FOMO, Phones & the Neurodivergent Brain

Summary

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The Neurodivergent Experience

Episode: FOMO, Phones & the Neurodivergent Brain

Hosts: Jordan James & Simon Scott
Date: July 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the intersection of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), phone and social media use, and neurodivergent experiences around emotional regulation, routines, and special interests—especially in the context of global sports events like the World Cup. The hosts share candid personal stories about balancing special interests, technology, and the challenge of being present, exploring how neurodivergent brains may uniquely experience FOMO and digital overload. Lively banter, family anecdotes, and reflections on advocacy, masking, and identity run throughout, alongside memorable tangents on flags, national identity, and generational shifts.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

FOMO and the World Cup: Obsession v. Well-being

• Time Zones & Disrupted Routines
  Both hosts describe the struggle to keep up with sporting events like the World Cup (and NBA Finals) when matches are in the middle of the night for UK viewers, leading to disrupted sleep and routines.

  • (13:08) Simon: "Even when I am going to sleep, I am finding I am waking up in the middle of the night and being like, oh, just check the result of that game...then as soon as the game finished... it's three in the morning. I was like, oh, I've done it again."
  • The desire to watch live is driven by both FOMO and a wish to avoid spoilers via social media feeds.

• Special Interests & Neurodivergence
  The conversation connects sports obsession to autistic tendencies toward deep special interests and routines, and explores how neurodivergents can get ‘stuck’ wanting to do what brings them joy—even if it means ruining sleep or work.

  • (17:57) Simon: "Even though I'm in my 30s now, my brain still wants to do things that it enjoys doing, regardless of whether I'm 19 or not."
  • Demand avoidance is discussed—doing something fun instead of sleeping, leading to late nights and feeling like a “zombie".

Phones, Spoilers, and Managing Media Overload

• Spoilers in the Digital Age
  The hosts lament how hard it is to avoid sports results—even if intending to “catch up” later—because algorithms flood their feeds with spoilers.

  • (12:35) Simon: "My mum was like, just record it and watch it later. It's like it doesn't really work like that..."

• Chronic Device Use Across Generations
  Both discuss witnessing constant phone recording and doomscrolling among all age groups, not just young people.

  • (35:27) Simon: "[At concerts] I used to go to gigs and take videos. I do not do it now. I never look at them again."
  • (34:27) Jordan: "When we’re in Wales...we went for a really cool trip on a steam train... It was strange because...everyone...phones out recording. I’m like, are you gonna watch that?"

• Social Media and Emotional Wellbeing
  The dopamine hit from phones and the desire for connection clash with overstimulation and a sense of missing out, especially among neurodivergent individuals who can be especially sensitive to routine disturbance.

  • (43:34) Simon: "... a lot of the big problem as to why I've been struggling with sleep and getting FOMO...is because I'm chronically online and it's hard to switch off from it. And as soon as you come off of it, you do feel like you're missing out on something."

Parent and Child Advocacy & Authenticity

• Pride in Neurodivergent Young Advocates
  Jordan expresses deep pride in his daughter Sophie’s approach to advocacy, valuing genuine learning and lived experience over credentials or influencer status.

  • (01:59) Jordan: "She is learning, she is growing, she is flourishing. And Sylvia and I are just, we're just beaming with pride, honestly..."

• Critique of Performative Advocacy
  Both host and guest critique those who pursue advocacy for clout versus real desire to help, and highlight the importance of creating bridges, not attacking others online.

  • (05:19) Jordan: "You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar...you don't build bridges by putting dynamite on it."

Masking, Identity & Social Belonging

• Football as a Masking Special Interest
  Jordan reveals how football became a “masking” special interest to fit in at school—an example of using mainstream culture to avoid bullying and make connections, even when it’s not a true passion.
  • (24:39) Jordan: "It was a masking special interest. You know, I had a passing interest in football. You know, I'm English and, you know."
  • Football serves as a “language” for socializing and acceptance, while basketball was his real passion but not culturally “useful”.

Tangents: Flags, National Identity, and Culture

• The episode meanders into a spirited debate about flag designs and cultural symbolism:
  • (26:49) Jordan: "...Wales has the coolest flag. It's a fucking red dragon...if I went when—when I live in Wales, I'm putting a fricking Welsh flag up."
  • Banter about reinventing the English flag (“should have a stag”), Scottish clan crests, and David Attenborough riding a stag—all in a playful, sarcastic tone.

Advice for Managing FOMO and Phone Use

• Practical Strategies

  • Physically place phones away from bed or in another room.
  • Use Do Not Disturb modes to reduce temptation.
  • Reflect on and reduce passive phone scrolling.
  • Rediscover reading or other off-screen hobbies.
  • Be intentional about recording moments—live in the moment instead of through a device.

• (34:01) Jordan: "If you want to know something, you have to go downstairs and for you, that's two flights. Demand avoidance will take care of the rest."

• (54:35) Simon: "I'm gonna go and get my charger and put it downstairs...because I miss reading. I don't read books nearly as half as much as I used to..."

• Emphasis on collective, non-judgmental encouragement rather than shaming—acknowledging how deeply phone habits are embedded culturally.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Neurodivergent FOMO:
  "It's not like I'm addicted to it, but I'm like a moth to a flame. I'm finding it really, really hard to stay in my own time zone and switch off from it."
  — Simon Scott (14:09)

• On Living in the Moment:
  "You're never gonna watch that. Just live for the moment. And this is a person that's like, half their age just being like, live—for the moment people."
  — Jordan James (35:27)

• On Technology, Advocacy, and Generations:
  "Phones aren't just, like, taking over young people. They're taking over the world...it's the big problem with the older generation is they're on their phone and they're believing everything they see."
  — Jordan James (35:56)

• On Fitting In through Interests:
  "I stopped liking basketball, which is what my favorite sport used to be, and I got into football to fit in. It was like a mask."
  — Jordan James (24:37)

• On Navigating Spoilers:
  "The hardest part is the spoilers...That also can put me in a bit of a meltdown rage when things like that are spoiled."
  — Simon Scott (17:57)

• On Present Parenting:
  "Why are your three children who are all school age playing in a playground while you're doomscrolling in your car not even looking at your kids, not even interacting with your kids?"
  — Jordan James (41:59)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:52 – 05:19: Reflections on Sophie James, genuine advocacy, and social media performativity.
• 10:41 – 14:09: World Cup sleep disruption, demand avoidance, and special interests.
• 17:57 – 21:09: Struggles to avoid spoilers; watching live sports as a neurodivergent adult.
• 24:37 – 25:09: Football as a masking special interest; integration and friendships.
• 26:49 – 29:03: National flags, identity, and playful banter about symbolism.
• 34:01 – 36:00: Phones, recording, and living for the moment; generational device use.
• 43:34 – 46:23: Social media, FOMO, and the conundrum of digital presence.
• 54:35 – 55:56: Concrete strategies—leave phones downstairs, intentional use.

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Tone and Language

The episode is relaxed, warm, and irreverently humorous with British sarcasm. The hosts share deeply personal and relatable anecdotes, balancing empathy for neurodivergent struggles with playful banter and sharp cultural observation.

