 This is JSA TV, JV Scott Okataya here at the infrastructure masons global member summit in Silicon Valley Joining me here today. I'm very excited to have Dr. Julie Albright the author of the just released book Left to their own devices how digital natives are reshaping the American dream Thank you, Dr. Albright for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Oh, I am so thrilled. I've been fascinated by your book Thank you so much for joining us here today. You are a sociologist focused on the Divergence a section the crossing of technology and behavior. That's right. Tell us a little bit about your background Yeah, well, I am approaching the subject from a couple different perspectives I have two counseling degrees a master's and a doctorate in counseling and also a doctorate in sociology So I'm really looking at the broad sociological changes that are happening in society And then I'm putting on my counseling hat to think about how it impacts us on the ground in terms of people their mental health Their relationships how they are changing in the workforce and in all these kinds of things And I really I just found this book so fascinating and touching on things that are so Hyper relevant today. We're talking about folks who are engaging in this untethered living Can you tell us a little bit about this? Yeah, so that's the main cornerstone of the book is the idea that we're coming untethered young people particularly digital natives are unhooking from things that Other generations did routinely things like getting married or buying a home or having children or Staying at a job for 35 years that people would do all the time and instead they are hyper attached to digital technologies And I'm looking at the difference that makes growing up digital or as a young adult or when you're in the workforce What changes are happening as a result of unplugging from these stabilizing social structures and kind of building your house on sand in a way Where you're hyper attached and and always on to things like social media and Instagram for example I love that building your house on sand that that definitely describes this feeling of your Structure things that you you know and hold dear all sort of fading away and and folks instead Walking around unaware of what's happening around them and really just on their phones and and on their Instagrams, etc. And really Unattached to to what we'll say is reality versus virtual reality. Yeah So what are some of the effects of living in this untethered life? Yeah, well, I want to also first say that I'm not trying to be Amish where we want to throw out all our devices So some people might think it's an indictment against it devices or against social media and it's fun to do these things Let's let's just admit it's fun to text It's fun to post on social media and Facebook and Instagram and things like that and so I'm not against that It's just that we're sort of out of balance I would say out of balance with our own bodies with our embodied lives out of balance with nature and going outside You know for example only six percent of kids are playing outside at all anymore and we're seeing some Some implications for these things, you know We've got anxiety going through the roof and depressions and physical things like obesity and diabetes and whatnot So I really explore that and think about how we need to sort of re-tether ourselves to something and you know Get back in our our bodies and our tactility and our senses that are really stripped away in this digital environment We're really only looking at visual things or auditory things But there's a whole raft of experiences that are sort of getting getting written off and it's not really healthy for us in the Long run. No, I absolutely see this and even in today's headline you had the fourth death this month at at the Grand Canyon folks taking selfies and not aware of their environments and Yes, this was just one headline. I caught walking in today Yeah, and just scares me at how vulnerable we make ourselves by not being aware of our Environment society and the funny thing is too people are walking in front of cars They're trying to put lights in the sidewalk now So people see the flashing lights rather than in front of them because they're looking down So people are trying to sort of adapt to this But the idea also is you're in your own little bubble world And if you're in an airport or you're in a coffee shop or something You're sort of writing off those kismet moments those moments of surprise or or Just the timing where you might have met someone next to you But because you have your earbuds in and you're in this virtual world You're missing out on the things around you that might have led to some new and and maybe interesting experiences Yeah, not just communicating with others, but even your own imagination, you know, we're daydreaming. Is that is that a thing? Yeah, yeah, and that's the thing going out in nature. For example, the research shows it gives your time your brain time to rest So when we're focused on social media focused on texting or focus on tasks all the time Which we are increasingly your brain is always working working like working over time That's the stress hormones that start and everything else Going out in nature for example without a device Allows your eyes to look around and wander and it allows your brain to have what they call diffuse attention So you calm down and these are the experiences that are missing in modern life So that's you know, it's sort of a tonic for our over-civilized lives So we just have to find ways to bring these experiences back in to our repertoire of experiences in life Yeah, and for us. I am members infrastructure Mason's members were technologists at heart Do you have any words of advice for us? How do we strike this balance? Yeah? Well, I would say, you know, not only technologists, but also fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and you know Professors and and all these think bosses. So I would say start by demonstrating or modeling the behaviors You know, if you're gonna sit down with your family, let's have a secret space where there's no devices over dinner or perhaps in a meeting so you're not Multitasking because you're not really focused on anything fully is what they're finding out So this idea of maybe starting to set some examples of how to set a device aside And have lunch or dinner with someone where you really pay attention and focus and listen And you know, it'll make a huge difference in relationships and how you feel and everything else Yeah, and certainly this balance needs to be struck You gave that example in the book of the 17 year old who who actually killed herself because her parents tried to restrict her from Facebook And it just shows how distorted are Yeah So, thank you so much Dr. Albright, thank you so much for your time today for our viewers who want to learn more just released Definitely definitely recommend it is the left to their own devices How digital natives are we shaping the American dream now on Amazon? That's it from the floor of I Mason's Global Member Summit here in Silicon Valley. I'm Jamie Scott of Kataya Happy networking