Controlling The World's Social Media | Dominic McGregor

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (wind blowing) So Dominic McGregor,…

   1. CWChris Williamson0:00

      (wind blowing) So Dominic McGregor, welcome to Modern Wisdom. How are you?

   2. DMDominic McGregor0:09

      Good, thank you. How are you?

   3. CWChris Williamson0:10

      Very good, thank you.

   4. DMDominic McGregor0:10

      Good drive?

   5. CWChris Williamson0:11

      Yeah, yeah (laughs) , good drive down from Newcastle to Manchester in the rain. Just typical British weather.

   6. DMDominic McGregor0:16

      Yeah.

   7. CWChris Williamson0:16

      Um, so, (sighs) it's c- it's crazy to come into this office, which is several thousand square feet and looks like a labyrinth, um, with sleeping pods and a bar and a fully functioning kitchen-

   8. DMDominic McGregor0:30

      Yeah.

   9. CWChris Williamson0:30

      ... with a chef in, and all the rest of it. And this is where memes are made-

   10. DMDominic McGregor0:34

       (laughs)

   11. CWChris Williamson0:35

       ... that, that run around the UK, right?

   12. DMDominic McGregor0:37

       It's, it's the meme factory, yeah. We, uh, I don't, I don't, I didn't like that title, um, but-

   13. CWChris Williamson0:41

       I saw in that article, like-

   14. DMDominic McGregor0:42

       (laughs) .

   15. CWChris Williamson0:43

       Was it on the, was it on The Guardian?

   16. DMDominic McGregor0:44

       It was The Guardian, yeah. Um, and it just called us the meme factory, which we are. You know, we, uh, we make a lot of, a lot of content here. But, um, yeah, a little bit about us. So we started, um, in the room next door with, like, a white table. It's like the same one that we're on here.

   17. CWChris Williamson0:59

       Mm-hmm.

   18. DMDominic McGregor0:59

       There was, the only thing is there was four of them, one for every single person. And we were sat, and I think these are, like, very similar to the white tables we had.

   19. CWChris Williamson1:06

       Mm-hmm.

   20. DMDominic McGregor1:07

       We, we got them as a li- little bit of a memory. Um, and we, um, were working in the room, starting Social Chain, which is a marketing agency.

   21. CWChris Williamson1:18

       Mm-hmm.

   22. DMDominic McGregor1:18

       And it took us, you know, three or four months to really find out that we were actually in, on to something. And what was different between us and any other marketing agency, is we own big communities.

   23. CWChris Williamson1:29

       Mm-hmm.

   24. DMDominic McGregor1:29

       So we own big social media pages from Student Problems, SPARF, Love Food, uh, BFIT Motivation, uh, and we went and worked with brands on them communities.

   25. CWChris Williamson1:38

       So I'm right in saying that you guys have got access to about 400 million people, is that right?

   26. DMDominic McGregor1:43

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   27. CWChris Williamson1:44

       The total combined reach-

   28. DMDominic McGregor1:45

       Across Facebook and-

   29. CWChris Williamson1:46

       ... is about 400 million people?

   30. DMDominic McGregor1:47

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. Across the world.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. DMDominic McGregor15:00

      of, um... I guess you have got small population with TV, you know, you do find people who are very sedimentary because they're always on watching TV.

   2. CWChris Williamson15:08

      Mm-hmm.

   3. DMDominic McGregor15:08

      Um, but I think with what is the important thing about social is, um, it's the age of people again. The younger generation, these people are a lot more highly influenced. They're not as developed, they're not as, um, assured of themselves let alone th- their surroundings. So yes, I do feel kind of, um, responsible in that instance and I think more can be done to educate young people. But again, it's very difficult because they're in... they're young.

   4. CWChris Williamson15:35

      Mm-hmm.

   5. DMDominic McGregor15:36

      They've got a lot of things on the plate already.

   6. CWChris Williamson15:37

      It's interesting because you guys have got, you've got the access.

