Felicia Wu Song- Author of Restless Devices
7:00pm – 9:00pm- Jackson Autotorium
Felicia Song is a cultural sociologist who studies the place of digital technologies in contemporary life. Having trained in History, Communication Studies and Sociology from Yale, Northwestern, and University of Virginia, her research is oriented around the rapidly evolving digital technology industry and how the adoption of social media and digital devices fundamentally alters the landscapes of family, community, and organizational life.
She is author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age (InterVarsity Press Academic, released November 2021) and Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together (Peter Lang 2009). Dr. Song’s prior research has included studies of expectant women’s online information-seeking habits and the evolution of “mommy bloggers” as social media professionals.
She regularly speaks on digital practices, social media, the digital media industry, parenting in the digital age, and spiritual formation at universities and colleges, churches, schools, parent groups, and conferences. Dr. Song’s expertise has been sought by a wide range of organizations including BioLogos, The Vatican, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Trinity Forum, Thinq Culture Summit, National Association of Evangelicals, Notre Dame University, Fuller Theological Seminary, Calvin University, and Asian American Christian Collaborative.
Dr. Song lives in Portland Oregon with her husband and two teenaged children. When she is not working, she enjoys trying new breakfast-baking recipes, sewing and upcycling clothes, doting over plants and gardening, doing the NYTimes crossword puzzle, and daydreams about becoming a bass player.
Released in November 2021, Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age explores how our contemporary digital habits are both shaped by the existing digital industry and shaping our imaginations about how we relate to God and others, and how we inhabit time and space. This book uniquely binds sociology and theology together, arguing that both are needed for understanding how to live well in a digitally saturated society.