#131: What Ancient Philosophers Can Teach You About Using Your Smartphone With William Powers

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2015

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our personal tech devices can be both a blessing and a curse. All the information we'd ever want is right at our fingertips, yet at the same time these devices can make us feel rushed and pressed for time while discouraging deep thinking. Well, my guest today argues that to learn how to navigate our techno-world, we should look to the insights of ancient philosophers and thinkers. William Powers is the author of Hamlet's Blackberry and today on the podcast we discuss what Shakespeare, Seneca, and Socrates can teach us about making better use of our technologies.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brut McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:19.3	We have a lot of distractions in our lives today with all the technology that we have.
0:23.7	You sit down your laptop at night and you think, okay, I'm just going to read this one
0:27.2	article and then an hour later, you're like, what have I've just wasted my life looking
0:34.1	at nothing.
0:35.1	I can't believe I did this and then you get away from your laptop and there's the cell
0:38.6	phone, the smartphone with all the the pings of emails and text messages and Instagram
0:44.0	and Twitter.
0:45.0	And then we got a periscope now and even know what that is.
0:47.6	I've seen a lot but I can apparently it's a thing now.
0:51.0	And it reaches a point where you feel like you don't have any control over your life
0:54.6	and it just it's overwhelming.
0:56.6	We were like, what can I do about this?
0:58.8	Well, I guess today makes the argument we should look to the past, particularly great
1:01.7	thinkers of the past, to find insights on how we can live a good life in the age of technology.
1:08.2	My guest is William Powers.
1:09.2	He's the author of the book, Hamlet's Blackberry.
1:12.0	And in it, he makes the case that individuals like Shakespeare, the row, they have insights
1:17.7	and wisdom that can help us manage technology in a way that we can be a part of our life
1:22.6	but not control our life.
1:24.3	So if you've been feeling a little frazzled by all the acknowledging your life, this
1:27.6	episode is for you.
	...

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