#57 Left to Their Own Devices – A Conversation with Dr. Julie Albright

Julie Albright, Ph.D Digital Sociologist at the University of Southern California and a Board Member of Infrastructure Masons. We discuss her new book, Left to Their Own Devices – How Digital Natives are Reshaping the American Dream. The central thesis of the book is that the rise of the Internet and digital technologies is causing people to become untethered – from relationships, work, institutions, even society itself. This phenomenon is manifesting among Millennials most prominently, though the impact is touching later generations as well. We discuss what it means to be untethered, the emerging values of the untethered generation, how these changes are affecting how people work, live and relate to one another. Digital technologies are “recoding our operating systems” as people become increasingly disconnected from nature and traditional ways of learning. We also explore the impact on businesses such as retailers, along with ramifications of increasing AI-driven automation. Lastly she shares some of the positive outcomes of a connected society and provides a call to action.