Having A Child In The Digital Age

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When NYT critic-at-large Amanda Hess learned her unborn child had an abnormality, she turned to the internet — but didn't find reassurance. "My relationship with technology became so much more intense," she says. She talks with Tonya Mosley about pregnancy apps, online forums, and baby gadgets. Her new book is Second Life: Having A Child In The Digital Age.

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews Daniel Kehlmann's new novel, The Director.

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Transcript

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1:21.8	Tanya Mosley. Today I am joined by Amanda Hess. She's a journalist, cultural critic, and now author of a new memoir titled Second Life, Having a Child in the Digital Age.
1:34.4	The book starts with a moment every expecting parent dreads, a routine ultrasound that is suddenly not routine.
1:41.9	When Hess was 29 weeks pregnant, doctor spotted something that indicated
1:46.1	her baby could have a rare genetic condition. What followed was a spiral of MRIs, genetic testing,
1:53.4	consultations with specialists, and like many of us would do, a late-night dive into the
1:58.7	internet for answers. That search led her down a rabbit
2:02.1	hole and to fertility tech, AI-powered embryo screening, conspiracy theories, YouTube birth
2:08.6	vlogs, the performance of motherhood on Instagram, and thread it through it all, an unsettling
	...

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