   7. DMDominic McGregor15:40

      Yeah.

   8. CWChris Williamson15:40

      Which is, from knowing what the company is about, I'd definitely say that everybody here, as far as I'm aware, in the company culture is an altruistic one.

   9. DMDominic McGregor15:49

      Mm-hmm.

   10. CWChris Williamson15:49

       Now, if that, um, sense of genuinely caring about people's wellbeing is to the contrary of what advertisers want, I guess therein may lie a little bit more of a difficulty. But certainly for me, it doesn't feel like coming into... the guys who make global trends and social media's office, it doesn't feel like I'm stepping into some underworld cabal-

   11. DMDominic McGregor16:12

       Yeah. Yeah.

   12. CWChris Williamson16:12

       ... of like people trying to desperately claw at young kids' time-

   13. DMDominic McGregor16:16

       Yeah.

   14. CWChris Williamson16:16

       ... and make them feel incredibly self-conscious online and, like, desperate for likes and things like that. There's definitely an argument to be made I think that, you know, Student Problems was born of a genuine care or a genuine interest in the topic.

   15. DMDominic McGregor16:33

       Mm-hmm.

   16. CWChris Williamson16:33

       Could you argue now that that's been monetized and is being used as a commercial vehicle? But the argument is that you're still making content that's even better and is still providing the same, the same end result for users.

   17. DMDominic McGregor16:46

       Yeah.

   18. CWChris Williamson16:46

       Do you know what I mean?

   19. DMDominic McGregor16:47

       Completely. And I think, um, with that comes massive responsibilities on the other side for us to be able to educate people. So we've recently done a, um, documentary around mental health on Student Problems where we've been... gone to Bristol University-

   20. CWChris Williamson17:01

       Mm-hmm.

   21. DMDominic McGregor17:01

       ... where last year there was eight suicides.

   22. CWChris Williamson17:04

       Wow.

   23. DMDominic McGregor17:04

       Like an ap-... yeah, like, a very high number of suicides.

   24. CWChris Williamson17:08

       It's the number one, number one killer of men under 40.

   25. DMDominic McGregor17:11

       Yep. It's-

   26. CWChris Williamson17:12

       Which is an, an absolutely terrifying topic.

   27. DMDominic McGregor17:15

       Yep.

   28. CWChris Williamson17:15

       But yeah.

   29. DMDominic McGregor17:16

       So, and you go to university, it's meant to be the best four years of your life and, you know, a lot of people, a lot of, you know, students are wanting to commit suicide. So we, we have a responsibility from that side of the fence to, yes, provide content which is entertaining and relevant but also to act as the voice of that generation, where we educate them on life, on the topics that they really need to know about as well.

   30. CWChris Williamson17:40

       Mm-hmm.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   It's you. …

   1. DMDominic McGregor30:00

      um, I got thrown out of Piccolinos in Old Village for stealing a bottle of wine from someone's table and shouting abuse at people. Wow. It was... It was a, a different person. Yeah. And, um, I said some mean things to, some ha- some bad things to a good friend of mine. Yep. And it was the first time I'd ever hurt somebody else. Yep. And the minute I hurt somebody else, I knew I needed to stop because I'm... That's not me. Yep. I could deal with hurting myself. I was beating myself up- Mm-hmm. ... and that I enjoyed that a little bit because it was punishing myself. A catharsis almost? Yeah. But I couldn't deal with that hurting somebody else.... I would, I would, I only got run over by a car once, you know, a couple of other things, and I really, really jumped when I was drunk. But I could deal with that because it was me.

   2. CWChris Williamson30:42

      It's you.

   3. DMDominic McGregor30:42

      It was me. But the minute it moved into me doing damage to someone I cared about, um, I knew I had to stop. And then I woke up that day, had a very, very frank conversation with Steve, who wasn't there that day, but heard about it, and I said that "I'm gonna stop. I'm not gonna drink again."

   4. CWChris Williamson31:01

      Mm-hmm.

