Progression to Analog

Journalist Kat Tenbarge and I discuss Ozzy Osbourne's son falsely accusing her of AI-generated writing, Survivor Stories Deserve Better , anti-Big Tech initiatives being funded by Big Tech, the poor handling of celebrity eating disorders, Meta glasses, and more. Keep up with Kat's work here: https://spitfirenews.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kattenbarge

We discuss "ugly laws", shadow bans, influencer snark (especially r/illnessfakers), influencers using sick kids for clout, child agency, state hopping by family content creators, the history of influencers , consumption and identity formation, “infotainment”, "Can we have an intellectual conversation on a platform that’s designed to mine our attention?", lolcows, autism and Tik...

Social media was once sold to us as "fun"—years later, the Big Tech leaders who sold us on it flaunt their authoritarian alignments. Gil Durán and I discuss his new book, " ⁠The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy"⁠ . We speak about what "technofascism" is and its origins; "The Nerd Reich" and its similarity to the Third Reich; the &q...

We discuss connection bloat, unfollowing, the 'timeline acquaintance', unread messages, ambient copresence, Instagram Close Friends, cultural obsession with quantification, the realm of the facial hyperreal, AI looksmaxxing apps, online checkpoints, shock of alteration/deletion, digital memory, and more.  Ruby Justice Thelot is a designer, artist & cyberethnographer based in new york c...

How is AI affecting our relationships? Our problem-solving capabilities? Our confidence? Steve Rathje and I chat about some of his recent research on AI sycophancy to explore these questions and more.  A preview: people HATE disagreeable chatbots; humans are influenced by flattery even if we know it is insincere; AI has a bias toward AI-generated text... Steve Rathje is an incoming Assistant Profe...

I speak with content creator Bella Dane about how to cultivate a learning lifestyle... we cover topics like the importance of curiosity, how to rethink your relationship with learning, the role consistency and systems play in our everyday lives, and more. Follow Bella on TikTok , Instagram , YouTube , and Substack .

We discuss the science behind analog hobbies, decluttering digital and physical lives, and more. Kerry Hurlbut, DNP, CPNP-PC is the founder of Pointed Positivity , a needlepoint wellness brand. She is also a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Philadelphia.

Shira Lazar is the Co-Founder of What's Trending  and the Founder of Creators 4 Mental Health . Creators 4 Mental Health brings mental well-being tools to the creator economy through individual support, community connection, and collective advocacy. Shira recently won a Shorty award for Creator Advocate of the Year ! We speak about her latest study on creator mental health, important statistic...

Adam and I chat about the commodification of identity, language trends for 2026, how language shapes our shared realities, technology's effect on conversation, the analog movement, the return of vibes, Dutch conveyor belts, and more.  You can keep up with Adam on: Instagram TikTok YouTube Substack His latest book, Algospeak , is available now... and he is currently writing a second book - working...

From founding BossBabe at 21 and coining the term “millennial pink” to a career in tech philosophy spanning companies like Snap and LVMH... Alex Wolf has spent years at the intersection of community, culture, and technology. In this episode, we discuss all things tech: her four qualifiers of human-friendly technology, tech's effect on everyday life, why it’s important to design responsibly, fashio...

New York-based technology and culture writer Tiffany Ng and I sit down to speak about all things ⁠Cyber Celibate⁠ , Neo-Luddism, whimsy, 'rawdogging vacation', chaining her phone to a wall for a week, ⁠HTML energy⁠ , and her MIT Technology Review article " ⁠How to break free of Spotify's algorithm⁠ ". ⁠Cyber Celibate⁠ Tiffany's ⁠Instagram⁠ (@tffanyng) and ⁠TikTok⁠ (@cyber...

To kick off the fourth season of Progression to Analog, Andrew Yang and I discuss his new company Noble Mobile - a mobile carrier which pays you to use your phone less. We also discuss: What motivated Yang to encourage people to spend less time on their phones Online polarization Parents’ screen addiction affecting their children  Three types of screen time AI’s impact on the workforce, especially...

