Joe Rogan’s podcasts are usually a mix of laid-back banter, wild stories, and deep dives into just about any topic you can think of. Most of the time, it’s all good fun—entertaining, casual, and a little bit chaotic in the best way. But every now and then, Rogan steers the conversation into something a little heavier, questioning the way society works.
This time, he’s got his sights set on consumer culture—and what he has to say about it might have you rethinking that next online shopping spree.
In the episode, Rogan delved into how marketing strategies often manipulate people into purchasing items they don’t truly need. Rogan highlighted the tactics used to create a sense of urgency or desire, leading consumers to make impulsive decisions.
He emphasized the importance of awareness and critical thinking when navigating the barrage of advertisements and promotions in today’s society.
By shedding light on these practices, Rogan encourages listeners to be more mindful of their consumption habits and to question the motives behind the marketing messages they encounter.
“I’ve always said that if aliens came here and studied us, they would be like what is the dominant species on this planet doing? Okay, they are making better things,” he began.
“You don’t want old sh*t. You want new stuff. You don’t want an iPhone 12. What are you doing, you loser?” chuckled Rogan, as he commented on the current state of materialism under late-stage capitalism.
They convince people, especially in the realm of consumer electronics, most people are buying things they absolutely do not need”, the JRE host continued.
“The vast majority of the spending on new phones is completely unnecessary”, he pointed out. The UFC commentator then claimed that one of the phones he currently operates with is an iPhone 11 that he doesn’t intend to upgrade anytime soon.
Rogan asserts that he simply doesn’t want to do it just to see if he notices it, and in his own words, “I f*cking never notice anything“. He watches YouTube on it just as much as he texts people, and yet he finds it all the same.
And as far as the security aspect of an older device is concerned, Rogan claims that Apple updates the security.
Notably, this is not the first time Rogan has argued against materialism. During an earlier episode, the JRE host had claimed that people were living their entire lives to acquire things to impress other people.
“There’s some sort of reward to showing up with a half-million-dollar watch on“, Rogan said, noting that it was very weird.
Interestingly, he moves the conversation to his very expensive Grand Seiko watches that apparently cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and brags about how accurate the time on those devices is! Go figure!
