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He has worked as a mover, DJ, film and television actor. Rodrigo Taramona (Lima, Peru, 1979) has written for several media and has had time to set up two bars. If you are interested in technology and social networks, you will have seen some of his videos in which he gives advice on how not to become a servant of IG or TikTok. He himself recognizes that he has to fight his own battle not to succumb to the power of the screens.
Confess, how much time do you spend a day on social networks?
I spend a lot, but I spend more producing than consuming. I can spend 8 hours working on my cell phone, but I have timers. At 9 p.m. I always try to leave all screens on. And when I wake up I always like to meditate before picking it up.
What time do you look at your cell phone for the first time, as soon as you wake up?
I try not to be like that and I have to fight against myself. Especially if I’ve uploaded a video and I know it’s going to work, I sleep more restlessly and in the morning I have to make more effort not to watch it right away. When you are in a job that you really like and you want to know how the result is, it’s as if every day you write a book and see how it’s received: it has more to do with that. The dopamine part I have more tamed as a user. It’s a Skinner box, a user interface that has trained you to make a series of specific movements to receive specific rewards and that ends up producing a behavior that repeats itself even though you don’t want it to. You are stuck in a behavioral prison.
Any social network that you like the most?
I find Instagram very community and environment friendly. Twitter is a site that I don’t like, and TikTok is a social network that can be very dangerous but can also be the one that gives you the best content if you train your algorithm. This is like training your dragon: if you train your algorithm, you have a very powerful tool, but it’s very difficult to train a dragon….
You record your videos against the background of paper books, are you more of a paper or digital reader?
I read almost nothing digital, almost all I read are books: I try not to read a lot of blogs, what people comment on networks.
Children and cell phones, has it gotten out of hand?
I am a strong advocate of considering an age restriction on the smartphone. That’s my opinion and I’m willing to debate it, but I see no reason for a child under 14 or 16 to have a smartphone with infinite internet access. This is like a car and a moped: a car you can drive at 18, a moped at 14, so it should go.
A few months ago there was a problem with an AI tool, minors and pornography, how do we deal with these problems?
Laws always lag behind technological advances. The first thing we have to do is to realize that the genie is out of the bottle, it is difficult to control it. We have made a journey as a society, as a species, in which many things have been restricted from the outside, the state, rules, regulations…. I fear that we are entering an era in which restrictions and discipline have to be imposed from within. We have to start reflecting. That’s why awareness, meditation and self-discipline are going to be the most transformative forces in this era where technology has surpassed any governmental or private corporate control.
From the inside it refers to the user, not even from the companies.
Both companies and states have tools that will overcome any regulation or consensus. Technology is a very liberating tool, but we have to return to consciousness, to spirituality, which is a taboo word in a technological and scientific age, and to humanism. All the humanistic knowledge that was lost in the industrial age, now that we are moving into the information age, is the most valuable knowledge a person can have.
You’ve been an actor, you’ve moved house, you’ve had two bars…. How do you see yourself in the future?
At 44 years of age, I am here, this is my place. I have given myself to sharing the knowledge I acquire, in the future I see myself as a family man, father and husband. And then, sharing the knowledge with all the people who are willing to listen to try to create a positive impact. We have the best tools in the history of mankind, but they are dragons. If you tame them, you are a god, if they tame you, we are doomed to extinction.
Let’s talk about eating, what is the most important meal of the day?
Breakfast, I am very breakfast heavy. Coffee with oat milk or American coffee. And I’m all about toast, avocado, ham….
Apparently you like coffee, how much can you drink a day?
Wow, I try to stop, but I can have six.
How do you take it?
At home, American. I like coffee from Peru, Colombia… but here, in my brother’s coffee shop, they always have very good blends. I always joke with him saying that since he is a DJ, he is very good at blending coffees.
And what keeps you up more: coffee or your cell phone?
Very good question. Mobile and networking is what takes the most sleep away from me, by far.
When it comes to eating, what is your favorite dish?
I like Peruvian food very much, I am Peruvian. My favorite dish when I was a child was olluquito and mondongo, which is a kind of tripe.
Why do you give such sonorous names to Peruvian dishes? Olluquito, causa limeña…
I don’t know (laughs), they sound a bit playful, yes.