Make Your Damn Bed

I am starting to think some of us are looking at ourselves too much, and if you stare at anything too long, it will start to look weird after a while. Plus, the internet has warped our perception of what real humans + real aging is supposed to look like. But today, I want to talk about the ways "selfie-culture" has distorted many people's perception of themselves. I think if more people realized how distorted our selfie cameras make us look, they'd feel a lot less critical of themselves. Today's Sources: Oohs St.Lou's Studios (The Visuals): https://oohstloustudios.com/the-science-of-the-selfie-no-you-dont-really-look-like-that#ENT of Athens "Your Selfie is Lying to You": https://www.entofathens.com/your-selfie-is-lying-to-you/Popular Science "Selfie Face Perception Distortion": https://www.popsci.com/technology/selfie-face-perception-distortion/How to look better in selfies: https://www.slrlounge.com/why-your-selfies-look-awful-what-can-is-being-done-to-look-better-in-selfies/Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

With everything going on in the United States, chances are you’ve been working to stay informed, and maybe even help out in some ways — both of which can take a lot of mental energy. Your main goal is to find the balance between taking action and taking enough care of yourself that you’re actually able to work effectively. - Anna BorgesThe Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/recharge-then-resistResources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

With everything going on in the United States, chances are you’ve been working to stay informed, and maybe even help out in some ways — both of which can take a lot of mental energy. Your main goal is to find the balance between taking action and taking enough care of yourself that you’re actually able to work effectively. - Anna Borges The Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/recharge-then-resistResources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Engaging with AI ethically is never going to be black and white, but we shouldn't feel shame or guilt for using these things with more awareness and tact. Being conscious is the best way to avoid the risks + potential consequences that come from engaging with an unregulated new technology. Managing our expectations and understanding the risks is incredibly important to these beginning stages of AI. Today we talk about a few of the ways I'm engaging with ai more consciously. 15 times it's good to use AI, 5 times not to: https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/15-times-to-use-ai-and-5-not-toProtecting the Freedom to opt out: https://theconversation.com/avoiding-ai-is-hard-but-our-freedom-to-opt-out-must-be-protected-255873Preventing AI from doing all the thinking: https://spencereducation.com/cognitive-atrophy/Avoiding AI article: https://www.voxweb.nl/en/they-are-not-using-ai-avoiding-it-is-actually-really-easyExploring the ethical use of AI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401223000816Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

We should be cautious about normalizing AI before establishing regulations: Unreliable:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11729512/#:~:text=This%20study%20indicates%20that%20ChatGPT,back%20to%20an%20existing%20publication. AND https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07930-Plagiarism machine: https://youtu.be/TWpg1RmzAbc?si=OjKaOsE7GWKfm15p&t=868Environmental racism, Energy Waste + Terror: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/08/terrorist-groups-artificial-intelligenceTraining models = unethical. https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/the-hidden-human-cost-of-ai-in-conversation-with-professor-mark-graham/Exacerbates issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKCynxiV_8I&t=3s AND https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0Bad for Brains: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/Stealing Jobs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uJHHOO5ZmY and https://www.vox.com/technology/418525/ai-chatgpt-google-office-work-white-collar-jobsBiased. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-chatgpt-says-chatgpt-is-racially-biased/ and https://news.uchicago.edu/story/ai-biased-against-speakers-african-american-english-study-findsPrivacy Violation. https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/machine-surveillance-is-being-super-charged-by-large-ai-models and https://www.govtech.com/artificial-intelligence/new-chatgpt-gov-enables-use-of-non-publicly-available-dataThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Here are some reasons we should be cautious about normalizing AI + ChatGPT before establishing regulations: It’s unreliable. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11729512/#:~:text=This%20study%20indicates%20that%20ChatGPT,back%20to%20an%20existing%20publication. AND https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07930-It’s a plagiarism machine. https://youtu.be/TWpg1RmzAbc?si=OjKaOsE7GWKfm15p&t=868Environmental racism, increasing consumer's energy bill.Terrorism: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/08/terrorist-groups-artificial-intelligenceTraining these models is deeply unethical.Exacerbates mental health issues.Bad for User’s Brains: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/Stealing Good Jobs.Biased.Privacy Violation.Deepfakes + Harmful Misinformation: perpetuates extremismAffects Societal Trust + Relationships.Worst Corporations Backing AIMoral Questions of Control + FreedomAs historian Yuval Noah Harari has written, to “never summon a power you cannot control”Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

AI is becoming increasingly unavoidable. It's in our phones, our TV's, and emails. But ChatGPT is one we STILL have a choice on how much we use it.There is a vast number of reasons we should be moderating the amount of AI we’re engaging with, while we still can. Here are some reasons we should be cautious about normalizing AI + ChatGPT before establishing regulations: It’s shockingly unreliable: ChatGPT is known to falsify sources, reinforce biases, and perpetuate misinformation. AI hallucinations are another increasing concern. According to one peer reviewed study: “ChatGPT is an unreliable source… as 64% of sources were deemed inaccurate, specifically referring to these sources as not able to be traced back to an existing publication.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11729512/#:~:text=This%20study%20indicates%20that%20ChatGPT,back%20to%20an%20existing%20publication. AND https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07930-It’s a plagiarism machine: steals directly from artists without credit or permission. https://youtu.be/TWpg1RmzAbc?si=OjKaOsE7GWKfm15p&t=868Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

People are more productive than ever before and YET our wages are not reflecting the growth in labor. Our wages have been stolen by the wealth hoarders and redistributed to shareholders at the expense of our dignity. We need to ensure their propaganda about laziness doesn't continue to influence the people around us. The robber barons are worse than ever, but at least we're FINALLY talking about their crimes. Justin Scott's TikTok video on Livable Wages: https://www.tiktok.com/@cypher.j/video/7525955994262834462The Atlantic on Minimum wage: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/raise-the-minimum-wage-reduce-crime/480912/ The NYTimes on calculating "livable wages": https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/smarter-living/what-a-living-wage-actually-means.htmlEPI's Productivity–Pay Gap Charts + Breakdown: https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

I'm baaack!!! and today I'm diving into Zohran Mamdani's platform and campaign which has given me a surprising amount of renewed hope for the future of American politics, if we can stay focused on resistance, revolution, and harm reduction.SOURCES:NYTimes on Zohran: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/us/politics/what-is-democratic-socialism.htmlZohran's Platform: https://web.archive.org/web/20250701190438/https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platformWho's afraid of socialism? https://ips-dc.org/whos-afraid-of-socialism/The DSA’s “What is Democratic Socialism?” https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/Britannica's Democratic Socialism: https://www.britannica.com/topic/democratic-socialismDemocratic Socialist Public Officials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Socialists_of_America_public_officeholdersResources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bedDONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.netGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.