Episode 2 Tech It Up with Special Guest Co-CEO SingularityU South Africa Mic Mann
Watch Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 2: Tech It Up with Special Guest Mic Mann - Co-CEO SingularityU South Africa
Sunday 14th September 2025 / 21st Rabi ul Awwal 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Listen to Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 2: Tech It Up with Special Guest Mic Mann - Co-CEO SingularityU South Africa
Sunday 14th September 2025 / 21st Rabi ul Awwal 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Transcript
to dear listeners. It's 14:07 on this 21st day of Rabiel O 1447 AH which
corresponds to Sunday the 14th of September 2025. I'm Zad Plchies and with me in studio
are my co-hosts Nabia and Issa Plachis. Welcome to Level Up where we listen,
learn and grow inshallah with the Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's guidance and we
break down the week's news and talk about what really matters to young Muslims today.
Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548
or you can call in on 01854702. [Music]
Okay. So, we have a more tech education technologybased program lined up for
today where we will be taking a closer look at the much anticipated annual
Apple event and we will be interviewing co-CEO of Singularity South Africa
McMahon on their upcoming summit next month and
we believe that Issa has something he's going to share a bit later on in the show. Yes, I'm no expert, but I have a
few tips on how to detox from your devices. Oh, wow. How to detox from your devices.
Looking forward to that segment of the program. That sounds quite interesting, Isa. Yes, that does sound interesting. Okay,
so for now, let's get into some of this week's tech news. I see you have Issa
has a big grin on his face. What are you so excited about? Well, this week Apple had their annual event and we saw the
launch of a few new gadgets from the tech giant. Apple have launched the
Watch Series 11, Watch SE3, Watch Ultra 3, and AirPods Pro 3, the ones everybody
has been waiting for. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max.
And something new, the iPhone Air. The iPhone Air is claimed to be the thinnest
iPhone and smartphone on the market, which is 0.2 mm thinner than the Samsung
S25 Edge. Sure. It's crazy how thin they've made it. I believe it's um 5.6 mm. Hey.
Yeah, it is. They said it's they said it's as thin as a pencil. Can you believe a phone as thin as a pencil?
You might just drop it in your hand. I think it would be nice when it's not bulky in your pockets, right? But
I But we used to have quite thin phones before. I don't know if you remember like the flip phone, Motorola Razer. Um
I know I don't remember it was before your time. My type. No, I'm joking. I remember the brick
phones. Um my very first phone was the Ericson and then after that was that Nokia. So I remember the brick phones. I
don't remember the very very thin ones. No. So, we always do this like like loop. Um, so yeah, I think we're going
back to that now. Oh, okay. So, it So, it was thin, Isa.
Yeah, but you have an option of adding a Mag Safe battery to it, which makes it
thicker. So, then you see that's exactly what what what they do. They tell you it's
the thinnest phone and then you have to add some extras on and then you add on your um what's this?
your your case. Yes. And then that's a thick armor on it as well. So, but anyway, Apple will
convince you that you just need a one day battery. That's that's what you need anyway. So,
yeah. Well, you know that most people charge their phones multiple times during the day. So, I'm sure that's
fine. You know, if you add on an extra battery and so on.
Lisa has more to say. The iPhone Air has a 6.5 in screen, OLED display, and a 48
mgapixel fusion camera, which is supposed to be four cameras in one, and
an 18 megapixel selfie camera. Okay, that's interesting. And what colors do they come in?
Space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue. The the sky blue looks quite nice. Um,
is it something you would get? It would because when we when we got when we had
iPhones, this was like back in the early 2000s, we could only get black or white.
Yes, I think they had white. Yeah. And it was the iPhone 5. Yeah.
What's it on now? 16. 17. 17. Wow. Okay. So, what's the price of the iPhone Air? Isa, and when is it available from?
Okay. So, we're looking at a price of 25,999 rand and is available for pre-order with
expected release on 19th se September 2025 like all the Apple devices that
were announced this week inshallah. Apple also announced the iPhone 17, 17
Pro, and 17 Pro Max, but the public were not too happy with the price.
