We find ourselves surrounded by a technological atmosphere today. The devices and media that we consume are so integrated into our lives that we often don’t even notice their presence. Moreover, we don’t consider how these digital tools are influencing us as people and as communities. My guest on today’s show is Felicia Wu Song and she shares much wisdom and insight on this issue through her book Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age.
Felicia Wu Song (Ph.D., University of Virginia) is a cultural sociologist of media and digital technologies, currently serving as professor of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Her publications include Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together, and articles in such scholarly journals as Gender & Society and Information, Communication & Society.
Show Notes
Felicia helps us to understand what it means to live in a technological atmosphere.
There are two questions that we need to consider with the use of our devices: “What kind of people are we becoming with personal technologies in hand? And who do we really want to be?”
We discuss the growing technologies of AI and consider bioethics in regards to them.
"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal (I mistakenly attributed this quote to Kiekegaard in the episode)
Resources
Buy Felicia Wu Song’s book Restless Devices from the publisher or one of the retailers below:
Visit Felicia’s website to learn more about her work.
Read my article on digital minimalism.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
The Soul in Cyberspace by Douglas Groothuis
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Subscribe and Connect
Follow Aaron on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at @aaronmshamp.
Support This Podcast
PayPal: https://paypal.me/AaronShamp?locale.x=en_US
Venmo: @AaronShamp
Cash App: $AaronShamp