I speak with Dr. Kevin J. Jones , Associate Professor of Management and AI Strategist at Indiana University Columbus, about the competencies we should be developing the AI age. Kevin and I met at World Summit AI in Amsterdam in October 2024, while speaking on the panel "Beyond the hype: Navigating the AI ecosystem to ensure best value for business" together. We cover the importance of di...

After I posted this viral TikTok about Tin Can (landlines for kids), I reached out to founder Chet Kittleson to learn more about the company. In this episode, we chat all things Tin Can , landlines, and what changes parents have reported in their children as a result of landline use.

In this mini episode, I detail my four principles of sociotechnical design. Sociotechnical design works to improve the relationship between people and technology, prioritizing joint optimization. I speak about psychogeography (the effect of place on our emotions and behavior), non-places, hypercommunication, and more. I developed these four principles over the last nine years, and presented them a...

Whipsmart Media and Get Started With AI founder Jonathan McCrea and I speak about the future of AI, how to close the gap in AI knowledge between big businesses and small enterprises, technology and communication, AI transformation and facilitated brainstorns, situated learning, tools like Stanford's STORM , ethical implications of AI, tips on making your way through the overwhelming digital world,...

Steve Rathje, Incoming Assistant Professor of Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, joins us to kick off season three of Progression to Analog! You may know Steve from his TikTok @stevepsychology (1M+ followers). We discuss the psychology of virality and why info spreads offline and online, the paradox of virality and why people share negative content online even though they cl...

I came across Swipe: Being Online 24/7 at McNally Jackson in lower Manhattan a few months ago and was drawn by the unique nature of the book. Swipe presents questions about the smartphone that the users may not have asked themselves, with a unique collection of images, phrases, and stories. The book is divided into five sections: SURVIVAL, SENSE OF SELF, HABITS, RESOURCES, and EXISTENTIAL CRISIS....

"I think we have a listening problem" -Stephanie from NYC (name changed) I interview six people, explore expert opinions (and share my own) re: why it can be tough to have difficult conversations today.

Can scrolling be good for you? Yes, if you take out the doom. I explore different perspectives on scrolling, based on Harvard Medical School research, and a perspective from a UVA Professor on ' hope scrolling '. NYC volunteer opportunities Boston volunteer opportunities LA volunteer opportunities Amsterdam volunteer opportunities London volunteer opportunities

From a ⁠Baudrillardian (versus ⁠Bostrum-esque)⁠ angle of simulation theory, I discuss why we live in a simulation, what that means in terms of everyday life, and how we can deal with it. "THE SIMULACRUM IS NEVER WHAT HIDES THE TRUTH—IT IS TRUTH THAT HIDES THE FACT THAT THERE IS NONE. THE SIMULACRUM IS TRUE." -Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (1981)

A year ago today, I launched the trailer for Progression to Analog. Twelve months later, I'm reflecting on what a year it was— speaking about Progression to Analog at conferences and universities across the United States and Europe. From Columbia University and keynoting AESC in New York; to re:publica and Tech Open Air in Berlin; to MOME and Brain Bar in Budapest; to World Summit AI in Amsterdam,...

I explore how phones have shifted the modern concert experience, as well as attending a concert in 2024 without documenting it. I also explore artists' and music lovers' opinions on the matter. Some of the references from the episode: The unexpected social consequences of diverting attention to our phones (2022 Princeton Psychology, NYU, and Princeton Neuroscience Institute Study) fallingforyou -...

Just as hostages affected by Stockholm Syndrome may rationalize their captor’s actions, we often rationalize inappropriate or manipulative behaviors related to screens.  This is a phenomenon that I call “coincé dans l’écran”, or being “stuck in the screen”.  

I explore blocking from a sociological perspective. References: ⁠⁠Block Party: How Blocking Someone Became a Dating Power Move⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Psychopolitics ⁠⁠   by Byung-Chul Han ⁠⁠ Simulacra and Simulation ⁠⁠   by Jean Baudrillard Episodes every Wednesday, welcome to season two!