Well, you could buy a car for 25,999 rand. Now you're buying a phone. I mean,
imagine telling someone like 20 years before that you'd be paying almost 30,000 rand. Well, people they are like
the more you add on to the phone, it becomes like 304,000. I believe they don't even come with
charges now, isn't it? Yeah. So, there's just a cable. Um, yeah. It's like basic. I mean, we
used to get everything in. There was a there was earphones as well. There was everything. Now you have to buy it.
And now I think you even have to pay for the box. Sure. Okay.
Yeah. So I mean imagine 20 years ago we were still using landlines and you tell someone that you're going to be paying
30,000 rand for this phone for this phone that you you hardly use cuz we never used to use a phone
that much. But um so what's the main upgrades from iPhone 16 to 17?
Not not many but Let's go through it. So, um, so from the 16 to the 17,
there's a slightly bigger screen. So, you're looking at a from a 6.1 to a 6.3 in. I don't know if that makes a
difference in in a lot of people's lives. A2 in. Is that what you said? Yeah. A2 in.
Okay. Then, um, they have some new technology, a prootion technology as well as always
on display. Mhm. Okay. They now have the ceramic shield 2, right? I think it's still the ceramic
shield one, but they just added a two at the end of it. I can see Yan laughing in the back there because he knows it's
true. And it's three times better scratch resistant. Wait, does he have an iPhone?
No, he doesn't have an iPhone. Okay. So, we can continue with the um
not the minor changes, but we're not we're not hitting on iPhone like we're not No, of course not. The thing is we're
just pointing out the differences and what's in the market at the moment. Exactly. And you need to know as a as
someone who's paying I mean I know I can okay I won't I can't afford it at all
but someone who wants to buy a phone needs to know exactly the the the
changes the differences between this one and that one. Just like how when you do your car reviews but Exactly. Because now you're paying
almost like four or 5,000 rand difference from last year's phone. So why should you be paying that?
Exactly. Okay. So carry on. Okay. So So I said three times better scratch resistance. That's that's
something worth it. Okay. Okay. We'll add that to the the checklist. There's a new chip. So
instead of the A18, you're now getting a A19. Again, they just added one, but no,
no, no. There is some neural accelerator. So it's slightly faster.
Okay. So, it got a little bit of a turbo there. Then, uh, the 17 now has eight more
hours of video playback. So, it's moved up from, I think it was 22 to about 30 hours of video playback. Now,
the front camera. So, this is one of the main things. The front camera is now bumped up from a 12 megapixel to a 18
megapixel center stage. That sounds like a significant Yeah. Okay. upgrade. So um they're using this
uh uh thing called center stage for photos and video calls. It has ultra
stabilized video and dual capture. Dual capture. Yes. Oh, as in where you can capture at the
same time. Yes. Only now. They added it only now. Yes. Oh, okay.
So, so we saw this in the Nokia, what was it? 7 8 Nokia 7, I think it was. And I think it
was around 2018 or 2017. And they called it the Bosey. It was a ugly name. I
didn't like that name to be honest. But it's because you can you can view both the front and the rear camera at the
same time. So that's why they called it both. But we use it now on Samsung for the past few years, isn't it?
Yeah. But they Nokia had it where it was a split screen, right? So they had the front camera. Well, you could choose
front on the top and the the rear and the bottom. But um Samsung then refined
it. Yes. If you can say that. And they made like a picturein picture. So you could actually um change the size of the
picture in picture. Oh yes. So it it did uh it didn't have to be half the screen.
Yeah. And yes, Isa, we use it what what is it called? Uh director's view. Yeah. We use it for our reviews. when
we're doing the car reviews, we in the small corner there for years. So only now iPhone has introduced the
dual camera. Okay. Interesting. Okay. But um with that they've changed the
rear ultra wide angle camera also from a 12 megapixel on the 16 and they've replaced it with a 48 megapixel fusion
ultra wide. That's also a significant increase. Yeah. So the so so the two cameras and obviously the technology behind it
or the apps that they use for the the cameras is quite a significant upgrade.
