How To Be Less Old Podcast · How To Be Less Old

Our TikTok Side Quest Dented the Internet

·43 min·2 clips

Algo speak is framed as a way people avoid getting posts flagged, but it changes meaning in everyday speech.

1. How To Be Less Old Podcast’s “Our TikTok Side Quest Dented the Internet” moves from a Los Angeles heat update to TikTok, the Substack, and the hosts’ “We Have Questions” series. 2. Deanna Chang and Emily Foster host the show, and their on-air dynamic matters because they split the work between idea-testing, internet decoding, and self-experimenting. 3. The episode asks what “the great lock-in” is for and whether late-year goal-setting can work better than January 1. 4. Deanna explains that she wants to finish the year strong by starting on September 1 or the 15th instead of waiting for New Year’s resolutions. 5. Emily connects the idea to her own doctor visit, saying her cholesterol is “really high” and that she needs changes in shopping and eating. 6. The hosts describe a “system” as more than a goal, including a seven-day food chart, a list of substitutions, and alerts in a phone. 7. They use workout planning as the clearest example, with Emily trying to move from three workouts a week to five. 8. Deanna’s version of the system includes putting on workout clothes in the morning and not removing them until the workout is done. 9. The show then turns to ear seeding after a TikTok showed a woman’s face looking lifted after her ear was massaged. 10. Deanna says she first assumed ear seeding was an implant, but the hosts learn it uses tiny metal magnets or balls attached with adhesive. 11. They say the method is connected to acupuncture, and they name anxiety, infertility, insomnia, back pain, headaches, and weight loss as claimed uses. 12. Emily adds a personal reason for trying it: she wakes up puffy on one side of her face and hopes ear seeding might help with lymphatic drainage. 13. A separate TikTok stunt becomes a running story when Deanna rolls her body down concrete to the pizza shop Park Pizza in Glassell Park. 14. Emily says she stayed off the ground as the camera woman, and both hosts laugh about the bruising and wrist pain that followed. 15. The hosts describe a friend spotting the filming and texting, “I saw your friend roll out of the door on the ground,” which Deanna reads as proof the bit landed. 16. Their explanation for the pain is blunt: if your body hurts after the stunt, it may be because you “rolled your body quickly down concrete.” 17. The tone stays loose and performative, with fast back-and-forth, self-corrections, and a lot of mutual interruption. 18. The format mixes internet commentary, personal health check-ins, and on-the-fly clarification of terms like “side quest,” “fried,” and “algo speak.” 19. People interested in TikTok slang, self-experimentation, and internet culture will get the most from this episode. 20. People looking for a tightly focused interview or a single topic may skip it.

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