cute. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_03:Aww, thank you, we were watching Home Alone. I was like, Corey, how old is this movie?
SPEAKER_00:35 years old.
SPEAKER_03:What was it? Oh, 1990.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, we were still in high school when this came out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was about to graduate.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and you're right. I'm laughing at like I just seen it for the first time.
SPEAKER_00:Because when that spider is on, the guy is my favorite part.
SPEAKER_03:He's on Mauv. Mauve, what are you doing, Mauv? See, I don't even need to see it to get a good laugh out of it. Right. Try to watch it if you haven't, or maybe it's been a while. It's such a great movie, especially during this time. Well, everyone, it was such a pleasure spending time with you today. Great time today. We are so thankful for you. Um, and you know us to take the elevator. We say, look up and let's elevate every day, elevate every day, elevate every day.