Okay. The iPhone 16 currently starts from 18,499
rand and the 17 will start from 20,799 rand.
Okay. So So there's it. It's what 3,000 4,000 rand extra.
The iPhone 17 Pro has similar upgrades to the iPhone 17, but are still similar
to what we uh what you saw in the iPhone 16, isn't
it? The 16 Pro. Yeah. Besides the new cameras, and eight times optical zoom.
Okay. The iPhone 16 Pro is currently 22,4
999 rand. And for not not not much more,
the iPhone 17 Pro will have a price tag from 28,599
rand. When you said not much more, did you mean not much more in terms of the features or not much more in terms of
the price? Price. In terms of the price. Okay. Are you are you getting paid by Apple?
Not much more because it's quite a bit more. It's quite a bit more. Uh, but there's
there's also cool new colors. So, there's the cosmic orange, there's a deep blue. Those are two new colors. I
mean, we know on cars um if you're getting a a metallic color, you're
paying extra for that. So, maybe that's where the extra comes in. Maybe. Yeah. Okay.
Lastly, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has also not changed much besides the camera
upgrade through the iPhone 17 series, but the price has increased from 27,999
rand for the 16 Pro Max to 31,299
red for the for the 17 Pro Max. But that's from
Yes. So it's still more. Yeah. So as you add like more storage, more this, more that, more uh I care and
this and that and Okay. Yeah. All right. So if any of our listeners want to know if it's worth it,
right? Right. I don't know is I don't know if it was you or is who showed me a meme.
It said on this meme it said um the iPhone 17 is coming out which means the
price of the 16 will come down and I can finally afford the iPhone 7.
Okay, that's a bit farfetched because I mean there's a lot of that has changed since the iPhone 7.
Um, but unpopular opinion. I think after the iPhone, what was it? 5S. 5S. Yeah.
The Well, after Steve Jobs, I think they just lacked a lot of innovation and um,
lots of I mean, we just spoke about Nokia. Nokia haven't been a major player in the last 20 years.
So for them to have stuff on their phones um that Apple's only introducing
now means that they're still catching up in quite a bit. A lot of brands are like that. They
focus on different things. I mean um they were obviously looking at other technologies, the ear pods and those
type of things and maybe they're looking at their their other devices and they're not concentrating on the phones as much
as like Samsung say. Um but yeah,
I feel the same. The last few years there has not been much of a difference
in the devices. So if you miss this one, you can always get the next one in the
next year or two. You can always do that easily. Okay. And then what were the other devices that
Apple have launched in in this? Maybe just tell us the pricing. Okay. Watch Ultra 3 from 19,499
rand. Watch Series 11 from 9,699
rand. Watch S E3 from 5,999
rand and AirPods Pro 3 from 5,499 rand.
Okay, that's that's a lot. And the the earpods doesn't even have a wire like this.
But that's a watch. You're paying 20,000 rand for like
a phone watch. It's not even a time piece. We used to call them time piece. You know the f the
fancy watches. Then you pay like you're giving away your age.
Okay. Okay. Also in the news in terms of um uh tech
Yeah. Electric vehicles are regarded as tech, right? Technology. Well, I think all vehicles now there's
so much tech in it, you can't even jump start a car anymore. Um, everything is run by by a computer and I mean Isa
knows we only see infotainment screens that are like 7 in 6.3 in this
12 in screen. So everything is run by tech. So yeah, but I mean obviously with electric vehicles it's a bit more tech.
um you need specialized uh engineers to come out and service those vehicles. So
yeah, that was your point. Yes. Yes. No, that's why I wanted to know because it was World Eevee Day in
this week. Yeah. Um on the 9th of September in um Yeah,
we had World EV day. World electric vehicle day. And then in going from there to vehicles
there was uh but wait before you go to vehicles. Okay. The um no the electric vehicle
market, let's just touch on that quickly. The electric vehicle market has actually boomed here in South Africa. I
mean we just saw coming down. How many like BYDs did we see?