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Summary Takeaways

• Neurodivergent people may be especially susceptible to FOMO, obsession with special interests, and anxiety around missing out—particularly in the context of digital media and global events.
• Phones and social media can heighten these feelings for all ages, feeding into cycles of sleep disruption, distraction, and a sense of “living on the algorithm”.
• Genuine advocacy and neurodivergent role models matter—those with lived experience, not just credentials.
• Simple strategies—placing devices out of reach at night, being intentional about presence, and recognizing phone mo—can help manage overwhelm.
• There’s value in humorously interrogating national identity, shared interests, and the ways we connect (or mask) in neurotypical culture.

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Call to Action from the Hosts

• Reflect on your own phone habits, FOMO triggers, and special interests.
• Try placing your phone in another room at night or during family time.
• Embrace moments of presence, whether watching a match, walking your dog, or riding a steam train—sometimes, it’s better to live the moment than record it.
• Continue the conversation: let the hosts know your tactics around FOMO, phone mo, and managing special interests!

Transcript

[Ashley Dupuy]

The autistic culture podcast network. The sound of autistic culture.

[Jordan James]

Welcome to the neurodivergent Experience Podcast, a podcast where we share the lived experiences of neurodivergent people to help create a better understanding for our community.

[Simon Scott]

Join us every week as we bring you honest, raw and inspiring conversations with specialists, advocates, and individuals who know exactly what it's like to live the neurodivergent experience.

[Jordan James]

I'm Jordan James, a neurodivergent specialist, father of neurodivergent children, husband to a neurodivergent wife, and author of the Autistic Experience, and I'm joined by my best friend, I'm Simon Scott.

[Simon Scott]

I'm an autistic ADHD broadcaster, actor and advocate. Join us as we journey into unraveling the neurodivergent experience.

[Jordan James]

Hello and welcome back. Yes, it's me, the daddy.

[Simon Scott]

I wasn't expecting you to start like that.

[Jordan James]

The big dog.

[Simon Scott]

It's the big dog. Yeah, he's back. Hello.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, the, the, the Jedi Knight to Sophie's Padawan. Can I just start by just saying how proud I am of my daughter and just how impressed. Not just proud as a dad, but just impressed as a neurodivergent advocate and specialist. Has been doing this for so long. To have my daughter be her own advocate. Not just like copying the things I've said or just repeating the things that I've taught her, but discovering her own.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, doing it her own way.

[Jordan James]

Her own way of doing it and her own ideas. And for me, when I was Sylvia and I, we were both listening to the episode and the first thing, if you haven't called up Sophie or got Sophie as a, as a mentor, why, like, just, just go do it. Go and do it. Daddy told you. Yeah. So I, I, if I had a kid that was struggling and being neurodivergent, which, you know, happens all the time, I, I, after listening to the episode, I'd be like, how the hell do I get hold of this girl? How the hell do I get hold of this woman? Like, seriously, like, she knows so much stuff and now she's doing all those courses. And I think what's really impressed me with her doing all these courses, because I see a lot of people and I've spoken to a lot of people and I've interacted with a lot of people who have done similar courses, and they still don't know what the fuck they're talking about because they do the courses just so they can say they've done the courses. I'm not saying everybody's like that, I'm just saying. I know, and I've met a lot of people and a lot of people are like that. They just want the qualification under their belt so they can then, you know, flex it. Sophie's genuinely learning. She is taking it in. She is learning, she is growing, she is flourishing. And Sylvia and I are just, we're just beaming with pride, honestly. It's absolutely brilliant. But, yeah, thank you for being such an accommodating co host, you know, like you're asking. It was unbelievable. I was, I was listening to this going, well, if I ever needed to step down, you know, I've got replacement all lined up.

[Simon Scott]

Next generation through.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, problems. It might be a realistic thing.

[Simon Scott]

You are suffering a bit, aren't you? But, no, genuinely, man, I, I had such a lovely time hanging out with Sophie. She's great. I've always really enjoyed Sophie's company and I, I thought it was a. I am biased, obviously, but I genuinely thought it was a really great episode and a really great chat and I think a lot of people could benefit, not just necessarily having Sophie as an advocate, but having more advocates like that out in the world that are coming from lived experience and have tried that, you know, it's not like they've gone, not to sort of diminish anybody, but there are a few people out there that were influencers that have now pivoted to being advocate influencers. And it was really nice to see somebody that is doing it not because they want to be famous, they want to help people. And that's really like. Because I meet a lot of, like, Gen Z people and they're all trying to strike rich and, you know, get numbers. And it was really nice hanging out with somebody of that generation that is just desperate to help people, but also incredibly intelligent and so switched on and, yeah, all the power to her as a fellow entrepreneur. It's great to see other people having a crack at it and doing it their own way and, yeah, all the power to it, mate. You should be very proud.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, I think, I think certainly the way that Sylvia and I, you know, brought up both our kids is that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar like that. That is something that I've always taught the kids, is that, you know, you don't have to suck up to people, but you also don't go on the attack. That's not how. That's not how you bridge gaps. You don't build bridges by putting dynamite on it, rolling a tank cover yeah, and. And so much of social media in the last sort of five years. I mean, I've been attacked and many, many times by, you know, progressive advocates when I wasn't agreeing with everything they say. It's like, yeah, people can disagree, people can. Can have disagreements, but you don't have to attack each other. You don't have to hate each other. And I've said this so many times. This is what the freaking oligarchy want. This is what the billionaires want. And now the trillionaire. This is what they want.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, no, it went down. The share price went down, mate. He's back under the line.

[Jordan James]

Oh, no. He won't be able to buy his 25th yacht. But it's a fleet.

[Simon Scott]

He's the admiral of his own fleet.

[Jordan James]

Anyway, it's all distraction. It's all just keeping us, like, you know, distracted from the real problems. But what. What's great about Sophie and. And other advocates like that is that she's like, okay, I want to see it from both sides. I want to bridge this gap. I don't want to just attack parents because, you know, they're. They're using their child as social media clout, which is definitely a thing. Oh, God. It happens way more than I want it to, and it kind of makes me feel a bit queasy even thinking about it. It's like, oh, look at my disabled child. You know? Oh, how many likes can I get? And I'm like. And then even AI people, like, produce AI images of heavily disabled individuals, which are just completely made up.

[Simon Scott]

Why I don't use Facebook. I just.

[Jordan James]

It's not just Facebook. It's all of it.

[Simon Scott]

I'm on Instagram, so I've nuked my algorithm.

[Jordan James]

So, yeah, I mean, I just. I think I just put YouTube on now, and it's mostly just like, why did the Celtics trade Brown for Paul George? But that's like, don't.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, dear, oh, dear.

