‘Second Life’ Looks at Parenting in an App-Obsessed World

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When New York Times critic Amanda Hess was told her baby had a rare genetic condition, her first instinct was to “Google [her] way out of it.” But instead of comfort, she found anxiety – a feeling that would come to define her journey into parenthood. We talk to Hess about how technology, including fertility apps and high-end gadgets, are reshaping parenthood. Her new book is “Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age.” Guests: Amanda Hess, culture critic covering the internet and pop culture, New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.5	From KQED.
0:49.8	Music From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
0:53.3	Coming up on forum, when Amanda Hess, New York Times critic at large, was told her baby had a rare genetic condition. Her first instinct was to grab her phone and Google her way out of it. But instead of answers, she found anxiety, a feeling that would come to pervade her journey into parenthood. We talked to Hess about how technology, from fertility apps to prenatal tests and high-end gadgets,
1:15.6	are both shaping and distorting our expectations of pregnancy and parenting.
1:21.3	Her new book is Second Life, Having a Child in the Digital Age.
1:26.0	Join us.
1:26.5	Music Having a child in the digital age. Join us.
1:36.8	Welcome to Forum.
1:37.9	I'm Mina Kim.
1:43.2	Amanda Hess remembers when her relatively positive relationship with technology changed.
1:45.3	It was when she was pregnant and having a routine ultrasound that detected a potential abnormality. I reached for a sense of control and grip
1:51.2	tightly to my phone, she says. It would not give me the answers I was looking for, but it would
	...

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