Armstrong & Getty On Demand — The A&G Replay Wednesday Hour Three (Dec 24, 2025)

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Armstrong & Getty centers around modern life’s oddities, cultural trends, and the economic challenges Americans face today. The hosts mix sharp social commentary, personal anecdotes, and some darkly comic asides while discussing smartphone addiction among kids, media clickbait, economic realities, outlandish luxury items, and nostalgia for a different American past.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Smartphone Addiction, Content Creation, & Modern Childhood

(03:20–12:49)

• Content Creation Stunts: Opening with light absurdity, Jack & Joe riff on a man who ran a half-marathon in 137 T-shirts to break a world record—a bizarre feat designed for internet attention. They criticize the endless cycle of content made simply to go viral, fueled by youth spending hours on TikTok.

  • Joe Getty: “So people scrolling…leads to more of this crap and…it’ll never end.” (04:24)

• Smartphone Health Risks: They discuss a recent study linking early smartphone access (especially before age 12) to increased rates of depression, poor sleep, and obesity in kids. Both hosts argue that parenting style, not just devices, likely plays a role.

  • Co-host/Commentator: “The younger that children under 12 were when they got their first smartphones…the greater their risk of obesity and poor sleep.” (05:40)
  • Joe Getty: “The parent that gives their 10-year-old a smartphone probably doesn’t supervise it at all.” (06:05)

• Smartphones as Parenting Tools & Curses: Armstrong & Getty discuss the near-universal desire among kids for a phone, making it the ultimate leverage for parents—but also a complication for communication.

  • Joe Getty: “There’s never been a parenting stick as great as taking away your phone for a week. Because I’ve done it.” (07:05)
  • Joe Getty: “It changed everything…like trying to get a hold of him.” (08:05)

• A Teacher’s Perspective: A guest teacher describes the impact of smartphone and social media addiction on her students: a lack of focus, inability to handle boredom, apathy, and disconnection from real life.

  • Guest Speaker: “They behave like addicts…when you are standing in front of them trying to teach, they’re vacant…It’s like you are interacting with them briefly in between hits of the Internet, which is their real life.” (08:27)

• Dopamine, Boredom, and Classroom Challenges: The hosts consider whether education must adapt to kids’ dopamine-rewired brains and mourn the loss of focus and intrinsic motivation among youth.

  • Joe Getty: “I have a hard time reading long form myself…I’ve ruined my brain.” (11:11)
  • Joe Getty: “If you can’t beat them, join them…That ain’t going to work.” (11:44)

2. Internet “News,” Outrage Culture, and the Need for Perspective

(16:12–23:31)

• Internet Outrage as Fake News: Joe shares his frustration from accidentally doomscrolling into a faux controversy about sports reporter Erin Andrews’ comments on missing holidays for work. He and Jack eviscerate “journalism” built around social media arguments—calling it “crap.”

  • Co-host/Commentator: “Any journalism about Internet arguments is not journalism. It’s crap.” (18:10)
  • Joe Getty: “Any news story built around a couple of comments on social media, those people should be drummed out of journalism.” (18:22)

• Virtue Signaling and Manufactured Outrage: They mock responses from other media figures who accused Andrews of lacking perspective about “real” hardships, pointing out the performative nature of internet outrage.

  • Co-host/Commentator: “Your need to be morally superior is so bad you actually go with a criticism that bad.” (20:52)

• Avoiding Online Life: They endorse “touch grass” over virtual melodrama and urge listeners to focus on real, in-person relationships.

  • Co-host/Commentator: “Make your life your life. The people you actually see and talk to and deal with...Not everybody online, that's not your life.” (21:06)

3. Economic Anxiety, Political Messaging, & Generational Nostalgia

(28:55–39:10)

• Golden Bachelor & TV Relationships: A quick interlude examining the absurdity of reality dating shows for seniors (“Golden Bachelor”), poking fun at its lack of authenticity.

  • Joe Getty: “Maybe the shows…got tired of announcing the engagement of the winner and his Chosen One. And they always break up and become a running joke.” (28:00)

• Trump, Biden, & Economic Perception: They analyze polls about Trump’s low economic approval (33%) and how both political parties have failed at messaging on affordability and inflation.