[Jordan James]

Don't. They. They, they. They. They did Jaylen Brown dirty, which is why I'm sitting in my OKC shirt, because fuck the Celtics. Yeah. It's literally a protest. Like, Sylvia and I are Die Hards. We are Celtics fans. I love basketball in general, and I. I watch a lot of basketball, but we are Celtics fans, and right now, we are Celtics haters. Like, the. The front office. But if you're in England, you're like, what the is he talking about? And if you're an American, you're probably like, yeah. And I get that. Yeah, yeah. Like, yeah.

[Simon Scott]

I mean, I'm in the middle of both. I'm like, I, I know a little bit. I know enough. It's like I'm conversational in most sports. You know how they have like in different languages. I feel like I can, I can pick up on stuff, but I'm also part of the English thing where I'm

[Jordan James]

like, well, okay, so here's one because we are going to be talking about the World cup today. Who is the like one of the best younger players in, in the world.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, killing Mbappe.

[Jordan James]

Okay, so Mbappe, right? You've got Mbappe and you know Ibrahimovic, right, who's retired. But yeah, yeah, but he comes back, right, and you swap between. Because you know, it's not about money in, in the NBA. It's like trades and, and things. So they just trade a player for another player and they like add like

[Simon Scott]

it's all like contracts, isn't it? It's like they move salaries, don't they? Rather than.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't, you don't. They don't get a new contract when, when they move over, they, they that you, you absorb the contract of the other person. So if, like if you've got a cap which is supposed to exist in football but doesn't if you're Manchester City. Yeah, because they just pay whatever they

[Simon Scott]

want and then they just pay whatever they want and then just move the rules.

[Jordan James]

Because this is why I out of football because it's all corrupt. But the idea is that there was only a certain amount of money you were allowed to spend on wages. So like Jalen Brown was earning $57 million a year.

[Simon Scott]

Nice.

[Jordan James]

For some.

[Simon Scott]

Cool.

[Jordan James]

Yeah. And then he got swapped for a player who was seven years older than him, hasn't played a full season in God knows how long, is basically just washed up. Right? So it's not even Ibrahimovic because he was actually good. It's just a washed up older player who was good like maybe eight years ago for a young, super talented, super awesome top six. So the sixth best player in the whole league and, and they're on the same money, so we swap them over and then the Celtics basically got a packet of crisps and they got like, you know, a freaking steak meal. That's.

[Simon Scott]

Enjoy the monster munch, fellas.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, football, it's keeping you up at night.

[Simon Scott]

It is, mate. Yeah. So sleep is my enemy. I've. She is a cruel mistress to me and I either get too much of it or not enough of it. Huh. But because of the time zone difference with the World cup with games starting at like midnight, sometimes four in the morning, depending on if they're being played in Mexico or not. I have found it really hard to switch off and not try and stay up and watch some of the games.

[Jordan James]

I think that they should realize that we invented football and therefore they should be playing games on our time.

[Simon Scott]

Yes.

[Jordan James]

4 o' clock in the morning, just

[Simon Scott]

waving your flag like.

[Ashley Dupuy]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

I mean, to be honest, football is super slow and boring anyway, so I don't think it would make much difference if all the players are half asleep because to me I'm. That might be more fun.

[Simon Scott]

Don't get me wrong. Yeah. I've spoken to a couple of people in the US that I'm friends with and Caris has a cousin who's lives in Australia. They've been loving it because they've got the right time zones. It's very, very rare that this ever happens with the uk.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, my, my ma in New Zealand. It's the same with the NBA, obviously. I, I watch NBA every single game. I watch it on the NBA app and I'll watch the, like the full game but like the next morning. So for me it's like it's live. But it didn't. It happened like four or five hours earlier.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

So that's something that I wish they had done in, you know, for the soccer. For the soccer. But when I said that to my son, I was like, why, why don't you watch it like the NBA? Why don't you watch the football the next day? And he's like, no, that's crazy. So he has to watch it live.

[Simon Scott]

I was about to say this to you, right. The amount of times where I grew up, where my mum was like, just record it and watch it later. It's like it doesn't really work like that because football, like you were saying, is a 90 minute game and you can probably condense the highlights of a game. Six minutes.

[Jordan James]

It's very difficult to sit.

[Simon Scott]

It's very. But it's very difficult to sit and watch 90 minutes of something that's kind of already happened.

[Jordan James]

You just want to fast forward all the. When they pass back to the goalkeeper 75 times.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is. So what I found difficult is summer is already sort of tough for me because of how bright it is until late. And then I almost feel like I need like two or three hours of darkness to then feel like I'm ready to sleep. Always have done. I quite like mooching around the house like a On my own while everyone's asleep. But because these games have been on late, even when I am going to sleep, I am finding I am waking up in the middle of the night and being like, oh, just. I'll just check the result of that game. And I go, oh, the score's interesting. And then I'm putting it on and I'm finding. I'm. I'm finding it really hard to switch off from it. Even though I have surprisingly enjoyed this World cup quite a lot. And some of the games have been great, but all of the best games in the group stage were in the 11 o' clock and 1am window.

[Jordan James]

So it's not just England matches that that you're obsessing over.

[Simon Scott]

I'm watching every. Basically watching every game.

[Jordan James]

You're just watching all of of the games. Okay?

[Simon Scott]

Because I love the World cup, dude. I love the World Cup. International football is. I absolutely love it. Don't get me wrong, I've. I've watched some snoozes and I've not enjoyed the hydration breaks and I've not enjoyed like the Americanization of it, even though I like the NFL. I've watched the NBA and I've even attempted to watch baseball once upon a time. But that's like five hours of not a lot. But I'm sorry everybody, but yeah, it's like last night of time of recording, Argentina played Cape Verde and it was a proper underdog, you know, a country of half a million people taking on the team that has the greatest player of all time and taking it to. Nearly taking it to penalties. And as soon as Argentina went up 1 nil, I was like, oh, come on side, turn it off. I'll go to sleep. And I'm laid asleep and Kate Verde score. And I get a notification on my phone. And that was it, dude. It was like, I'm wide awake. I'm absolutely wide awake. And was just locked into the game. And then as soon as the game finished, I was like, oh, I wonder what time is. Check my phone, it's three in the morning. I was like, oh, I've done it again. And I found it really hard, dude, to just sort of disconnect. And I understand a lot of neurodivergent people have that. I mean, like, I've had it where I've stayed up and watched a game, not felt tired. And it's like three hours until the next one. I'm like, oh, bore that. I'm not gonna do that. And as I'm walking upstairs, I walk past my computer and I go, just jump on Forza for an hour. And it's almost like I allow myself to break that. Oh, go on, be cheeky. Just go and do something fun for yourself. And it's like my demand avoidance gets greedy and then before you know it, I'm up until like three in the morning and I'm snacking because my body clock's resetting and everything and I completely just feel like a zombie. And it's not been helpful. I've still been fine with work. But it is crazy, isn't it, how if something that you want to do is out of your time zone, I, I can't. It's almost like I'm a, it's not like I'm addicted to it, but I'm like a moth to a flame. I'm finding it really, really hard to stay in my own time zone and switch off from it.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, yeah. I mean I, I, I can relate into like when it came to the NBA finals, you know, there was that part of me that was like, oh, I just, I just want to watch it live. Like I don't with when it's the finals. I, I wanted to watch it live but it just, it just wasn't possible. But what we were doing is that, you know, because Simon, you know, was, was working from 8 o', clock, my son, for anyone that doesn't know, was working from 8 o' clock and Sylvia was having to leave for work at about 10 past 8. And I like, obviously, you know, if I had a day off when we wanted to watch the game, we were having to all wake up at like 6am to then all watch the game together. So, but you know, so the score wasn't ruined because you could, we could have watched it in the evenings. But then there's a whole day of the score possibly being ruined. That's why people that all of us have, you know, in our news feeds on our algorithms, it's all basketball. Like, you know, we'll just turn on YouTube and it's mostly basketball videos. I turn on my Instagram, it's all basketball. It's, it would be very, very hard for me to not have the score spoiled. Even harder for my son because he's a 25 year old teenager and can't stay off his phone. What is true.