Yeah. And I mean last year you wouldn't even see that vehicle wasn't even available in the country and now all of
a sudden we're seeing so many on and when we did um the reviews of some
of the electric vehicles we actually tried to test it along the wrong long road from Johannesburg to Durban and
we've actually noticed quite a few of those EV stations coming up as well. Yeah, there is. I mean, people don't
realize that the EV market here in South Africa, we're very capable and we we
ready like for the EV vehicles. Even with ESCOM, even with ESCOM, because the thing is um
there's so many stations, like you said, you can go literally down the road and there's a station for you to to to
charge. And these guys, most of them, most of the manufacturers are actually installing um home stations for you. So
you don't have to even go out. And I mean if you can afford a EV, well these ones are a little bit cheaper, but the
other ones you're probably running solar at home and generators. So
Okay. And then also in terms of technology is gaming, right? So the 2025
MTN Shift gaming experience is on currently and it's deemed to be South
Africa's biggest gaming tournament and it kicked off on the 18th of May
online. They had some online and instore um events with the finals coming up this
week in store. Um they have it's months of competitive energy in center
activation serious prize money. I think it was about 250,000 rand worth of prize
money. Why weren't we told about that? And yeah, so it's across all the it's in
the malls across the country. And then this year's edition raised the stakes with the return of the EAFC
25 National Football Tournament and the debut of the MTN Beat Saber Challenge,
two national titles, one massive celebration of gaming culture. Let me quickly tell you all the um malls that
were involved. There was Rose Bank Mall where it actually started or kicked off. Then it went to uh Somerset Mall, Some
Somerset Mall, Woodlands, the Glenn, Table Bay Mall, Clearwater Mall. Then
the second last round of qualifiers was at um Capegate Mall. Okay. And now uh in this week, the finals will
be held in Canal Walk from the 17th to 21st of September. So if you want to get
down there to cheer some of the contestants because it's too late for you to enter, you can go through. Okay.
But yeah, the gaming community is we're going to miss out on the 250,000 though. Should we be cheering on other
people? Yes. No, but it's it's it's quite motivation. Yeah, but the gaming community has um
grown quite a bit. Hey, because um there is something else in terms of gaming. Uh
Toyota, do you do you remember the Toyota gaming engine which started in lockdown?
Yes, I do. I actually do remember that. Okay. I remember they started with um I think it was obviously like a Gran Turismo
style uh sim racing. Okay. If I'm not mistaken, the sim racing. Ooh, that is something
I'm not used to. Hey, I I can go into all of these. I've tried
many of these um uh simulators at some of these events that we go to that you
know they have that and I always say this time I'm going to do it. I'm going to make sure that I don't crash. And not
once have I ever been able to finish the race. And it's so funny because those arcade games,
those were so easy. Yeah. But these simulators, for some reason, I don't know, I also have trouble with it.
Um I think you had like a you have um relative who had a game that we played
and they had something that had, you know, like those boundary bars that when when you go bowling.
Yeah. He had something like that put in the game. I don't know how, but when I when
we were playing with that, then I managed to do that. Oh, so you didn't crash. No, I didn't crash. And you know, you um
when you're taking the turns, you break at a certain point and this and that, but with the other simulators, no.
Yeah. No. No. But Toyota's come quite a long way, I think, in the in the gaming uh space.
Yes. So, speaking of them, the Toyota gaming engine uh scores gold at the 2025
mark award. So just because you know I mentioned that they uh started in lockdown. Yeah.
They they it was 2021 I think. So they had Toyota
what was it? They the Toyota gaming engine engine has started. Sorry where
was it? It it evolved into one of South Africa's most exciting gaming communities. They when the world stood
still in 2021, Toyota leaned into play with stadiums MT and sports on pause.
TTGE was launched to give fans a place to compete, connect, and celebrate their love of the game. Today, it has grown
into a vibrant platform where esports pros, football fanatics, sim racing enthusiasts, and casual gamers collide.
