
Commons Church Podcast Bricks, Babel & Your Smartphone - Jeremy Duncan
Jan 5, 2026
Dive into the intriguing link between creativity and technology. Explore how smartphones shape our lives and relationships, and discover the lessons from the Babel story about the perils of efficiency and uniformity. Find out how creativity belongs to everyone, and learn three practices to reclaim it: cultivating curiosity, being critically suspicious, and staying close to vulnerability. Join the conversation on using technology to foster connection rather than isolation.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Creativity Is Universal
- Jeremy Duncan argues creativity is intrinsic to all humans because we are made in the image of a creator.
- Creativity is not just for artists but for how we live, relate, and shape the world.
Smartwatch Over Smartphone
- Jeremy Duncan shares his family's decision to give their 12-year-old a smartwatch instead of a smartphone.
- They chose it for safety, texting and GPS without social media apps to delay smartphone exposure.
Smartphones And Youth Wellbeing
- Jeremy summarizes Jonathan Haidt's findings linking smartphones to social deprivation, sleep disruption, attention fragmentation, and addictive patterns.
- He notes these changes correlate with rising youth mental-health issues since smartphone ubiquity around 2010.