[Simon Scott]

But I hear you, I hear you because I, I used to have that with wrestling. It's like all of the pay per views would be on at midnight on a Sunday going into Monday morning, obviously working week. And when I was a teenager, or even when I was at uni, we used to go around to the same guy's house, like on the Sundays that they were on, and we'd be up until 5, 6 in the morning, you know, getting messed up and watching wrestling. And then as I've gotten older, it, you know, being all ages at once. Even though I'm in my 30s now, my brain still wants to do things that it enjoys doing, regardless of whether I'm 19 or not. And I've learned to essentially wait until the morning if I can find time, like in the morning, or I'll move it to, like, watching an hour of it in my lunch break or whatever. But the hardest part is the spoilers is trying not to get spoiled, like, just by me logging onto my computer. And the little news widget at the bottom goes, oh, you'll never guess who won the title. I'm like, well, it. And that is frustrating. And then that also can put me in a bit of a meltdown rage when things like that are spoiled. So I feel like I'm in, like, a bit of a rock and a hard place right now because I don't know if you've seen. You probably haven't because of how switched off from football you are. Do you know when England. What time England played Mexico this weekend?

[Jordan James]

One in the morning.

[Simon Scott]

One in the morning?

[Jordan James]

Yeah. Simon said that he was gonna stay up and watch it, and I was like, don't. Don't you have work the next day? And he's like, yep. And I'm like, so it starts at 1, probably finishes at about 3. And then you're gonna sleep until he works from home. So 10 to 8. So he can be at work at 8 o' clock because his work is on the other side of his bedroom. Nice. He gets out of bed and he sits in a chair. That's his journey to work. And you at least have to walk downstairs.

[Simon Scott]

I have to walk downstairs? Yeah. I. I don't charge for my commute. But it is a distance.

[Jordan James]

Yes. Mine's like 45 minutes. But.

[Simon Scott]

But let me add something to this, right? One of the things that has been very unique about this World cup, and it's almost like nobody thought this through, is it's thunderstorm season in Mexico in the US right now. And when France played, I think it was Senegal, they were all electrocuted. They didn't get electrocuted, but the game got delayed because of thunder. And the ruling that FIFA has is when thunder and lightning strike within a six mile Radius of the game, whether it started or before it. It's a, there's a delay of half an hour. And during that half an hour, if there's any other lightning strikes, the clock starts again. How long was the pause between. How long was the half time of the French game a couple of weeks ago? Jordan?

[Jordan James]

Six hours.

[Simon Scott]

Two hours.

[Jordan James]

Oh, that's not so bad then. See, I said six, so it doesn't.

[Simon Scott]

So. But four.

[Jordan James]

But two hours is insane. Especially England staying up to watch that.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

And you're, and you're, and you're like, okay, if I went to sleep at three, I could still get, you know, four, maybe even five hours sleep, depending on where you work. But it's not, it's not sustainable. Like maybe at the weekend when you, if you, if you aren't working or if you're like me and you do shift patterns and stuff and you're not working, it might be sustainable, but it's not really sustainable if, especially if you have to get up even early, like my wife, and commute to work. Like, there's no way that you like that you can really do it. So. Yeah, I mean, it's. But, but then, you know, there isn't really another option. Like don't, don't have a World cup there. But then that's like, well, you know, Argentina, Brazil.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

Two of the greatest football teams of all time. You can't be like, oh, we, you know, we, we don't want you in the World cup or we're not gonna have a World cup anywhere near you. Mexico, United States suck. But I mean, that's just a general thing.

[Simon Scott]

So the England game is at 1:00 clock in the morning. And what have they said may happen during the game? Oh, thunder and lightning strikes.

[Jordan James]

Oh, I had clowns on my bingo card.

[Simon Scott]

Well, clowns are in your bingo cards. Yeah, but. So we could all stay up until one in the morning and then there could be a lightning strike during the game. So Simon just. It could potentially get delayed to 3, 4 in the morning.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, but I think he'd probably dislike sleep at that point. I think. Yeah, yeah. No, I'll just watch.

[Simon Scott]

It's difficult though, in it because like, as soon as you said that you're like, oh, go to sleep. I went, yeah, yeah, I should probably go to sleep. But the World Cup's only once every four years and, you know, I've really enjoyed watching the England games. It's been a nice roller coaster of emotions. I was a Marty for the first half of the other game and then was reminded why I love knockout tournament football. Because of, like, when we came back and we won and, you know, the relief of your anxiety and everything, I went through the real emotional spectrum of being a football fan. I really enjoyed it. And me and my friend James have got this thing going where we've watched all the England games together, and he was like, oh, as if it's at 1 in the morning, because we've been watching them all together and we've won, so if we don't. And then because he's quite superstitious, he was like, but if we don't watch it together, maybe we'll lose. I was like, dude, it's at 1 in the morning. We've both got work the next day. And he was like, yeah, but I think a lot of people at my work are gonna call in sick. He was like, could I call? And we've been really going through the emotions of it because he's ND as well, and he's found it really, really tough to get his head round that he's probably gonna have to sleep through an England knockout game. It just looked like, for football fans, it almost feels sacrilege of sleeping through a game, and it's just completely messed with my wiring.

[Jordan James]

It could be just because I'm older and obviously, you know, I was that into football. I got football, my. My team tattooed on my chest, and, you know, I went to games and took my son to games, and I was utterly obsessed with. With football. It was. It was like a big, big part of my life. And, you know, I've said this before, it's like, it became a part of my life because when I moved schools when I was younger, I didn't want to get bullied. So I. I stopped liking basketball, which is what my favorite sport used to be, and I got into football to fit in. It was like a mask.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, it was a masking special interest. It was.

[Jordan James]

It was a masking special interest. You know, I. I had a passing interest in football. You know, I'm English and, you know. Yeah, yeah.

[Simon Scott]

There's a language here, though, isn't it, Like. Yeah, it's a way of communicating with people.

[Jordan James]

Well, I mean, it was a way of making friends like that. That was it. Like, if I started talking about basketball, I would never have made friends talk about football and. And suddenly, you know, everybody wants to talk to you. It's the same when I went to, like, jobs and stuff like that. It's like, if I go to work now, and I started Talking about basketball, there is not a single person.

