TQ72: What do you wish you didn't like?

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

In this episode of 'What Was That Like?', hosts Scott and Meredith explore the question 'What do you wish you didn't like?' through personal

Key takeaways

• People often develop strong attachments to habits like coffee or chocolate, even when they recognize the downsides.

Main topics

• Personal habits and cravings
• Digital distraction and YouTube addiction

Notable quotes

"I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth specifically for chocolate because if I'm having a bad day, you know, it's my go-to." – Meredith

Conclusion

The episode highlights how small changes in habits and technology use can help

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) Hey, this is Scott, and you're listening to What Was That Like? New episodes with guests telling their amazing stories are every other Friday. But today we have the Every Other Tuesday, Tuesday Question. In the podcast Facebook group, we have a new thought-provoking question every Tuesday, and it generates some really interesting and sometimes deep discussions. We'd love to have you join us. Just go to whatwasthatlike.com slash Facebook. But if you're not in that group, we bring it to you here in a short episode every other Tuesday. We dig into the group archives and find one of the past Tuesday questions that we've discussed. Then Meredith and I answer that question and we talk about some of the answers that came from other listeners. And after that, she and I will each tell you about some cool gadget or website or tool that we use or that we've recently discovered. That segment is called Stuff You Might Like. And later this week... Friday, to be exact, we'll have a brand new What Was That Like episode. Let's do it! Speaker 1 (1:06) Meredith, you know what kind of coffee I've been drinking for years, right? Speaker 3 (1:12) From the Folgers? Speaker 1 (1:14) Yep. Yeah. Long, long time. Well, recently I was at an estate sale and they, they had, they were actually wrapping up. I got there toward the end. They were wrapping things up. People were carting stuff out in boxes and there on the kitchen counter was a brand new Keurig. They only wanted $20 for it. So I bought a Keurig. Why did no one ever tell me how good coffee can taste? Speaker 3 (1:42) You mean like your co-host? Speaker 1 (1:45) You have mentioned it, I think, once. I don't remember. Speaker 3 (1:49) I mean, we obviously have had a coffee discussion. Why else would I know about Folgers? And I'm sure the moment you said it, I gassed and clutched my pearls. Speaker 1 (1:56) Probably, yeah. I've been using a Keurig for a little while now. Speaker 1 (2:02) You know, I'm really all about ease of use. And that's what made it so easy with my Folgers. I boil water in my microwave for 90 seconds, put in a teaspoon of that wonderful coffee, and I've got coffee. Speaker 3 (2:17) Oh my God, I forgot that it was instant. That's even for us. Speaker 1 (2:21) That's what makes it so easy. But now it's really just as easy or maybe even easier because, you know, I put the coffee in. The night before, make sure the reservoir is full. And the next morning, I get up and push the button. And I push the button and I bring my dogs out to pee. By the time I get back in, my cup is full of tasty coffee. Speaker 3 (2:48) It is very convenient, I will say. And now they have the pods that are, I think they make metal ones that are reusable. So that way you're not, you know. putting hot water through plastic every day of your life and not throwing away, you Speaker 1 (3:05) know, Speaker 3 (3:06) a Speaker 1 (3:06) disposable pod. I mentioned this in the Facebook group and several people said, ooh, all that plastic. Don't do that. But yeah, I got a couple of little metal refillables and that's what I use every single time. I buy regular good coffee. Well, okay. What I say is good coffee. It's, it's Gevalia. That's, that's a decent brand, you know? Speaker 3 (3:28) Okay. I mean, it's better than Folgers. I mean, the bar was low, I will say. I can only go up. It can only go up from here. And so, and are you drinking it black? Of Speaker 1 (3:39) course. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:40) Okay. That's good. Speaker 1 (3:42) So Speaker 3 (3:42) then you actually know what you're drinking. Are Speaker 1 (3:44) you denigrating people who put stuff in their coffee? Speaker 3 (3:49) No, I'm basing it on my own experience with Folgers, which I probably have shared with you. So forgive me, dear listeners, if this is a repeat. But when I first moved out of my house, of my parents' house when I was 19, I didn't even use Folgers. I used off-brand Folgers because I was poor as shit. And so I needed to make ends meet. But I would... as a treat would buy all those creamers that are flavored. Speaker 2 (4:15) So Speaker 3 (4:16) basically it was like I had a little coffee with my creamer and the creamers are just like not great ingredients. They're like vegetable oil and whatever. Speaker 1 (4:24) But they taste like hazelnut or... The Speaker 3 (4:27) flavor technology is really amazing, I will say. But yeah, so I'm basing it on my own experience with Folgers. I didn't know the coffee was bad because... I was just making it full of sugary flavor. And so you drinking your coffee black is good because it will set your palate for when I eventually convert you to French press. Speaker 1 (4:50) Okay. Good luck with that. I'm already kind of a coffee snob. So I don't know. I think my method is... Speaker 3 (4:58) Listen, Linda, you just got to a Keurig. You cannot call yourself a snob yet. Okay. I travel with a travel French press. Speaker 2 (5:08) That Speaker 3 (5:09) is more of a coffee snob. But there are people who are maybe above snob, is connoisseur, who they know all this cool stuff about using certain kinds of filtered water for your coffee. And that's where it's like it becomes a hobby. I admire those people. I think that's really interesting. don't have the patience to run my coffee through all these steps because in the morning, like