One of the recurring themes on this show has been our evolving relationship with technology.

I keep returning to this topic because I really do think that technology has transformed how we relate to each other and to the world around us.

Some of these changes are obvious and some of them are more subtle.

The subtle changes are especially interesting to me because they have more to do with our inner lives

and how they've been distorted by the internet and social media in particular.

We've done a few episodes on related topics like the self and authenticity

and those conversations were mostly about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.

But we haven't really had a conversation about the history of self creation

and that history is essential to know if we want to make sense of the impact digital technology is having on us today.

I'm Sean Elling and this is The Grey Area.

Today's guest is Tara Isabella Burden.

She's the author of a new book called Self Made, creating our identities from DaVinci to Kardashian.

And incidentally, she's a former colleague of mine at Box.

Tara is someone with deep and wide-ranging interests.

She's a cultural critic and an Oxford-educated theologian who brings that sensibility to every topic she touches.

And this book is a wonderful example of that.

It's a cultural history of self creation from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment all the way up to the digital era.

And it makes a compelling case that something fundamental shifted in the 17th century.

It was, in her view, the beginning of a turn away from collective identities towards a more individualistic mindset.

It is a fascinating story and it helped me better understand how social media has supercharged our need for authenticity.

We started by discussing why she wanted to write the book in the first place.

My doctoral research was in dandism and theology and the idea of creating one's life as a work of art and to a lesser extent artistic creation

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