Episode
More Memories of Other People's Lives Than Our Own [Summer Read-Aloud]
- Podcast
- On Your Terms®
- Published
- Jul 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 675
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://samvanderwielen.com
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Summary
Everyone's obsessed with the getting off social media part — deleting the apps, doing the digital detox, bragging about their screen time going down. But almost no one talks about what's supposed to happen once you actually log off. Because here's the thing: stepping away from Instagram only to fall into a Substack doom scroll isn't really progress. It's just a softer-feeling version of the same problem. In this episode, I'm doing something a little different to celebrate summer — I'm reading you one of my recent essays straight from my free Substack, where I get real about what it's actually like to run a seven-figure business while also trying to build a life off the very apps I used to build it. This particular essay gets into something I don't talk about all that often: how losing both of my parents within a year of each other completely cracked open the way I think about time, attention, and what I actually want my life to look like — phone down or not. In this episode, you'll hear… Why getting offline isn't just about swapping one app for a "better" one The unsettling stat about our generation and other people's memories that I can't stop thinking about How losing both of my parents within a year of each other changed my relationship with my phone, and with my life What it actually looked like for me to start rebuilding an offline life on purpose, not by accident Why the more offline I get, the better my online business actually does Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode. EPISODE RESOURCES: Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar Subscribe to Sam's Substack Read today's essay How I Got (More) Offline Grab Sam's Book When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episo…