Escaping Digital Incarcerations Podcast with Leron Gaskins

Leron Gaskins
Leron Gaskins
  • 4.4 (7)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

The only podcast exploring digital overconsumption and wellness through a Black perspective. Hosted by Leron, Broken Traditions is a deep dive into how modern tech culture—from social media addiction to the cycle of doomscrolling—impacts our community's traditions and mental health. We bridge the gap between digital habits and cultural identity, providing a much-needed lens on the "digital wellness gap" that mainstream tech conversations often ignore. Whether you're looking to reclaim your focus, protect your peace, or understand the psychological effects of our hyper-connected world, this show provides the insights and strategies to help you break free from digital noise. Support the Mission: This podcast is community-powered. To help us keep this unique perspective independent and thriving, join our Patreon for exclusive deep-dives and early access to episodes. 🫶🏾 Join the Inner Circle: https://www.patreon.com/c/LeronGaskins Reclaim Your Time: Ready to take control? Download "The Digital Release"—a 7-day workbook blueprint designed to help you reset your digital habits. ➡️ Get The Digital Release: https://brokentraditions.com/products/the-digital-release-7-day-guide-to-escape-the-digital-cell-and-reclaim-your-freedom Connect with us: 🌐 Web: http://brokentraditions.com 📸 IG: https://www.instagram.com/broken_traditions/ 📍 Based in Atlanta, GA. Breaking cycles. Restoring focus. Reclaiming traditions.

  1. Sep 16

    I Quit Social Media For a Year. Here Is What Happened.

    About a year ago, this started as a simple 30-day experiment: delete every social media app off the phone and go back to the old-school way of posting and scrolling — from a laptop, not a pocket. That 30-day experiment turned into a full year, and it's now just how life works. This episode isn't the typical "I quit social media and my life got better" story. It's an honest breakdown of both sides: the real gains — more creativity and productivity, a better mood from stepping away from algorithm-driven negativity, being fully present with the people in the room, and finally slowing down enough to get back into reading and writing — and the real costs — losing touch with relationships that lived entirely in Instagram DMs, missing major family news (finding out a cousin was pregnant only after she'd already had the baby), barely capturing any photos from a meaningful family trip because being present took priority, and missing the simple joy of seeing friends' good moments online. The conclusion: there's no one-size-fits-all answer, and a little friction might serve most people better than a full, cold-turkey cutoff. If you've ever thought about deleting your apps but wondered what you'd actually be giving up, this episode lays it all out. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone weighing the same decision. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    I Quit Social Media For a Year. Here Is What Happened.

  2. Sep 9

    Why Minimalist Phones Are A Complete Waste Of Money

    Minimal phones like the Light Phone are having a moment right now — but are they actually solving digital addiction, or just an expensive way to feel like you're doing something about it? After digging into the actual hardware and software behind these devices, five reasons emerge for why a $700-900 minimal phone isn't the fix it's marketed to be. This episode covers why some minimal phones still give full access to the Google Play Store — meaning you can still download Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, completely undercutting the point of buying one — how these phones cost roughly the same as a full iPhone or Samsung flagship, why they're nearly impossible to get repaired if something breaks, how free built-in tools on your current phone (plus cheap options like the Minimalist Phone app and the $50 Brick device) already do the same job, and how the "missing" features on a minimal phone — camera, music, GPS — can end up costing an extra $1,000+ once you replace them separately. Also: why flip phones, not minimal smartphones, might actually be the right call for anyone dealing with a genuine addiction to pornography, gambling, or social media. If you've been considering a minimal phone as your fix for screen addiction, this episode is worth a listen before you spend the money. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone shopping for a "distraction-free" phone. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    Why Minimalist Phones Are A Complete Waste Of Money

