We are in the midst of a digital revolution that is transforming the basic modes of life, and it’s essential that we talk about it together. It’s only been a little over a decade since the smartphone debuted, yet these tiny computers that we carry everywhere in our pockets have fundamentally changed how we operate within the world and around others. There’s been an explosion in literature and research about our new technologies. Many of these studies offer important insights into how our technologies are affecting our health, changing our behavior, manipulating our moods and emotions, influencing our politics, and shaping our society at large. But these topics have yet to become mainstream. Our Mediated Lives (OML) is a podcast that aims to engage the public in conversations about new media and technology and promote the democratic process by generating curiosity about the intersection of new media and our lives. The main reason for making OML a podcast series is to communicate ideas about new media in academia in a digestible and accessible way. The goal of OML is to foster public discourse about new media by providing short-form podcasts that spark conversations instead of providing answers.

Episode 2, “Floating Alone in Cyberspace,” poses the questions: How do our phones affect our relationships with one another? How do they affect our sense of empathy? Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT whose research revolves around human-technology interaction, joins host Kyle Kim for a discussion.