Hello and welcome back to Thought Bubbles! This episode is an update on Kaytie's "Stepping Away" experiment. Long story short, it was difficult to stay off apps like Tiktok when scrolling has become a long-standing habit in regular environments, such as the train. After reflecting on what went wrong and what could be different, Kaytie decides to delete Tiktok for good and see where that goes.  Tune in next week for the results! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/basically-gen-z/support ..read more

When was the last time you heard or saw an ice cream truck? In this Thought Bubble, Ellie describes a fun encounter with an ice cream truck that brought back memories of her five-year-old self living in the suburbs of California. Throwback to the time when we had fun at playgrounds swinging on monkey bars and swings, playing hopscotch, jumping rope, and fooling around in the sandbox. Looking back, it seemed so natural for us to work/play together with people we just met and to make friends. I was in an entrepreneurship bootcamp last semester, and we did a little team-building exercise called t ..read more

Hello, welcome back to Thought Bubbles! This week Kaytie will be embarking on a journey to know less about the world. Not in the “I am aiming for complete blissful ignorance” way, but in the “I am going to cut out irrelevant media and focus on living my life and being the best person I can be in real time and real space without thinking about world politics or what the popular girl from high school is eating for lunch” type. You know? The first app to be axed in this experiment is Tiktok. For a while, I justified spending 2-3 hours on the app every day because I told myself I was using it, uni ..read more

“Hello everyone, and welcome back to Basically Gen Z!” Wow, haven’t heard that for a long time. Today, Kaytie and Ellie revisit their earlier podcasts, think out loud about future plans, and go on multiple tangents spanning K-pop and economics. Did you know that Chanel bags are veblen goods? 0:00 Hello again! 2:00 Story around our very first podcast + beginner mistakes we made 3:20 K-pop Big Bang tangent 4:46 Re-introduction (no doxxing allowed on this channel!) 5:30 SharSharBinks88 and “veblen goods” tangent 7:42 How did we meet? 8:40 Conception of our channel 11:07 Re-invention+future 11:58 ..read more

Prelude: Summers are always such turning points and times for reflection, reinvention and redirection. I’ve always wanted to capture the essence of that grueling yet exciting feeling in some form of content, so here it goes.  Note: This is not a romanticization of not making decisions. Committing to something is always better than being frozen in the task of choosing.   This episode is Ellie and me discussing whether or not I should move back to college for the fall or take another leave of absence. Rather, I contemplate my decision out loud while Ellie adds to it by asking me ques ..read more

Hello! This week we are talking about all the shows, videos, and movies that have kept Kaytie and Ellie amused over their years of growing up. Tune in to find out why Kaytie woke up at 5 am to watch someone drink water on live streaming and the new Kpop reality show that Ellie can’t get enough of. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/basically-gen-z/support ..read more

It’s getting hot in SoCal, so let’s talk about all the things that are ~fire~. Welcome to Kaytie and Ellie playing meteorologists for the first half of the episode (explaining heat waves and Socal) and then pivoting to Kaytie’s personal issue with her AC. Ellie talks about food that “cool” people down in the summer, and her much anticipated reviews of various Asian desserts.  Oh and btw, there are other things that are fiRE: Kai in the mhm music video and Financially Independent Retire Early.  Links to references in this episode:  CA heat waves: https://earthobservatory.nasa.g ..read more

Welcome back to another episode! To reminisce old travel memories, mourn the canceled travel plans of the year past, and to celebrate reopening, Kaytie and Ellie recount all their past travel experiences. Ellie has some things to say about a very specific airport in the Bay Area, and Kaytie talks about the best airplane congee on long-haul flights. Tune in for thirty minutes of travel gossip with no itinerary! Subscribe to Basically Gen Z and leave a rating and/or review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Contact us: basicallygenzpods@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https ..read more

In this episode, Kaytie and Ellie examine the current e-commerce landscape. Partially inspired by seeing people sell slightly greasy BTS X McDonald’s paper bags, Kaytie and Ellie recount their stories of buying/selling ~things~online.  Links to articles we discussed: 16- year old makes 6 figures selling shoes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlevin/2016/07/27/meet-the-16-year-old-sneaker-reseller-earning-six-figures-from-yeezys-and-air-jordans/?sh=67c511437078  Subscribe to Basically Gen Z and leave a rating and/or review on Spotify, Google, and Apple Podcasts. Contact us: basicallyg ..read more

It seems that today’s diet-based activism centers around plant-based or meat-based diets. While the vegan diet is quite popular in pop culture, certain vegan figures (thatveganteacher on tiktok) have gotten banned off platforms due to their militant activism. On the other hand, there are figures like Mikala Peterson that are championing the all-meat (carnivore diet). Both perspectives have valid points; Kaytie and Ellie decided that the core issues of diet/health centers around refined sugars and artificial additives. Food and diet culture in different countries vary widely. The conventional ..read more