What Are We Giving Up for the Convenience of Technology?

Nicholas Carr argues that shifting our attention to computer screens can leave us disengaged and discontented. He looks closely at factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, to uncover the hidden costs of giving software so much power over our lives. He argues that even though they make our lives easier, these programs are stealing something essential from us. His book The Glass Cage: Automation and Us draws on psychological and neurological studies that reveal how tightly people’s happiness and satisfaction are tied to performing hard work in the real world.