El Podcast

E162: He Built a Billion-View Empire: Now He Warns Social Media Rewires Your Brain - Richard Ryan

Episode Summary

Richard Ryan is a software developer and media executive with 20+ years in tech, co-founder of Black Rifle Coffee Company, and a creator whose platforms have generated billions of views. This episode explores how the attention economy evolved (post-2012 shift), why feeds polarize and extract time, and Richard’s playbook from The Warrior’s Garden to reclaim attention and privacy.

Episode Notes

How a tech insider who helped build billion-view machines explains the attention economy’s playbook—and how to guard your mind (and data) against it.

Guest bio:
Richard Ryan is a software developer, media executive, and tech entrepreneur with 20+ years in digital. He co-founded Black Rifle Coffee Company and helped take it public (~$1.7B valuation; $396M revenue in 2023). He’s built multiple apps (including a video app released four years before YouTube) with millions of downloads, launched Rated Red to 1M organic subscribers in its first year, and runs a YouTube network—led by FullMag (2.7M subs)—that has surpassed 20B views.

Topics discussed:
The attention economy and 2012 as the mobile/monetization inflection point; algorithm design, engagement incentives, and polarization; personal costs (anxiety, comparison traps, body dysmorphia, addiction mechanics); privacy and data brokers, smart devices, cars, geofencing; policy ideas (digital rights, accountability, incentive realignment); practical defenses (digital detox, friction, community, gratitude, boundaries); careers, college, and meaning in an AI-accelerating world.

Main points:

• Social platforms optimize time-on-device; “For You” feeds exploit threat/dopamine loops that keep users anxious and engaged.
• 2012 marked a shift from tool to extraction: mobile apps plus partner programs turned attention into a tradable commodity.
• Outrage and filter bubbles are amplified because drama wins in the algorithmic reward system.
• Privacy risk is systemic: data brokers, vehicle SIMs, and IoT terms build behavioral profiles beyond traditional warrants.
• Individual resilience beats moral panic: measure use, do a 30-day reset, add friction, and invest in offline community and gratitude.
• Don’t mortgage your life to debt or trends; pursue adaptable, meaningful work—every field is vulnerable to automation.
• Societal fixes require incentive changes (digital rights, simple single-issue bills, real accountability), not just complaints.

Top 3 quotes:

• “In 2012, you went from using your iPhone to the iPhone using you.”
• “If you can’t establish boundaries and adhere to them, you have a problem.”
• “The spirit of humanity shines in the face of adversity—we love an underdog story, and this is the underdog story.”