Screen Time, Part I

Host Guy Raz raises the curtain on a special two-part TED Radio Hour episode about our ambivalent relationships with our screens. We hear audio from a Facebook press conference call-in which CEO Mark Zuckerburg describes virtual reality as a development that will revolutionize our lives — like the PC, the Internet and the smartphone.

Anthropologist Amber Case 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. Pediatrician Dimitri Christakis explains how different forms of screen time affects kids and their ability to learn and develop. Strategist P.W. Singer describes how screens have complicated the nature of war. Filmmaker Chris Milk, who uses cutting edge technology to create a film experience that immerses the viewer, explains how virtual reality has allowed him to create the "ultimate empathy machine."

Learn more or listen again to this week’s episode. (Part II)

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