From FIFA Thumb Wars and Gran Turismo battles like you mentioned to quirky mobile challenges, TTG has created a
space where everyone plays for the sport of it. So yes, they've grown quite a bit. Yeah. But as you say, um I don't know if
you can remember, but EA Sports, it's in the game. Yes, I remember that when when you were just talking
about that. But let's go for a break and when we get back I know Issa later on in the in the show is going to tell us
about his uh tips to detox from the devices and but straight after the break we're going to be chatting to Mick Man
from Singularity U South Africa
and welcome back to Level Up. If you've just tuned in, we've been
talking all about the recent Apple event and all the devices which were announced. And later on, Issa will be
sharing some tips on how to detox from those exact devices which were launched.
But right now, we have an interview coming up. Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548
or you can call in on 0118547022
if you have any questions for McMahon. So the Singularity Youth Summit South
Africa is an annual occurrence around this time of the year. Yes, it is. It's around October, September, October.
Okay. And I can remember you and I, Zad, and I have been attending a few online during our lockdown lockdown period. And
it's great to have them back in person because there's so much to see and so much to learn.
If you haven't heard of the Singularity U South Africa Summit, it covers topics
from AI, robotics, education, biotechnology,
cyber security and how technology can be used to solve some of the global
challenges that we face. Yes, it's uh very informative and I like uh that last part, some of the global
challenges that we face. Last year I saw the world's first lab grown egg being
cooked and attendees ate the animal free egg whites. Can you believe it? Yeah. Wow.
Uh there were also some fascinating talks on the future of education. Um but with us on the line to give us more
information about what to expect from this year's summit. We have McMahon. So let me just introduce McMahon. He is one
of Africa's most respected futurists and exponential technologists having
pioneered some of the continent's seinal technology projects as the co-founder
and CEO of Ubu which was formerly Africa Rare Africa's first metaverse the
co-founder of award-winning experential agency man-made and the driving force
behind the singularity U phenomenon Mick has unbeatable experience in digital
innovation he's is a thought leader in web 3, cryptocurrencies, virtual reality, and bleeding edge technologies
with unshakable optimism and belief in the power of exponential technologies to futureproof Africa. That's actually the
hashtag futurep proof Africa. So, uh, like I said, McMahon is on the line. Good afternoon, Mick, and welcome
to Level Up. How are you on this Sunday afternoon? Doing great. Great. Thanks for having
me. Thanks, uh, Mick. Um so for our listeners who do not know much about the
Singularity you South Africa Summit who've been living under rock for the last few years please tell us about it.
Sure. So, Singularity University was started by Ray Curtzwell and Peter Diamandis
um in around um 2008 and um all with the the goal to educate, empower and inspire
people to embrace these new technologies that are coming up, these exponential technologies that are on this incredible
growth curve so that we could learn how to use these new tools that are available to us and build the future we
all want to live in that's abundant. and and and democratize for all. And um
we've been running Singularity South Africa for the last 10 years for Singularity University out of uh Silicon
Valley really with how do we um educate, empower and inspire leaders and future
leaders to lead uh Africa in this new technological transformation. Because
when you understand these tools that are at our disposal now, you can really make better decisions as a leader. you can
empower yourself and you can create these new products and services that we seeing uh come out almost every day now.
So, so we've been running this this uh summit for the last this will be our seventh Singularity South Africa summit
and um we bring together some of the brightest minds from around the world from multiple countries to educate our
people on how to um understand these tools better and use them in their daily
lives. Yes, that's that's fantastic. I mean, you talk about using them better. Some
people are always scared of new technologies and um there's so much that you can do with these tools like you
say. Um so Mick, what can attendees expect to see this year for the for the
summit? Oh, so for our 10th year, we're making it a really special one. We're going to
be bringing um some some amazing speakers on artificial intelligence. uh
as we reach closer to artificial general intelligence, how do we plan for that and how's it going to change our
economies and the the future of work um we're going to be looking at artificial intelligence and leadership in decision
making in practical applications for your supply chain management. We're also
going to have a strong focus on robotics this year as we seeing now with this advancement and acceleration in AI.
that's these these new um this new intelligence is going to be embodying and imbuing physical hardware in the
very near future and we've got some humanoid robots and some dog robots that will be attending and being demoed. Um
we're also going to be focusing a lot on longevity and healthcare as we you know as at Singularity we try to teach to
have a longevity mindset. uh how do you um keep yourself healthy and strong as
this technology is progressing allowing us to have a much greater health span so that when you know we believe that
people born today are already going to live well past 150. So, how do you actually um use uh this mindset to sleep
better, eat better, um you know, look after yourself and not not have this
concept of self harm that's been um the narrative of like we think that you know
that that extra bit of sugar is good for us, but it's actually in the long run, it's not good for us. Yeah.