  3. Sep 7 ·  Bonus

    From 'Popcorn Brain' to Focused: A Parent's Survival Guide *Livestream Replay*

    Back-to-school season means new backpacks, new schedules, new routines — but there's a quieter list of things that don't make the shopping list. This weekend, going live for a real, coffee-chat style conversation with parents about digital wellbeing. We're talking about "Popcorn Brain" — why constant short-form content is leaving kids scattered and unable to focus — Big Tech's role in targeting young users, how other countries are handling kids and social media differently than we do, why ed-tech in schools might be doing more harm than good, and the direct link between screen time, sleep, and how your kid performs in class. Plus five practical tips you can start using this school year. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    From 'Popcorn Brain' to Focused: A Parent's Survival Guide *Livestream Replay*

  4. Aug 27 ·  Bonus

    Why Meta's $18 Billion Settlement Is A Joke *Live Stream Replay*

    Meta just agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle claims from more than 20 states that it knowingly designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to teenagers. The headlines call it a win for kids online — but going live to actually dig into the settlement tells a very different story. Big Ellie breaks down the real numbers: states originally sought $1.4 trillion, Meta settled for a fraction of that, and didn't admit to any wrongdoing in the process. Only 70% of the settlement is even guaranteed — the rest depends on TikTok and YouTube agreeing to similar changes. This episode covers why the new age-verification and time-limit rules are nearly impossible to actually enforce, why teens will find workarounds just like they always have, why the settlement money goes to state programs instead of the families who lived through the damage, and why parents modeling the same screen habits they're trying to restrict makes the whole thing harder to fix than it looks. If you've seen the headlines about this settlement and want the real story behind the number, this is the episode. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    Why Meta's $18 Billion Settlement Is A Joke *Live Stream Replay*

  5. Aug 26

    The Fly at the Window: Why You Can't Stop Scrolling

    A fly gets into your house or car by accident. It sees a way out, right through the glass, so it does the only thing it knows how to do: fly straight into it, again and again, never understanding the glass is the thing stopping it. That fly is us, every time we open our phone. This episode is about "the fly in the glass" the pattern of hitting the same invisible barrier over and over while the real world sits right outside it. Big Ellie breaks down three behaviors that keep people trapped in that cycle: comparing your real, lived life to everyone else's curated highlight reel, consuming rage-bait content engineered for outrage instead of real journalism, and artificial intimacy, parasocial relationships, OnlyFans, and even AI companionship ,replacing the real human connection (and the social skills) we actually need. If you've ever wondered why the scroll never feels like enough, this episode explains why, and asks the question that matters: if the fly understood the glass was the problem, would it stop hitting it? New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    The Fly at the Window: Why You Can't Stop Scrolling

  6. Aug 19

    The Dark Side of Going Viral Nobody Talks About.

    A first-year teacher, two days into the job, posts a video saying his students can't read. Five million views later, and then it gets taken down. Everyone's got an opinion on what he said. Almost nobody's talking about what happened to him after. This episode uses Darius Williams' viral moment as a case study on what actually happens once the internet decides you're the story: how your past resurfaces overnight, how your credentials and old business history get dug up and scrutinized, and how you still have to show up to the same job, the same coworkers, the same community - long after everyone else has scrolled on. Then the conversation widens beyond Darius Williams to two more real cases: Angie Baez, the woman filmed taking a Knicks-themed trash can who lost her corporate job shortly after, and Donna Murray Robinson, a parole supervisor fired over a single Facebook comment. Three completely different paths to going viral, the same aftermath waiting on the other side. If you've ever thought about hitting "post" without thinking it through, this episode is the reason to pause first. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and find early access and bonus content at brokentraditions.com. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review, it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    The Dark Side of Going Viral Nobody Talks About.

