Familiarity Breeds Contempt (And Other Underappreciated Consequences of Digital Communication)

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There has been a lot of cultural discussion of the way digital technologies and social media contribute to things like political polarization and adolescent depression. But as I'll explore with Nicholas Carr, the author of Superbloom, our digital tools are also changing our ability to connect with others and our sense of self in less appreciated ways. Today on the show, Nicholas unpacks why the optimistic idea that more communication is always better hasn't panned out and how the speed and volume of modern communication is overwhelming our human capacity to process information and maintain meaningful relationships. We discuss why the "messiness" of pre-digital communication might have actually been better for us, how email has evolved from thoughtful letters to rushed messages, and why seeing more of people online often makes us like them less. Nicholas also explains why having different versions of ourselves for different contexts was actually healthy and the simple rubric for better managing our relationship with digital communication tools.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:11.6	There's been a lot of cultural discussion of the way digital technologies and social media
0:15.7	contribute to things like political polarization and adolescent depression.
0:19.6	But as I'll explore with Nicholas Carr, the author of Supermloom, our digital tools are
0:24.1	also changing our ability to connect with others and our sense of self in less appreciated
0:28.8	ways.
0:29.9	Today on the show, Nicholas impacts why the optimistic idea that more communication is always better
0:34.2	hasn't panned out, and how the speed and volume of modern communication
0:37.7	is overwhelming our human capacity to process information and maintain meaningful relationships.
0:43.4	We discuss why the messiness of pre-digital communication might have actually been better for us,
0:47.9	how email is evolved from thoughtful letters to rushed messages,
0:51.3	and why seeing more of people online often makes us like them less.
0:55.3	Nicholas also explains why having different versions of ourselves for different contacts
0:58.6	was actually healthy and the simple rubric for better managing our relationship with digital
1:02.9	communication tools. After the show's over, check out our show notes at a.com.is
1:07.1	slash communication.
1:22.0	All right, Nicholas Carr, welcome back to the show.
1:23.2	Thanks.
1:24.3	It's good to be back with you.
1:27.9	So we had you on a long time ago to talk about your book The Shallows,
1:31.8	which was about how Google was changing our brains.
1:34.0	This is like 10 years ago, 15 years ago.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Art of Manliness, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Art of Manliness and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.