Blog Post #1 - An Interesting CanCon Podcast!

About a year ago, I discovered CBC's 'Spark' podcast and have been hooked on it ever since! Essentially, the podcast discusses a wide range of issues that are present at the confluence of technology, culture, and society. Moreover, Nora Young, the host of the podcast, dives into the topics with great intellect and pieces her stories together in a really interesting way that often problematizes the ideology that technological progress is always beneficial (fun fact: Young was conferred an honorary degree from Laurier earlier this year during spring convocation!). I really enjoy the podcast because I often find myself directly relating the discussions to content I learned in courses such as CS 213 and CS 353. Ranging from topics such as smart cities to artificial intelligence (AI), I try engage with the ideas expressed on the podcast from a critical communication framework in order to broaden my knowledge on the issues that stem from the proliferation of digital technologies in our society.

Lastly, an episode that I find directly relates to the content we are currently discussing in class is titled, "Loneliness and Technology". The episode discusses how social media is isolating us and examines the irony that the "cure" to our isolation is... more technology! It also analyzes social media through what Baym (2015) calls a 'Syntopian perspective'— that is, how social media (and any technology) simultaneously enables and disables certain aspects of one's cultural milieu and, more broadly, of society. By adopting a critical perspective and highlighting some of the negatives of social media, it provides some arguments on how we can use social media more deliberately and use it in an empowering way. If you have the time, give it a listen!

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