So, we've got the sleep doctor coming, Michael Brace, who's going to be analyzing our sleep patterns and
similarly how we did the egg last year. You'll be able to take part in a sleep activation in the metaverse.
Okay? And then people the next day on the second day will come up and be able to have their sleep analyzed by the sleep
doctor. Then we've also got Sia Ahmed coming from Dubai. She's the CEO of tourism and
VAR in Dubai and to talk about the future of cities and how do we you know uh look at um tourism and building
communities in the similar way that Dubai has been so successful in the last 10 years.
Okay. But is it um like restricted to a certain age group or is it to open to
anybody? It's open to anybody. We actually have quite a few uh parents bringing their
kids. Um, you know, we're quite fascinated to see that, you know, parents actually buy tickets for their kids to come and attend. Yeah.
So that they can be empowered and they come from all over South Africa. They they'll come from PE or Durban or Cape
Town um just to give their their their uh the youth that exposure in person.
But then we also have a a metaverse option which is a 3D immersive world that you can come and see a digital twin
of the physical summit. Um, and you know, uh, you can take part in games and
treasure hunts and digital expose as these little avatars walking around. Uh,
and we've made a hyperrealistic version of that avatar now. So, you can take a few selfies of yourself, come in as
yourself, and get the custom edition limited hoodie uh, for the summit. The
virtual hoodie. Sure. Well, I I I must say I'm very impressed, Mick, from from the years
that I've seen you guys start the metaverse into what it is now, cuz I've attended quite a few of these as well as
the um the media launches as well. And um and I'm I must say you guys are doing
very good work and um I like that kids are coming as well. Parents are bringing
them through because there is quite a lot for them to learn as well. Um Mick,
is there anything special that we should look out for um in terms of either online in the metaverse or or in person?
Yeah, so we've got we've got a big focus on leadership as it's the G20 coming uh
to South Africa about a month later in November. um we really have got a big focus on
what do leaders need to uh what sort of qualities and characteristics do they need to um engender to to lead us into a
bright future. So we've got people talking about uh leadership and ingenuity in an exponential age. Um VC
investment, how to find the next gladiators to invest in. Uh we'll also be focusing a lot on intention and the
type of you know when you when you are uh living your life not to just be stuck in your dayto-day habits and your
day-to-day thinking but really to think about how do you create that spark of energy that spark of momentum in your
life like almost like starting a car when you turn on that engine that ignition it creates that spark that can
drive you hundreds of kilometers. So how do you do that in your own life? And
we've got an amazing speaker, Jeff Cop, who's a biotech inventor, who's going to share some of his lessons
over the last 20 years on how did he how does he uh come up with new inventions,
how does he use intention to actually build his own life and to serve him and looking at nature um as a guide for for
um coming up with new ideas and new ways of um innovating and disrupting the
status quo. Sure. That's incredible, Mick. Um, I know uh when when I attended last year,
there was quite a lot of things to do and see and I missed quite a few of cuz
there was some stuff that was overlapping because you had the stuff on the main stage and then there was also
those like silent what do they call them where we wear the headphones. Silent disco. Yes.
And um there were there were some that were overlapping that I wanted to see how do we um mitigate that? like how how
would we be able to get access to to stuff that we've missed um during the
summit? So this year we've actually um we we've just made one side stage at the brakes.