[Simon Scott]

Football's the language of the world.

[Jordan James]

I've gone every holiday talking about football.

[Simon Scott]

And you can communicate by talking about football?

[Jordan James]

Oh, yeah. Like, it's. It's just a thing to talk about. But I've realized that I don't want to talk to anyone on my work, so it's fine. So it's like, to be fair, I don't want to talk to people about anything. I'm just. I'm just kind of like, well, if you don't want to talk about what I want to talk about, then I'm just. I want to talk to you. But there's. I mean, I've been interested in a lot of things, but I think most of the things that I will talk about with most people is like, movies and TV shows. I said, what the. Away from politics now. Because people just.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, yeah, not doing that.

[Jordan James]

Anger me.

[Simon Scott]

Although say that I have seen a flag on my estate in English flag that's outside somebody's window and in the middle of it it says football, not Farage.

[Jordan James]

Brilliant. Brilliant.

[Sophie James]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

Because, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of England flags around and I'm very happy to see England flags. When I was just come back from Wales and I saw a lot of Welsh flags, I am, you know, my Welsh heritage. You know, Welsh Scottish, Celtic heritage. So I do feel like I'm going home when I go to places like Wales, and it will be my home in about a decade when I moved there. And, you know, they've got flags everywhere. But it's like. It's weird, actually, because if you see a Welsh flag, just in general, there's no racist connotations whatsoever. You're just like, that's. That's a fucking cool flag. I'm just putting out there, Wales has the coolest flag. It's a fucking red dragon. And it's like, it's almost so cool. It's fuck you to every other flag that just wishes they were as cool.

[Simon Scott]

Not as cool as the pirate flag, but it's pretty up there. Like, if I saw it on a ship, it's cool.

[Jordan James]

It's a red dragon. There's nothing cooler than a dragon. Dragons are the coolest thing ever. And it's a red one. It's a. I'm just saying it's a cool flag. I love it. I love the Welsh flag. And if I. If I went when. If. When. When I. When I live in Wales, I'm putting a fricking Welsh flag up. Yeah, I Mean, I've got T shirts. I've got a really cool jumper that I bought with the Welsh flag on it. Love the Welsh flag. English flag, one bit boring. Just meh. I mean, there's so many cool things. Do you know what? English flag should have a stag on it. That'd be cool. New idea. A cool stag picture on, just like a big stag in the middle.

[Simon Scott]

So if you're. If you've got Scottish heritage, like, I do. Have you got like a clan? Have you got, like a clan crest or a tartan? Have you ever, like, researched that?

[Jordan James]

I. I haven't. I did the heritage thing and then they said, oh, you can actually research this. And then I was like, no, I'm. I don't want to spend anything.

[Simon Scott]

I don't want to pay for the premium package.

[Jordan James]

I just didn't see the point. I could be like, William Wallace's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grand instead.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, saved us some money.

[Jordan James]

That's work.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, yeah. But his research came back and our, like, family, like, crest as Scots from Scotland, because my last name is Scott. It's pretty on the nose, is like a yellowish greenish tartan. But our family crest has a stag in it. So it's almost looks like, you know, in Game of Thrones, the Baratheon sort of shields that they have, like the stag. So it looks a bit like that.

[Jordan James]

There you go. I mean, what about a badger?

[Simon Scott]

The thing is, though, is, like, if we.

[Jordan James]

If we were to want a badger on the flag in England, I'm now

[Simon Scott]

slightly if, you know, have you seen the footage from Glastonbury when they always have, like, the really big flags and stuff outside the main stage and some of them are, like, quite silly. I remember seeing one that was like, David Attenborough sat with a sloth.

[Jordan James]

Nice.

[Simon Scott]

Like.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, love it.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah. So if we're reinventing, like, the England flag, I would pretty much put David Attenborough up there as a good David

[Jordan James]

Attenborough riding a stag, going, here we have carrying a badger.

[Simon Scott]

Listeners, if any of you want to make that image and send it to us, I would be very grateful. But. Yeah. Anyway, this has gone on a bit of a tangent, hasn't it, about flags and things like that?

[Jordan James]

But I think. I think best episode ever. Right. I'm just saying we probably should have a break and then we'll come back and talk more about flags.

[Sophie James]

Hi, I'm Sophie James, a neurodivergent mentor with four years of experience supporting neurodivergent. Individuals. As an autistic and ADHD woman myself, I know firsthand what it's like growing up in a neurotypical world and trying to navigate spaces that weren't built with our brains and mind. Whether you're neurodivergent yourself or supporting a neurodivergent child or teenager, I offer experienced ed peer mentoring grounded in understanding, connection and neuro affirming support. Together we explore strengths, build confidence, and develop practical ways to navigate life while embracing who you are. If you'd like to learn more about my mentoring work, visit sophiejamesndmentoring.com hi everyone,

[Ashley Dupuy]

it's Ashley Dupuy here, the in house therapist on the neurodivergent Experience and host of Mindful Mondays. And if you've been listening to these podcasts and thinking, gosh, I'd love to explore this work more deeply. I'd love to let you know about what's coming next. This September I'll be opening a small group coaching cohort, a gentle, supportive space to explore the kind of work we've been doing here together. So if you've been resonating with the From Mask to Map series or with the deeper themes we've been exploring on Mindful Mondays, this will be a chance to take that work further in community with guidance, reflection and practical tools to help you understand yourself more clearly and move through life with more ease. So if that speaks to something in you, I'd love to hear from you. You can register your interests by emailing [e-mail] and you can also keep an eye out on integrativeiom.co.uk where I'll be sharing more details over the coming weeks.

[Simon Scott]

Welcome back to the new Divergent Experience. Good question for you.

[Jordan James]

Do you have a flag stag on a flag?

[Simon Scott]

Would you like. Yeah, we were going to talk about flags, but I just thought I'd throw it back in there. Yeah, so we've been talking about the World cup and flags and sleep and messing up our routine and I thought I would put it out to Jordan to help me with some suggestions of how to switch my brain off. Because obviously you work nights a lot of the time and you're somebody who's mentioned before that you love playing video games and you find it hard to switch off when there's something you want to do. So what advice would you give me as somebody who is struggling to switch off from the World Cup?

[Jordan James]

But you've had a bath, right? Just in general, I thought.

[Simon Scott]

Are you asking Me, if I have a bath or if I've had a wash recently.

[Jordan James]

You've had a bath. You know what a bath is, right? You just, you fill that up.

[Simon Scott]

It's like a bath.

[Jordan James]

Yeah. And you know, you know that black rectangular thing with the glass screen?

[Simon Scott]

Right?

[Jordan James]

You just, you just drop that in the bath.

[Simon Scott]

Do I have to be in the bath with it?

[Jordan James]

Or I, I don't recommend, I don't. It won't electrocute you, but it might, it might, it might, it might do something, I don't know, maybe give you like itchy balls or something.