  7. Aug 12

    Postman Predicted This In 1985: The Algorithm Is the New TV

    In 1985, a media theorist named Neil Postman warned that television was turning American public discourse into entertainment — no algorithms, no smartphones, just TV. Forty years later, Leron "Big Ellie" Gaskins picks up that argument and points it straight at our phones. This episode dives into Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death": his debate over which dystopia we're actually living in — Orwell's surveillance state or Huxley's information overload — his theory of "Now...This" news (stories that vanish before you can process them), and how the 7-hour Lincoln-Douglas debates became 2-minute soundbites. Big Ellie connects it to real, personal stakes: getting demonetized for speaking on the war in Ukraine, the DARK Act's rollback of GMO labeling transparency, and the daily brain rot of infinite scroll — plus practical tools to fight back. If you've ever wondered why you can't put your phone down, this is the episode that explains why — and what a book from 1985 got right about it. New episodes of Broken Traditions drop weekly. Follow so you don't miss one, and find early access and bonus content at brokentraditions.com. If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review — it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    Postman Predicted This In 1985: The Algorithm Is the New TV

  8. Aug 5

    The Scrolling Epidemic: How Social Media Is Making Driving More Dangerous

    Scrolling at red lights has become so normal that people call it "a skill." We break down why your brain can't actually multitask — and the real crashes it's causing. Every stoplight, every highway lane — somebody's scrolling. On this episode of Broken Traditions, Big Ellie and the crew dig into how scrolling on social media while driving quietly went from taboo to a habit nobody even questions anymore. It started when Big Ellie began driving a Ford Transit and box truck for work — sitting up higher revealed just how many drivers are glued to their phones at every red light, from Atlanta to Bogotá. We break down the real science behind it: the brain doesn't multitask, it task-switches, and that switch costs precious reaction time. We get into the numbers (cell phone use cuts driver attention by 37%, taking your eyes off the road raises crash risk by 400%), and play real clips — a caller casually admitting scrolling behind the wheel is "second nature" now, a driver arguing with a cop after getting cited for Instagram use, and two gutting real cases: a TikTok livestreamer allegedly involved in a pedestrian's death, and a truck driver whose TikTok use caused a crash that killed five people. We also ask the harder question: if alcohol, marijuana, and medication all carry warnings about driving, should social media platforms carry that same responsibility — especially now that Instagram has built an auto-scroll feature you can use hands-free behind the wheel? If this episode hits home, leave us a rating and review — it's the biggest way you can help the show grow. Follow Broken Traditions wherever you listen, and find us on YouTube for the full video episode. Support the show: PayPal, Cash App, YouTube Super Chats, or become a Channel Member 📩 Email: leron@brokentraditions.com  💛 Support the show: www.brokentraditions.com  Affiliate Partners & Tools   Bark: Comprehensive parental controls to monitor and manage your family's digital exposure to the "Three S's." https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/6687714/1430413/17000?adname=affiliate_home_page  Brick: A physical device that lets you "brick" your phone, removing addictive apps and helping you stay present. https://getbrick.com/?snowball=LERON81980

    The Scrolling Epidemic: How Social Media Is Making Driving More Dangerous
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About

The only podcast exploring digital overconsumption and wellness through a Black perspective. Hosted by Leron, Broken Traditions is a deep dive into how modern tech culture—from social media addiction to the cycle of doomscrolling—impacts our community's traditions and mental health. We bridge the gap between digital habits and cultural identity, providing a much-needed lens on the "digital wellness gap" that mainstream tech conversations often ignore. Whether you're looking to reclaim your focus, protect your peace, or understand the psychological effects of our hyper-connected world, this show provides the insights and strategies to help you break free from digital noise. Support the Mission: This podcast is community-powered. To help us keep this unique perspective independent and thriving, join our Patreon for exclusive deep-dives and early access to episodes. 🫶🏾 Join the Inner Circle: https://www.patreon.com/c/LeronGaskins Reclaim Your Time: Ready to take control? Download "The Digital Release"—a 7-day workbook blueprint designed to help you reset your digital habits. ➡️ Get The Digital Release: https://brokentraditions.com/products/the-digital-release-7-day-guide-to-escape-the-digital-cell-and-reclaim-your-freedom Connect with us: 🌐 Web: http://brokentraditions.com 📸 IG: https://www.instagram.com/broken_traditions/ 📍 Based in Atlanta, GA. Breaking cycles. Restoring focus. Reclaiming traditions.

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