   5. DMDominic McGregor31:02

      "Never gonna drink again."

   6. CWChris Williamson31:03

      So how long sober are you now?

   7. DMDominic McGregor31:07

      Um, 20 months.

   8. CWChris Williamson31:08

      20 months?

   9. DMDominic McGregor31:09

      20 months, yeah.

   10. CWChris Williamson31:10

       From that day?

   11. DMDominic McGregor31:11

       From that day. Never gone back.

   12. CWChris Williamson31:12

       Cold turkey?

   13. DMDominic McGregor31:13

       Cold turkey.

   14. CWChris Williamson31:14

       And what was it like the first couple of weeks?

   15. DMDominic McGregor31:18

       It's tough, because you change your life. It's not, it's not because of the alcohol. The first ... I always think this is funny, the first weekend I woke up hungover.

   16. CWChris Williamson31:26

       (laughs)

   17. DMDominic McGregor31:26

       I didn't go out ... My body, my body would take, needs to recover is ... So it was, it's the problem with binge drinking, your body gets used to this shock in its system every five days.

   18. CWChris Williamson31:37

       Yup.

   19. DMDominic McGregor31:37

       You know, it's, um, it's a functioning organism. It's used to repetitiveness.

   20. CWChris Williamson31:41

       Yeah.

   21. DMDominic McGregor31:42

       It, I woke up, I woke up hungover because my body was, it goes dehydrated because it was probably producing more, um, things in the liver, pancreas, to break down the alcohol, and it-

   22. CWChris Williamson31:51

       It wasn't there.

   23. DMDominic McGregor31:52

       ... it wasn't there.

   24. CWChris Williamson31:53

       (laughs)

   25. DMDominic McGregor31:53

       It's just like, "What? You all right, Dom?"

   26. CWChris Williamson31:54

       "What's going on?"

   27. DMDominic McGregor31:55

       "What's going on?"

   28. CWChris Williamson31:55

       "Yeah, we need some wine."

   29. DMDominic McGregor31:56

       "Yeah, we need some wine." Um, so that was weird. So the first weekend I felt hungover. So you don't, I didn't feel the benefits. It wasn't until ... And this is my problem with dry, dry January, you don't feel the benefits until like Week 6.

   30. CWChris Williamson32:07

       Yup.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Check it out. …

   1. CWChris Williamson45:00

      (laughs)

   2. DMDominic McGregor45:00

      Check it out.

   3. CWChris Williamson45:01

      Get it in there, it's tee, teetotalrunner.com, right?

   4. DMDominic McGregor45:04

      Yeah. Uh, I just talk about what I do and then the running. The running side of things has taken me all over the world, I wanted to go see some places with it. So I'm going to Lisbon next weekend to do a...

   5. CWChris Williamson45:13

      How many, how many marathons have you got planned? Is it like 10?

   6. DMDominic McGregor45:15

      I've go- I've got ... I'm doing 12 runs, one a, one a month, building up different sizes.

   7. CWChris Williamson45:21

      Like 5K, 10K?

   8. DMDominic McGregor45:22

      Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm doing a half marathon next month in, next week in Lisbon.

   9. CWChris Williamson45:26

      Okay.

   10. DMDominic McGregor45:26

       Then I'm doing one in Alloa, in Scotland, 'cause I'm gonna go up to Edinburgh. Great-

   11. CWChris Williamson45:29

       That's gonna be cold.

   12. DMDominic McGregor45:30

       That's gonna be really cold.

   13. CWChris Williamson45:31

       Yeah.

   14. DMDominic McGregor45:31

       And then I'm doing the London Marathon in April.

   15. CWChris Williamson45:34

       Nice.

   16. DMDominic McGregor45:34

       And then I'm doing Ironman.

   17. CWChris Williamson45:36

       No way.

   18. DMDominic McGregor45:37

       Yeah.

   19. CWChris Williamson45:37

       Where's the Ironman?

   20. DMDominic McGregor45:38

       Barcelona.