Okay. So that uh there won't be that much overlapping and then there will be limited round tables in that further
area in the committee room 5 downstairs. Okay. M so that's just for a small audience of people that want to attend like a an AI
prompting workshop or a workshop on on longevity. Um but most of it happens uh
now not overlapping for this year and then on top of that uh if you have a
in-person ticket or a metaverse ticket post the summit we do a relive experience in the metaverse. So if
there's anything you've missed you can always catch it up uh in the relive experience. That's that's fantastic,
Mick. And then how do people get in touch with you? How how do does one buy tickets? Um how do they keep connected
with Singularity South Africa? So the easiest way is to just go to our website which is the the short URL is
susum.org susassummit.org
susassummit.org Uh and and then you can also follow us on any of the social channels like
Instagram or uh X or LinkedIn uh or Facebook.
Okay, that's or YouTube. Okay, so listeners, you've heard it. Uh it's susa.org.
Yes. Okay. Susum susummit.org.org. Okay. So, thank you very much, Mick, for
joining us on the program today. We wish you all the success with the summit next month and we hope to to be there in
person as well to witness. Thank you. You know the one thing I just want to end on is that we are living in
the most incredible time to be alive. We are at this inflection point where we're going to see more change in the next 5
to 10 years than we've seen in the last 100 years. So it's up to us to embrace these
technologies and to build uh the future we all want to live in. Yes, definitely. Future proof Africa as
you say it Mick. Exactly. Exactly. We Exactly. We got to do it for the the the next generation.
Definitely. Thank you very much, Mick. Um all the best and take care. We'll
chat soon. Thanks so much. Thanks. Bye. Cheers. Bye. Okay, that was very interesting. I'm
looking forward to that summit. And um now we're going to have a bit of a break and when we come back Issa will share
with us some tips to detox from your devices inshallah.
And welcome back to level up. If you've just tuned in, we've come towards the
end of today's program. But before we go, I'm going to share a few tips on how
to detox from your device. Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548
or you can call in on 011 um 854722
if you have any have any tips you would like to share. Okay. So, the first step
is to throw your device in the bed. No, I'm just joking. So, I don't have my
own phone, but I use devices around the house, mainly for school because I do
homeschooling. I play the odd game now and again, and I message my
grandparents, but most of my time spent on a phone would be to learn or do
research like I did before the program today. I wake up quite early around 5:00 a.m.
And my first tip is to make sure that I do not look at the screen as soon as I
wake up. I wait a few hours, maybe by 9 or 10:00 a.m. I will look at the screen.
When I do use the screen and it's still dark, I make sure that the brightness is
on the lowest, the eye comfort shield setting is on most of the time. Um, I am
in dark mode on the phone and on the web browser. I make sure that I always break
and put the device on airplane mode to make salah so there's no interference
before, during, or after I make salah. Before going to bed, I last look at a
screen about an hour or maybe two before I go to sleep. Sometimes longer. And
again, it's back on airplane mode for the night, which also helps with the battery life. These all help with
reducing screen time. But how I detox from the devices is I stop using it on
Friday and only start using it again on Monday. Sometimes if I need to use it
over the weekend, I do a two or three day or even a week reset if I can where
I don't use a device at all or look at any screen. It helps me reset, focus,
and it changes my mood and behavior completely. At first, detoxing is quite
hard because most people are attached to their phone. But just getting away from
all the negative energy and stories and time wasting, it can really help clear your mind and free your time to read
Quran, read a book, play outside, play with your family. So, this is just a few
of my tips as an 11year-old on how to reduce screen time and detox from your
digital devices. Alhamdulillah, that is good advice. Alhamdulillah. Z, did you help him with
any of that? No, I thought you did. Oh, okay. He must have done research like he
said to be on the actual phone on the device that he said he's detoxing from.
But then but then if he was on the device then he has to do that reset that he said. Yes. So no phone for what did he say?
Two he said a week. A week. I thought I thought I heard two or three days. No. Then he said a week. He said two to
three days and then a week. So or even a week. You just walked into that trap. I was not going to have a phone for a week.
I have to admit something. I'm I'm going to admit something. I think I'm going to do it. I actually don't have the phone attached
to my uh and you you can vouch for that. I really now I have it just for notes. Yes. Yes. I I admitted that.