[Simon Scott]

I was about to say just get electric pubic hair. But moving on,

[Jordan James]

turn your phone off when you go to bed. And that doesn't stop you ruminating, doesn't stop you thinking. But also if you put your phone downstairs and you turn it off completely demand avoidance will, will take care of the rest. It will be like, right, so if I want to know something, I have to go downstairs and for you, that's two flights. So that, that's, that's two times more demand avoidance, right? Oh, no, because you, you live in a tower, so it's different. You have to go all the way down.

[Simon Scott]

You're painting a real image of me. Like, it doesn't bathe, lives in a tower.

[Jordan James]

I never said you didn't bathe. You're putting it on your own. I have to go all the way down the road to the well, descend

[Simon Scott]

the stairs to find my phone. Yeah, that's me.

[Jordan James]

So you have to come all the way downstairs, seven hour journey down at the bottom of your tower and then you have to turn on your phone and sit there and wait for it to turn on. And if it's a Samsung, that's like three or four hours. For some reason they are desperately slow. And then, and then also make sure you don't update your phone. So it starts automatically updating when you turn it back on. Then you have to sit there looking at all the updates.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, this, I think this is working.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, go on. So you'd have to do all of that just to take a random score, which you could just do in the morning. Right? There's, there's, there's your way of doing it. Just turn your phones off. People just in general, just turn your phones off. Do you know what I, I saw? Right, so when we're in Wales, we went for a really cool trip on a, on a steam train.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, that's a top tier tism. Well done.

[Jordan James]

Oh, I loved it. Yeah, loved it. Yeah. Trains and Autism, it's all there. And it was crazy that when it. When. When it's traveling, everybody. Not just kids, because there weren't many. It's mostly. It's mostly older. The older generation.

[Simon Scott]

How many of them have backpacks and little, like, Indiana Jones hats on?

[Jordan James]

Every single one. Just.

[Simon Scott]

See, autism doesn't have a look, but it does have an outfit.

[Jordan James]

A se. Sea of, like, explorers and. And this and. And the walking sticks.

[Simon Scott]

Oh, they love it.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, you gotta have the. You gotta have a gold Gandalf walking stick. But, yeah, it's. It was strange because, like, every single one of them phone out recording. I'm like, where did the. Are you gonna watch that?

[Simon Scott]

I've stopped recording at things like that. I used to go to gigs and take videos. I do not do it now. I never look at them again.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, you're nev. You're never gonna watch that. Just live for the moment. And this is a person that's like, half their age just being like, live. Live for the moment people. Phones aren't just, like, taking over young people. They're taking over the world just in general. I mean, that's the big problem with the older generation is they're on their phone and they're believing everything they say. And 99 of it is AI. And they're like, I can't believe those people.

[Simon Scott]

My mom sends me. It's not like the boat stuff. My mum's not a stop.

[Jordan James]

No, no, no.

[Simon Scott]

Like, the amount of time she sent me something the other day that was like a rabbit doing, like, a backflip on a trampoline. And she was like, oh, my God, look at this. And I was like, oh, mother.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, that. That is a famously bullshit one, because it's.

[Ashley Dupuy]

It.

[Jordan James]

It does look real. Until you realize that the rabbits just disappear. And I'm like, did you not notice that rabbit just disappeared from existence? I mean, it's not a magic trick. I mean, rabbits don't disappear like that in real life. It's AI people. Just because it doesn't look super smooth and silky. Most of it's AI. I mean, I. I hate it because I. I end up questioning. I don't know, we got onto AI again, but I end up questioning the things I see. So when Jalen Brown got traded, there was a little kid, and the mum's recording the little kid, which is. I don't know if I like that because the little kid's crying his eyes out, and she's like, what do you think of Jaylen Brown getting traded? And she's like, I'll make contact for my child content for my child's misery. And he's. He's. He's standing in a Celtics jersey, which is signed by Jaylen Brown. And, like, in the corner, she. She's put a picture of him with Jaylen Brown when he's signing the jersey, which is how I was like, okay, maybe this isn't AI, but I don't know. I just end up questioning everything. But it was very sad. It was very, very sweet. But I tell you right now, people, the sweetest goddamn thing and it did actually bring a tears in my eye, is Jalen fucking Brown saw it and he put. He put from his Instagram, he was like, don't worry, little bro. I'll always be there for you. And I was like, holy shit.

[Simon Scott]

Okay, that did bring a tear to my eye.

[Jordan James]

And I'm like, oh, my. Because this kid is so sad. He's so upset. I mean, Jalen Brown was signed by the Celtics as a kid. We trained him, we bought him up, and then they've just shipped him off out. He didn't want to go. It was. It's so sad. It's so sad. And then he's like, don't worry. I'm always going to be there for you. And I'm like, that is exactly why you didn't. Shouldn't have got rid of this guy. He's just so freaking nice.

[Simon Scott]

That's rough.

[Jordan James]

It's. Oh, yeah. Anyway. But, yeah, I started questioning that in my own head. Like, what is real? What is real? But I'm on this train and then everyone's recording and then we get off the train and the train does that thing where. Where. Where the engine, you know, goes to the front and it swaps around so it can go back down where we came from. Because it's. It's an amazing journey up and then back down.

[Simon Scott]

Does all the steam and everything.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone's recording it, and I'm standing there and I'm just appreciating it. I took two pictures. Not videos. I just took a quick picture. And then when it came. When it went down and it came back the other way, I took a quick picture. Because I'm a photographer and I. That's what I do. And I take pictures of it. Not to document the moment, not because I'm going to look at it, just because I like taking a picture. Everyone, and I mean everyone, like it's a fucking Queen concert, is out there with their phones recording it, and the Worst and most annoying thing is it's ruining my view because they're all like the hands waving out and I'm just, I'm just trying to enjoy the moment. And these are all older generation people. These are not young kids. Just, I mean young kids probably not going to be on a railway steam train. Most of them would have been at school anyway. But it is bizarre, like how phones have just taken over everything. And I'll give you one more example. And I know it's not what we're talking about, but I just want to talk about it because, you know, I'm talking.

[Simon Scott]

We're here now.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, you can. If you're gonna listen, you're gonna listen. So I've, I've had my bad back, right? It, it, I've pinched a nerve. It wasn't very nice. I did it while, you know, I climbed a mountain and on the way back down it was quite steep and just my back didn't like it. So I've pinched a nerve. And one of the things I was helping me was like doing a hang. So basically I just, you know, hang off a bar and completely relax my entire body and just hold onto a bar and it stretches out my back. It's brilliant by the way. Everyone should like just hang.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, I like doing that.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, it's great for your back. And it was releasing the pinch. So then I was able to get on with my day. So I was doing it in the morning and I was doing it before I went to bed. So I went to this playground near, near where we were staying. Nine o' clock at night, by the way. So I was like, there's, there's going to be no kids in this playground at 9 o' clock at night, right? There were three kids playing in this playground. So I was going to go there on my own. Silver's gonna wait in the cars. Like I'm not going to into a playground with three children on my own. That's dodgy looking as. So I was like, babe, you gotta come with me.

[Simon Scott]

Hold the sweets. I'm not taking this with me.

