The so-called “digital revolution”—like any good political revolution—promises not just change or improvement, but a great leap forward in how we lead our lives. Constant connectivity through devices and apps is billed as the key to happiness, freedom, control, creativity, leisure, authentic self-expression, material success, and fulfilling human relationships. But how revolutionary has the world of smartphones and social media really been? Is there also a dark side to these technologies? Do they perhaps enslave as much as liberate? Is the future they promise utopian or dystopian?

Join us at 7pm on Monday, November 2, in the IE Student Hub for a lively discussion of these issues. IE Berkeley International Teaching Fellow and Humanities Professor Eliah Bures will get the conversation started with a brief critique of digital technology, after which he promises you will either pelt him with your smartphone or abandon it in disgust.