But um I don't have the phone on me most of the time. So even if you need me in an emergency, sorry, I won't be
available. I don't have I don't I'm actually not even addicted to social media. Um
you do play the odd game though. I play the odd game now and again to de But that's on my phone.
So that's why you're never on your phone cuz if I try to phone you then no one can ever get hold of you.
Yes. But I'm actually offline. I I'm actually trying to get back online and it's becoming very difficult because you
almost get addicted to being offline when you've been offline for so so long.
But anyway, that was very helpful tips. Thank you, Isa. Alhamdulillah.
Yes. Um yeah. Shall we leave now? No, no, no. You said um there was
something that was playing on your mind on the break. Okay. Shall I share that because it's it's quite heavy. It's it's quite deep,
but I think it's it's pertinent to what we were just talking about about detoxing. Detoxing. Okay. So, there's something
that I saw like you mentioned on your phone because I'm usually checking your phone to play
games or checking out um things that you've screenshot on your um gallery.
There's this one thing I found on your gallery. It says it's a screenshot from Dr. Raymond Nichols. He mentioned he
says this, right? He says, "You were never meant to witness someone's final breath and then laugh at a Tik Tok. You
weren't built for that. Your soul wasn't designed to hold that kind of weight and
then move on like it's nothing. This isn't just about tech. This is trauma.
This is spiritual damage. We are overstimulated, underconnected, and completely shut down inside. We are
seeing everything and feeling nothing. And that should break your heart. Sure. That's that's powerful.
It is powerful. That's why I wasn't sure if I should mention it, but it has been playing on my mind for a while.
But it's so it's so true, you know, like there's a lot of obviously footage um videos and pictures that are coming out
like from Kaza that we see on a daily basis. And um it's traumatizing. It is.
It is traumatizing. Um and the more we see it, the more um the more trauma we
we we carry. And uh we don't realize it, but it actually comes out in other ways. Like
we could suddenly become aggressive and we don't know why. Or uh we could, you know, suddenly just break down and cry
and in the middle of a shopping center and we don't know why. because we're holding this trauma and um there's no
outlet because a lot of us are consuming the content and we're not actually
creating the content if that makes sense. So um the there's no way to to get rid
of the trauma but we consuming and consuming and consu I mean if you go on Tik Tok now or Instagram or whatever
you're going to see these videos you're going to see these pictures and stuff coming through because that's all you see on your news feed. I'm not saying
that it's it's a bad thing. We have to see it. It's happening. We have to realize the world needs to know that
these things are happening. But what he's saying also is we seeing that and then straight after that, we're seeing like maybe a a funny cat video or
something weird or something stupid and we're so desensitized. Yeah.
You wanted to say something. No. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean like the algorithm on Tik Tok. So you're seeing
seeing a video from Gaza and then straight after that like you say you see a funny cat video and
your brain does hasn't even registered what it's seen in that video and you're already laughing at at the next video
and I think it's very important I think maybe one of the next few weeks we do cover mental health and lifestyle we
should actually talk about this maybe get an expert in to say how we can I mean Issa's little detox tips is one
thing but getting uh actual professional in to tell us how to deal with this trauma that we're seeing on a daily
basis. Um that would be very interesting to know especially for our youth because they
are the ones who are continuously uh consuming all of this on a daily basis.
Yes. But alhamdulillah uh for another show and
to all our listeners for joining us on this lovely Sunday afternoon. So, we had a nice tech based program and then it
got a bit deep now. But, um, yes, and we also enjoyed Issa's
tips on how to detox your device. And I remember his very first tip was throwing your phone in the bin, even though it
was a joke. Um, we had a riveting conversation with Mick Man, the co-CEO
of Singularity South Africa, and we learned all about the new Apple devices,
and that you definitely can't throw in the bin once you buy those because those are very expensive. Please join us every
Sunday, inshallah, from 2 to 3:00 p.m. right here on Radio Islam International.
from myself, Nabiha, Zad and Issa. Enjoy your Sunday and we wish you a wonderful
week ahead. Inshallah.