you, the convenience trade-off is still present. Speaker 1 (5:39) Yes, exactly. All right, well, let's get to today's question, which is, what do you wish you didn't like? Speaker 3 (5:47) Maybe I should say coffee, but it's actually, I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth specifically for chocolate because if I'm having a bad day, you know, it's my go-to. I want some chocolate. It Speaker 1 (6:01) makes you feel good. Speaker 3 (6:02) Yeah, it does. Speaker 1 (6:03) I love it too. Of course, I have to go with dark chocolate that's got no milk products in it. And, you know, a lot Speaker 3 (6:10) of Speaker 1 (6:10) people don't like dark chocolate because it certainly tastes different. It's got more of a bitter taste to it, I think. Regular milk chocolate. Speaker 3 (6:17) Well, a lot of the milk chocolate doesn't have milk in it. It has, again, vegetable oil in it. So you don't, you might not have to worry, but then on their package, it'll put a disclaimer. Oh, it might have milk. Right. But most of the time it's just vegetable oil. My favorite brand is Foo H-U. I think I'm saying that right. It's at Publix. Oh, it's so good. Speaker 1 (6:39) I've never heard of that. Speaker 3 (6:40) It's like $6 a bar. It's definitely a treat. It's organic. It's fair trade. It's all those things. But, dude, the taste, it's like, whoa, have I never had chocolate before? This is so good. That Speaker 1 (6:51) seems, from what I've read and heard, that seems like a typical American thing. Because, like in Europe, the chocolate is, wow, like top shelf. And over here, we've got Hershey, which is, everyone says, that's just garbage chocolate compared to what they have over there. So that's what we're used to, though. Okay. I agree. Well, my thing that I wish I didn't like is YouTube because, you know, I do research and I go looking for people and stuff like that. So I think, okay, I got to find this thing on YouTube. So I pull up my web browser and I go to YouTube and wow, there's so much there to catch my eye. Here's the Arizona Open nine ball tournament that just happened. I could watch that. Or there's a clip from Impractical Jokers or a clip from The Sopranos. I've seen all that stuff before, but they know what I like. They really do. And, you know, before I know it, you know, I've watched a bunch of videos and then I close YouTube and I go back to my email saying, hey, check out this person on YouTube. Oh, yeah, that's why I went to YouTube. I didn't even do the thing that I went there for because I was so distracted. But congratulations to YouTube. They have that ability to, you know, hold on to our eyeballs for as long as they can. I Speaker 3 (8:18) relate to this a lot. And I recently figured out how to fix it. Speaker 1 (8:22) Okay. Tell me. Speaker 3 (8:24) And it's just a setting on your YouTube. But it kind of is a bummer because now when I open YouTube. There's no videos. Speaker 1 (8:35) Oh, so there's nothing that you can just click on and watch impulsively. Correct. What do you see when you open it then? Speaker 3 (8:43) It's just like a home screen. Let me open it real quick. Let's see. Yeah, do you see? Oh, Speaker 1 (8:48) yeah, there's nothing there. Speaker 3 (8:49) It's a black screen, and it says, your watch history is paused. Speaker 1 (8:54) Oh, okay. Speaker 3 (8:56) So by telling YouTube you're not allowed to track what I watch, it... I guess, makes the homepage not a thing anymore. Now, when I hit the shorts button at the bottom, it will show me people that I've followed or, I don't know, maybe it's serving up some suggestions. I don't know. Or Speaker 1 (9:19) people you subscribe to. Yeah, that would make sense. Speaker 3 (9:22) Yeah. So, yeah, not a problem anymore. It makes lunchtime a lot more interesting because when I eat lunch, I usually pull up a YouTube and I would just scroll mindlessly. And now when I eat lunch, I think, well, what do I want to learn about or what do I want to watch? And then I have to search for it. So, I mean, I've had this for like two or three weeks so far. So that's how it's going. That's Speaker 1 (9:45) good though. You're deliberately using YouTube rather than just falling into their trap of the algorithm. So if you bring up YouTube on your computer, it shows the same thing because it's the same YouTube account. So the settings, of course, would be the same. Yeah, that is nice. I think people are going to want that. We should put that setting in the show notes. Speaker 3 (10:06) Yeah, there's a few, I think, like newsletters or maybe it's Instagram or something, ironically, that are technology-based that I follow or subscribe to. And they will always say, hey, check this. setting. Microsoft has a new setting with Windows 11 that some people have, some people don't. I just got an update. This is last night, so I need to check it. But where it takes a screenshot of your whole computer every 10 seconds or something and sends it back to Microsoft and stuff like that. I feel like I need to be informed. And so I will save that. And then every once in a while, I'll go back and change my settings and just try to fight back a little bit against the... so much tracking, you know? That Speaker 1 (10:49) screenshot every 10 seconds sounds like a tinfoil hat kind of thing. Speaker 3 (10:55) Totally. It totally does. It totally does. And I went and checked mine and I don't have that. And so they were like, oh, it's not on there yet. So if you don't have it, so great. But it only took me, you know, not even five minutes to just look it up. But Google does track your location history, like where you go. Unless Speaker 1 (11:16) you tell it not to. Until Speaker 3 (11:18) you tell it not to, right. But their terms of service sometimes allow these changes to the settings to be made. So, yeah, I mean, it's Speaker 1 (11:27) not Speaker 3 (11:27) a bad thing. I don't always do it, but every once in a while I feel like, yeah, you know what, let's just give it a little look over. Yeah, Speaker 1 (11:34) it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft does that with Windows. I mean,