  • Joe Getty: “...Almost suicidally bad...I don’t get it.” (30:03)
  • Co-host/Commentator: “Just making outlandish promises about the economy, then when they don’t materialize, telling Americans, no, you’re wrong, it’s great. That’s insane messaging.” (30:45)

• How Americans Perceive Prices & Wealth: Discussion on how people compare today’s reality to an imagined 1950s “golden age,” ignoring differences in lifestyles (e.g., homes were smaller, luxuries were rarer).

  • Joe Getty: “The key…is we’ve got to do away with this whole comparing life today to the 50s and acting like we’re getting screwed.” (37:16)
  • Co-host/Commentator: “It’s not apples to apples or apples to oranges…it’s apples to golden retrievers.” (37:51)

• Personal Anecdotes: Both hosts recall never having their own bedrooms as kids (contrasting to modern expectations) and use this to highlight how ideas of “standard” living have vastly changed.

4. The World of Ridiculous Luxury — $84,000 Mattresses

(42:37–48:01)

• The $84,000 Mattress: Armstrong describes his curiosity about an ultra-luxury Scandinavian mattress made of horsehair, retailing for $84,000, recounted with both awe and skepticism.

  • Joe Getty: “This used mattress…they’re only asking $40,000 now…The original price on this particular mattress and box springs…was $84,000?!” (43:57)
  • Co-host/Commentator: “If you fly private all the time, go ahead and buy the horse hair mattress…if not, that’s insane.” (44:59)

• Upkeep Requirements: These beds reportedly require regular professional “rejuvenation” or they become “a very expensive sack of garbage.”

• Reflection on Wealth & Consumer Habits: They remark that the existence and sales of such luxury goods is a function of skyrocketing inequality and consumer psychology.

• Shift Towards Thrift: Noting that most Americans are scaling back, pointing out that even fast-casual restaurants are seeing lower-priced menu items get more popular amid inflation and economic unease.

  • Co-host/Commentator: “American consumers are going way toward thrifty now…bulk buying is on the rise…lower dollar orders.” (46:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Smartphone Parenting & Addiction

• “There’s never been a parenting stick as great as taking away your phone for a week. Because I’ve done it.” — Joe Getty (07:05)
• “It’s like you are interacting with them briefly in between hits of the Internet, which is their real life.” — Guest schoolteacher (08:27)

On Online Rage Culture & Media

• “Any journalism about Internet arguments is not journalism. It’s crap.” — Co-host/Commentator (18:10)
• “Your need to be morally superior is so bad you actually go with a criticism that bad.” — Co-host/Commentator (20:52)
• “Make your life your life. The people you actually see and talk to and deal with…Not everybody online, that’s not your life.” — Co-host/Commentator (21:06)

On Economic Messaging & Nostalgia

• “I don’t know how long it takes before you get used to new prices…But I’m not there yet.” — Joe Getty (30:26)
• “Comparison is the thief of joy.” — Co-host/Commentator (33:11)
• “It’s not apples to apples…It’s apples to golden retrievers.” — Co-host/Commentator (37:51)
• “The key…is we’ve got to do away with this whole comparing life today to the 50s and acting like we’re getting screwed.” — Joe Getty (37:16)

On Ridiculous Consumerism

• “This used mattress…they’re only asking $40,000 now…the original price…was $84,000?!” — Joe Getty (43:57)
• “If you fly private all the time, go ahead and buy the horse hair mattress…if not, that’s insane.” — Co-host/Commentator (44:59)
• “American consumers are going way toward thrifty now…lower dollar orders.” — Co-host/Commentator (46:57)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Smartphone use, parenting, and child mental health: 03:20–12:49
• Internet-driven outrage and online journalism criticism: 16:12–23:31
• Economic conditions, inflation, generational comparisons: 28:55–39:10
• Luxury goods and consumer thrift trends: 42:37–48:01

Tone & Style

Wry, irreverent, occasionally exasperated, and always conversational—Armstrong & Getty blend grumpy Gen X realism with fond nostalgia and a sprinkling of dark humor, never shying away from calling out cultural nonsense and economic illusions.

For Listeners Who Missed It

• This episode tears into modern obsessions: the smartphone’s effect on kids; how the internet distorts news and outrage; how Americans struggle with higher costs and fantastical memories of past prosperity; and the absurd existence of $84,000 mattresses.
• Full of quick-witted banter, sharp critiques, personal anecdotes, and meta-commentary on society’s direction, it’s classic Armstrong & Getty—alternately funny, pointed, and just a little hopeful that we’ll all choose real life over internet drama and consumer madness.