[Jordan James]

Hold the candy.

[Simon Scott]

Take that, take the Haribo out of me back.

[Jordan James]

I don't want to be. I mean, I know I've got my beard and my glasses, but I don't want to be confused for Rolf Harris.

[Simon Scott]

Oh mate. I was scrolling through TV the other day and it was like Prime Time Predator on Prime. I was like, who approved that title?

[Jordan James]

Prime. Prime Predator.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, the Prime Prime.

[Jordan James]

Anyway, and so I, I needed to just hang off a Bar in the kids playground. I couldn't find a bar anywhere else. I trust me, I looked like a tree branch or anything. No, I had to do it. And so Sylvia's standing there, these three kids are playing, they're probably between 8 and 12. There's like obviously they're all family. Where's the mum? Have a guess.

[Simon Scott]

Sat on the bench, doom scrolling.

[Jordan James]

Not even on the bench.

[Simon Scott]

Oh really?

[Jordan James]

Sat in her car scrolling on her phone? Yeah, she doesn't even see me.

[Simon Scott]

Oh she doesn't even look up all three of them. I don't genuinely. You could have, couldn't you?

[Jordan James]

It really, really worrying, really worrying. She has no idea who I am, she has no idea what, what I'm there for. Cuz if I was a parent I'd be like where are you going? What are you doing? And I would have explained it and should have been like okay then. Because I was fully prepared to be challenged and I was okay with being. I wouldn't mind your business. I'd be like no, no, I know I'm an adult in a kid's playground but this is the reason why my back and I'm stretching and I will literally be two minutes and I'm gone and I, and I came here at 9 o' clock at night. By the way, why the are you three children on a Thursday night? They got school on a Friday. Why are your three children who are all school age playing in a playground while you're doom scrolling in your car not even looking at your kids, not even interacting with your kids? Forget about the safety aspect of it. You're a parent, you're supposed to be with your children, doing things with your children and before anyone's like oh, how do you know what she was doing in your phone? I knew the what she was exactly doing on her bloody phone because you could see she's scrolling with her finger. You can see what they do it.

[Simon Scott]

I literally saw it the other day dude. And you know what? Well this, this, this episode was about demand avoidance and the World cup but really it's about us phones, isn't it? I've got a little playground on my estate and I can from the window that I'm at now I can basically just about see it. And the amount of times dude, I will walk past with my dog and you'll see kids on the swings on their phones.

[Jordan James]

Oh my God.

[Simon Scott]

You'll see kids in the playground on their phones. Parents sat on the bench also on their phones. And don't get me wrong, I don't have the, the health. It's not that I don't have a healthy relationship with my phone, but Instagram can sometimes trap me and I can get stuck and scrolling and I look at how much time I've spent on it in a day and I go and try and re evaluate my energy. But yeah, I think a lot of the big problem as to why I've been struggling with sleep and getting FOMO and everything is because I'm chronically online and it's hard to switch off from it. And as soon as you come off of it, you do feel like you're missing out on something. But it is mental how many times people are videoing stuff doom scrolling through other people's videos. I mean, just this morning I've seen a video of some people in America who've driven a golf buggy essentially off a 20, 30 foot ledge into a lake that's on a golf course. And within half an hour of me seeing that clip, I've gone about, I've dropped Caris off, I've gone and got a coffee from the coffee shop that I like and I've come back, I've opened Instagram and I've seen the exact same video from a different point of view. Three videos later, I saw the exact same incident from a different point of view. So that means that every single person that was at that scene took their phone out and filmed it. And even more so My Chemical Romance, one of my favorite bands, I'm seeing them in London next week. Super excited. And about a week after they announced the London gig that I bought a very expensive ticket for, they announced they were playing in Liverpool. I was like, so that concert was this week. I didn't need to go mate because every single in the stadium was live streaming it on Instagram. I watched the whole show from my living room. We put it on the TV and blew it up. And I watched the concert through other people's phones and I've seen a billion angles of it. And every single time I ever see anything like this, I always think, who are you filming it for? Because I used to go to concerts and take videos and stuff. I wouldn't sit and film the whole concert. You are. There are videos on YouTube, like I've seen a Lady Gaga show from Madison Square Garden and somebody's filmed the whole thing in 4K. And it's, it's mental that they've just paid to sit there like that with the phone up. But I'm often thinking, who's. Who are you doing this for. Because everybody's going to be putting the same video online. You're not going to go viral, you're not going to get famous and it's that FOMO thing in it now.

[Jordan James]

Everyone of a certain generation wants to be famous now. Like I, I do. I was watching Clarkson's Farm and I've

[Simon Scott]

really enjoyed the new series. It's good.

[Jordan James]

Yeah. I, but I, I, I actually just forgot that it existed as a thing a couple about a year ago. I don't know. I've got that I watch. But I was on, I'd finished season three, so we, we had four and five to watch, which was really proper good binge. Yeah. So we, we binged four and five and four had the young girl, the young lady who we apps thought, oh, she's awesome. So great.

[Simon Scott]

She's very, very cool.

[Jordan James]

I as soon as she was like at the beginning, she's like on her, she's talking about her phone and she's doing tick tock and I'm just like, g really? And then you see how hard she worked and you're like, wow. And then you hear like, she doesn't really know much. She's a bit like Caleb. He doesn't really know much, but he knows everything he needs to know.

[Simon Scott]

I was laughing my head off, dude, at the episode I watched yesterday where Caleb's literally trying to educate him on something. Then he goes, oh, what you know about this? He goes, I don't need to know about that.

[Jordan James]

Yeah.

[Simon Scott]

He's like, why? Anyway, I'm doing this.

[Jordan James]

Yeah.

[Simon Scott]

So I don't need to know about that. It's just fair enough. I like that.

[Jordan James]

It's just like that Sherlock Holmes energy of like, I don't need to know how many.

[Simon Scott]

It's a very autistic show climbs.

[Jordan James]

Yeah. Planets there are in the solar system. As long as I know what every poison smells like that. That's literally a line in, in Sherlock Holmes, because that's all he needs to know. So he needs to know what he needs to know and it's a very good way of looking at life, really. So I don't know if it's the best way of looking, but it's a very good way of looking at life. You need to know what you need to know. But yeah, I thought she was absolutely brilliant and the reason she's doing TikTok is not because she wants to be famous and it's not because she wants money. It's literally because she wants to bring awareness to farming and also encourage women to get into farming and make it a very normal thing and showing what women can do in farming. And what she showed in her TikToks and in that show is that she kicked fucking ass. She was absolutely awesome. And I'm like, that's what social media is for. That's what I used social media for. That's what you doing this podcast and anything that we do is using social media for is spreading awareness, encouraging others and, and just like advocating for your people and for yourself. It shouldn't be about creating AI for clickbait. It shouldn't be about, you know, getting

[Simon Scott]

a space, getting products sent to your house and stuff.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, or like the red pill, like saying stuff you don't believe in just so you can sell a course to a very naive, you know, tragically forgotten about youth. It's, it's just not okay. So I know that we started talking about like FOMO in the World cup and stuff like that, but, but the issue comes down to your phones. And it, and most issues nowadays, the, the, the right wing racism, the hatred of immigration all over the world, by the way, it just become, it's become like this red hot issue of immigration. People of different colors, they're the worst. They're the problem. It's everywhere. And it's because of social media. It's because of your phone. And if, if you've got your phone in your hand, even if you're just recording a nice sunset or something like that, you're going to look at it for another reason. You're going to have a little thing pop up. And I actually not lost my temper, but I did get a bit pissed off with Sylvia at one point in our holiday because we're at this place called the Green Bridge in South Wales. It's beautiful. It's like Durdle Door, but like the Welsh version of Durdle Door. So it's actually a lot prettier. Weirdly enough, it's just not as grand.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, it's a bit smaller scale, but just as pretty.

