The Measure of Everyday Life WNCU public radio

Many of us sometimes scroll through the comments posted in reaction to a news article or social media post. How important is that and why might it matter? On this episode, we talk with Gina Sipley of the State University of New York Nassau Community College and author of a new book called Just Here for the Comments: Lurking as Digital Literacy Practice.

When some people die, no one comes to claim them. The death of people without easily identified social network ties can signal a different sort of loss, a loss for a society which comprises alienation and disconnection. On this episode, we talk with researchers Pamela Prickett of the University of Amsterdam and Stefan Timmermans of UCLA about their new book, The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels. 

What people now see presented on online platforms often reflects personal information about them, a situation which has raised alarms for some commentators. Might your personality affect whether you worry about data privacy protection and consequences for society? On this episode, we talk with Lisa Farman of Ithaca College about her work on this topic.

Traumatic loss, such as the death of a person close to you, can affect your everyday wellbeing in many ways. On this episode, we talk with researchers who have explored ways people can cope with such loss: Alexandra Early of RTI International and Caitlin Reynolds and Shevaun Neupert of North Carolina State University.

Parents often talk with family and friends about the roles of media in their children's lives, for better or worse. What can academic research tell us about what is ok for our kids? On this episode, we talk with Dr. Katie Davis of the University of Washington, author of a new book for MIT Press called Technology’s Child: Digital Media’s Role in the Ages and Stages of Growing Up.

The idea that we have more and more people on this planet has been prominent in recent decades but some researchers now project a future of declining population in some parts of the world, including the United States, which has implications for our physical infrastructure. On this episode, we talk with engineering researchers Sybil Derrible and Lauryn Spearing of the University of Illinois Chicago about a depopulated future.