Factory Settings Podcast

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, sit down to discuss the joys and fears of new parenthood. They discuss being in the newborn bubble and deciding to take time and space just for their new family unit, Jeren's fears about who he was going to be after the baby, Bridget dealing with the hyper-…

This week Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss parenting. They talk about how they were raised and what they learned from their parents, which parent they take after, and how they never really expected to become parents themselves. They also cover their relationships with their fathers…

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, an associate marriage & family therapist and recovery coach, sit down to discuss where the idea for a podcast about “factory settings” came from. It began when Bridget entered the culture wars and started noticing all the things that she took for granted, and beliefs that she'd never really evaluated. Their conversation covers what factory settings are and how you won't even know what you take for granted about the culture you grew up in until you start examining other cultures. They also discuss seeing a general lack of compassion for someone else's worldview in today’s society, being able to put yourself into position to have your ideas challenged, confirmation bias and what happens when you're forced to confront something that doesn't align with your world view, why it's easier to live in tribal oblivion, when everything thinks they're on the right side of history, and the hyper politicization of everything and everyone.

This week’s questions:

* What do you believe about yourself?

* What do you want to get out of this podcast?

* What do you consider a meaningful life?

Subscribe to Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy to submit questions, suggest topics and access all Factory Settings Bonus Episodes.

Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Factory Settings is a podcast exploring politics, culture, relationships, mental health, addiction, and media, through the lens of how our built-in biases affect the way we consume information and form opinions.

Episode One drops August 16th!

Factory Settings are the default positions. They're less about conscious choices and more about the operating system that was installed when you were a child. Think of your body as the hardware in a computer and your factory settings as the initial operating system. It's all the things that are absorbed throughout your formative years and into adolescence.

These settings are acquired from the world around you, often from your parents and rarely with your consent. From geography, family of origin and socioeconomic status to political affiliations, relationships and education, all of these things play a part in creating your factory settings. And boy, are they hard to change.

So what happens when those default programs become interrupted by experiences that run counter to our built in narratives? Factory Settings is a podcast exploring politics, culture, relationships, mental health, addiction, and media, through the lens of how our built-in biases affect the way we consume information and form opinions.

Every worldview has an origin story.

Subscribers will receive access to the Factory Settings monthly Q&A podcast where Bridget and Jeren answer select questions from community members. They will also have the ability to suggest topics.