   21. CWChris Williamson45:39

       That's sick. That's the worst place there's-

   22. DMDominic McGregor45:40

       Just, just, just for the weather.

   23. CWChris Williamson45:41

       Worst place. Yeah, for sure.

   24. DMDominic McGregor45:42

       (laughs) So swim- so it's a couple, bit of a swim, bit of a bike ride, bit of a run.

   25. CWChris Williamson45:45

       That's amazing.

   26. DMDominic McGregor45:46

       Yeah.

   27. CWChris Williamson45:46

       But I mean, (sighs) you know, like I say, there will definitely be people listening to this that think, "That's not me. Like, I don't have a problem with, with substances. I like to go out with my friends."

   28. DMDominic McGregor45:54

       Mm-hmm.

   29. CWChris Williamson45:54

       "And that for me is what I want to do in my weekends." And that's sweet, but I said during a, a podcast that I did with the CrossFit guys that I think that around about 25, there's like a fitness menopause-

   30. DMDominic McGregor46:06

       Yeah.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:04:49

   Yep. And you know…

   1. CWChris Williamson1:00:00

      like you can have the lion's share of the night with none of the regret the next morning and none of the problems the next morning, and on top of that you can remember it.

   2. DMDominic McGregor1:00:10

      Yep. And you know what? If you drive, it's cheaper.

   3. CWChris Williamson1:00:13

      Yeah.

   4. DMDominic McGregor1:00:13

      'Cause you drive there, you drive your friends, drop off, you go when you want to.

   5. CWChris Williamson1:00:16

      Mm-hmm.

   6. DMDominic McGregor1:00:16

      And, you know, I've been out, I go out as much now as I did then-

   7. CWChris Williamson1:00:22

      Mm-hmm.

   8. DMDominic McGregor1:00:22

      ... and I have a better time. And I'm-

   9. CWChris Williamson1:00:23

      Sure.

   10. DMDominic McGregor1:00:23

       I completely agree with the point at 2:00 (laughs) -

   11. CWChris Williamson1:00:25

       (laughs)

   12. DMDominic McGregor1:00:25

       ... 'cause there's- there's- there's this moment, right, when you're with your friends, okay, and it's- it's, um, it's normally about 1:30, 2:00 where things deteriorate for them.

   13. CWChris Williamson1:00:35

       Yeah.

   14. DMDominic McGregor1:00:35

       They go from having normal conversation to just being a mess.

   15. CWChris Williamson1:00:39

       Just going off the hook.

   16. DMDominic McGregor1:00:39

       And it's- you sit there and you're completely fine, it's like, all right, I'm off.

   17. CWChris Williamson1:00:43

       This is a time relief, that's a time relief.

   18. DMDominic McGregor1:00:44

       Yeah.

   19. CWChris Williamson1:00:44

       That's a calling bell. So here's the- here's the next point, um, we did this discussion once I completed the six months sober-

   20. DMDominic McGregor1:00:50

       Mm-hmm.

   21. CWChris Williamson1:00:51

       ... um, with a guy called James Bailey who is from Basel.And he brought up this really, really interesting point, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

   22. DMDominic McGregor1:00:58

       Yep.

   23. CWChris Williamson1:00:58

       He said that curing an addiction doesn't involve going cold turkey, it involves the reintroduction of the substance on your terms.

   24. DMDominic McGregor1:01:05

       Mm-hmm.

   25. CWChris Williamson1:01:06

       So, can you ever see yourself in the either short, medium or long-term, reintroducing or attempting to reintroduce alcohol?

   26. DMDominic McGregor1:01:17

       If you can tell me one reason- reason why. If anyone can tell me the one reason why-

   27. CWChris Williamson1:01:22

       Be-

   28. DMDominic McGregor1:01:22

       ... I should have it in my body.

   29. CWChris Williamson1:01:23

       Okay. So, because alcohol and other substances-

   30. DMDominic McGregor1:01:27

       Yep.

Episode duration: 1:04:49