Podcast Summary: We Study Billionaires – TECH005: What Tech Is Doing to Us with Justin Evadon

Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Preston Pysh
Guest: Jevy Evadon

Episode Overview

This episode of Infinite Tech delves into the double-edged sword of modern technology, focusing on how innovation, algorithms, and data are shaping human behavior, health, and personal freedom. Preston Pysh and Jevy Evadon dissect the unseen consequences of ubiquitous tech adoption, explore privacy tradeoffs in a digital world, and discuss practical steps for regaining autonomy over your digital life. The conversation balances enthusiasm for technological progress with a call for intentionality, privacy, and awareness around hidden health ramifications.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Double-Edged Sword of Technology

• [02:57] Jevy stresses that while technology has created immense opportunities, it has also introduced serious negative impacts, especially in the past decade.

  • "The dawn of the Internet is probably the sharpest double-edged sword that we’ve ever encountered." — Jevy [02:57]

• Big tech companies are incentivized to keep users hooked, often shaping behavior in ways that may not align with personal well-being.

2. Social Media Algorithms & Shaping Behavior

• [04:10] Preston describes the addictive nature of recommendation algorithms and recounts his intentional battle to curb unwanted content on X (formerly Twitter).

  • "These things are programming you, it’s not like you’re programming it." — Preston [04:23]

• Both hosts share practical steps: blocking, marking content as ‘not interested’, and bookmarking chronological feeds to regain control.

3. Decentralization and Data Sovereignty

• [12:30] Nostr is introduced as a decentralized protocol safeguarding free speech and user control versus algorithm-driven platforms like X and Facebook.

• Importance of open protocols: "With enough time, something like [Nostr] actually might become more prevalent...you have the choice to go to a different client provider." — Preston [12:35]

4. Privacy Awareness & Practical Tradeoffs

• [13:43] Jevy links Bitcoin's philosophy of self-sovereignty to data privacy, noting most people don’t care until they’ve been ‘burned.’

• Laziness or convenience: "It takes effort to step outside of that controlled, centralized environment." — Jevy [14:51]

5. Using AI Responsibly & The ‘Second Brain’ Dilemma

• [16:58] Jevy highlights both the efficiency and privacy conundrum of large language models (LLMs):

  • They enable powerful recall and synthesis of personal information, but often at the cost of exposing sensitive data to third parties.
  • Self-hosted AI is more private but comes with significant technical hurdles.

• "Most privacy-oriented AI tools require effort. They are cumbersome, they are inconvenient. You have to host them yourself." — Jevy [19:21]

6. The Challenge of Personal Data Management

• [22:21] Jevy explains migrating away from Google Photos and iCloud, setting up his own network-attached storage (NAS), and using open-source projects like Immich for photo backup and management.

  • "Apple has access at the end of the day to all of your photos and Google has access to all of your photos." — Jevy [23:57]
  • "Any time I take a photo, it is automatically connecting to my network-attached storage and is keeping that data in my environment." — Jevy [32:15]

• The conversation underscores the technical difficulty that still exists in user-friendly self-hosted solutions, but trends are moving in the right direction (mentions Start9, Umbrel, and Graphene OS for privacy-focused phone use).

7. Hardware: EMFs, LED Lighting, and Health

• [32:59] The focus shifts to physical hardware and unseen health risks: electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), device emissions, and especially the neurological effects of LED lighting and flicker.

• [34:50] Preston and Jevy discuss easily-missed risks of flicker in LED lighting:

  • "Take out your phone...switch to the slo-mo camera...what you’re going to see is what your eyes can’t perceive, which is the lights just flickering like crazy." — Jevy [34:50]

• This flicker and light spectrum have direct effects on mood, cognition, and even circadian rhythm, possibly contributing to increases in ADHD-like symptoms and poor sleep.

8. Circadian Rhythm and Blue Light

• [48:43] Light, especially morning exposure, is critical for circadian alignment. Artificial blue light and irregular light exposure can disrupt sleep, melt productivity, and degrade long-term health.

  • "Your eyes and your skin are absorbing all of this light information and your body uses that to decide what hormones it should be releasing." — Jevy [48:43]
  • Practical tips: Use software (Iris, Flux), color filters, and ‘Daylight’ tablets to minimize blue light and flicker in the evenings.

• Preston references an experiment on perception and subconscious processing to illustrate that our brains register far more from these emissions than we're consciously aware of.

9. Solutions and Accessible Tools

• [51:54] Jevy describes the Daylight Tablet, a device using a transflective LCD without blue light or flicker—allowing productivity after dark without disrupting sleep cycles.

• [54:55] The duo emphasizes the importance of “eyes wide open” tech adoption, comparing technological benefits (lift) to inevitable costs (drag).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On social media programming:
  • "These things are programming you...it was a pause moment for me." — Preston [04:23]
• On default behaviors:
  • "People that don’t understand concerns regarding data privacy because they think to themselves, ‘I have nothing to hide, so why should I care?’ haven’t touched the stove yet." — Jevy [13:46]
• On AI efficiency vs privacy:
  • "To make that second brain really function...you have to give the system all of your information, including private thoughts...that feels antithetical to the privacy concerns people should be carrying into these worlds." — Jevy [18:20]
• On hardware and personal data:
  • "I want to know that when I am using these tools that I’m aware of where things can go wrong and where I can become too reliant." — Jevy [14:58]
• On digital and physical health:
  • “I do think that there is a level of scrutiny that needs to be applied to these things that many people aren’t doing because doing so would disrupt the convenience factor that we’ve currently come to enjoy.” — Jevy [35:56]

Suggested Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:57] — Technology’s double-edged sword
• [04:10] — Social media and algorithmic programming
• [12:30] — Nostr & decentralization explained
• [13:43] — Sovereignty & privacy tradeoffs
• [16:58] — AI, LLMs, and the private ‘second brain’
• [22:21] — Personal data storage: NAS, Immich, and self-hosting
• [32:59] — EMFs, LEDs, and health hazards
• [34:50] — LED flicker and cognition experiments
• [48:43] — Circadian rhythm, sleep, and light hygiene
• [51:54] — Daylight tablet & blue-light-free productivity
• [54:55] — Lift vs. drag metaphor — balancing tech’s pros and cons

Final Takeaways

• Awareness, not abandonment: Both hosts urge listeners to thoughtfully assess where technology serves them and where it extracts hidden costs, rather than opting for total rejection or blind acceptance.
• Proactive privacy: Tools for self-hosting and decentralization are emerging, but currently require effort—motivated users are trailblazing for broader accessibility.
• Health matters: Physical and neurobiological implications of omnipresent tech are serious and deserve as much discussion as digital privacy.
• Call to action: Jevy encourages people to be “just that little bit more aware of the potential concerns”—to start with small steps and consciously weigh tradeoffs.
• More to cover: Many related topics remain for future episodes—from CRISPR to nutrition—which the hosts are excited to revisit.

Links and Further Resources:

• Jevy on X (Twitter) and Nostr
• Primal Cut Sheet Substack (Jevy’s newsletter): Practical tips on buying beef in bulk
• Projects Mentioned: Immich, Start9, Umbrel, GrapheneOS, Maple AI
• Software for light management: Iris, Flux

Episode recapped by The Investor’s Podcast Network