On the NPR TED Radio Hour, Sunday 22nd of November from 6pm

'Screen Time' Part 1

It's normal for us to be constantly glued to our screens. How are they changing us, and how will they shape our future? This hour, TED speakers explore our ambivalent relationships with our screens.

Host Guy Raz raises the curtain on a special two-part TED Radio Hour episode, exploring an uneasy moment in our evolution when our we are becoming more and more dependent on our screens.  

Cyborg anthropologist Amber Case says our technology is changing us into cyborgs. She argues we have become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of Homo sapiens.

Despite their powerful computing capability, our screens have no way of knowing how we feel. Computer scientist Rana el Kaliouby says that's about to change.

Rana tells us of her own experience of when she moved from Cairo to Cambridge to work on her PHD. It was the first time she was away from home, lonely and in a new place she was spending most of her time with a laptop.

Rana asks- What if our devices could sense how we felt and reacted accordingly like a friend would?

Pediatrician Dimitri Christakis explains how different forms of screen time affects kids and their ability to learn and develop.

He continues to talk about how different forms of screen time affects kids and their ability to learn and develop. He explores whether it is is possible to overstimulate a child's brain too young.

Today airstrikes involve generals dictating - and soldiers carrying out - orders behind screens. Strategist P.W. Singer describes how screens have complicated the nature of war.

Filmmaker Chris Milk uses cutting edge technology to create a film experience that immerses the viewer. He explains how virtual reality has allowed him to create the 'ultimate empathy machine.'

The TED Radio Hour, Sunday's from 6pm on Newstalk 106-108 FM. 

Listen back to Ted Radio Hour 'Screen Time Part 1' here