[Jordan James]

Oh, just absolutely gorgeous. And it's Greenbridge because it's covered in grass and it's very Hobbitonish. That's the word that I made up. Very shireish. And that's why I love like South Wales. It's all so green and we're at this beautiful place, gorgeous day. It's beautiful. I turn around, she's on her phone, I'm like, what are you doing? And she's like, oh, I, I got an email from the people who were Selling me the air conditioning. And I'm like, so. So I needed to check it. I'm like, right now you need to check. Like, we're surrounded by this beauty. This. We're not coming back here until next year. And. And you. You need to check the air conditioning. Email right now.

[Simon Scott]

It's like, me guilty of doing this, though.

[Jordan James]

Yep. She's like.

[Simon Scott]

And carries.

[Jordan James]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Simon Scott]

On it.

[Jordan James]

And I'm like, and. And I can. I can hear my phone in my pocket going, ding, ding, ding, ding, or vibrating or whatever. I'm not pulling that thing out. My. Who cares? I like. It's okay. It's messages. It's probably on our family group chat. Like, Sophie's, you know, seen a hamster that she's taking a picture of or something like that. And I'm like, that's cool. I'll look at that later. I don't need to look at it now. I'm on a walk. I'm, you know, walking along the coast, seeing beautiful things. That's what I'm doing. Just leave your phone in your pocket or just leave it in the car. Just appreciate the moments, people, because it's not. It's not even a generational thing. It's everyone. Everyone's doing.

[Simon Scott]

Is everyone. Like, I was in the garden the other day with Nana, like, playing ball with her, and she'd not done it before, so I filmed it and sent it to Caris, and she put it on her Instagram because she likes to document things like that, more so for her than. Than anybody else. And a day or two later, I was playing ball with Nana, and I thought about filming it again, and I went, I've already done it. I don't need to do it again. Just be present with her. And the thought sort of occurred to me, and I. Thinking about the World cup as well, I was like, I might only have her for another five years, Six years. So I've only got six summers. And I want to remember him. I don't want to remember holding a phone filming her. I want to be present. And, you know, that was one of the whole benefits of adopting a dog is being present and being, you know, living like a dog and just being in the moment. And I'm gonna try and work on that with the whole World cup thing and everything that's going on, because last night I stopped watching a game and because my two friends that I'm in a WhatsApp group with that were all obsessed with football started messaging because a goal went in. I woke up and I turned it back on. And if I'd had my phone downstairs or on Do Not Disturb or whatever, which I've started to practice, I've started putting my phone on Do Not Disturb. But I think I would feel a lot more present and involved because I'm starting to use social media less. I've got rid of Tick Tock and Facebook off my phone. I just have Instagram and a lot of the time I'm not even looking at people I know. I'm just scrolling through whatever. And a lot of the time it's looking for news, which I have news apps for. And yeah, I think I'm going to try and consciously disconnect from it a little bit more and be a little bit more present and I'm going to start leaving it downstairs and charging it overnight.

[Jordan James]

That's what I do. I literally have a. I don't have a charger upstairs. I actually don't have one. So I leave it on, on the charge downstairs. And if I need to set an alarm or something, that's what my, my, my, my smartwatch is for. You know, I can't scroll on my smartwatch.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, I don't have a smartwatch or anything like that. I literally just have my phone. But yeah, no, I think that's. That's probably not just a bit of advice. That's probably the advice. I think I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna go and get my charger and put it downstairs and when I go upstairs from the living room and go to bed, I'm gonna leave it down there because I miss reading. Like, I don't read books. I nearly as half as much as I used to. I bought a Kindle and it's by my bed. I've not really picked it up because I pick up my phone instead. I'm just sat doom scrolling in bed while Caris has fallen asleep. And I'm just endlessly just on the Internet. And I've noticed as well, not being on Facebook and everything like that I thought I would miss knowing what people are up to. And I haven't. I actually haven't. I've even gone through my Instagram and unfollowed like 300 pages that I followed because I was like, why, why do I follow this? I'm not intrigued by it and stuff.

[Jordan James]

I deleted Instagram and the only thing I was using Instagram for is like the basketball news.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah.

[Jordan James]

So because my son has it every time there's like a major trade, he screenshots it and then just sends it to me. So I, I know about all the trades because my son. Will, Will, Will just tell me about it. I don't, I just don't go on it. But yeah, just try and live in the moment and at the end of the day you will feel satisfied enough that, that you've had a good day and that you're not missing out on something and then whatever you need to do is for tomorrow. But I'm not saying that, you know, don't stay up for an England game. I, I completely understand that, but if there's other teams playing, it's not as big of a deal. Come on, let's be honest.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, no, I agree.

[Jordan James]

You can. What, you can watch the highlights of Argentina versus Cape Verde. You don't need to watch that live.

[Simon Scott]

Yeah, that's the difficult thing of your special interest though. And fomo and it's, it's, it's a hard balance because I've, I'm phone mo now.

[Jordan James]

Yeah.

[Simon Scott]

Title of the episode right there. The old fomo.

[Jordan James]

Right.

[Simon Scott]

Well, this has been your neurodivergent Experience for this week. Hope you found it interesting. I'm definitely going to go away and rethink my life, but yeah, no. Are you enjoying the World Cup? Let us know. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued whether you're also struggling with the time zone difference and if you're an American, you're glutton for punishment and enjoying every single game because it's all in your afternoon. Anyway, bye, everybody. See you later. Topic tomorrow night.

[Jordan James]

Goodbye.

[Simon Scott]

Thanks for tuning in to the neurodivergent Experience. We hope today's episode sparks something for you. Whether it's a new idea, a bit of validation, or just a moment of connection. Remember, new episodes are every week, so be sure to join us for the next one for more conversations and insights into the neurodivergent experience. Experience. If you've enjoyed this podcast, help us grow. You can do that by rating and reviewing this show. Your support makes a huge difference in helping us reach more people who could benefit from these conversations. You can connect with us on social media, find us on Instagram, Facebook, Tick tock. Just search for the neurodivergent experience. Thank you again for listening and until next time, take care of yourselves. You're not alone in this journey. Thanks for listening. Support autistic led media through autistic culture plus and enjoy bonus content, early episodes and ad free listening. Visit autisticculture.supercast.com to learn more.