Does leaving your smart phone at home make you feel panicked? Maybe its absence feels like a guilty pleasure. Today, a life without the internet is like a life without reality. We have taught our brains to expect connectedness, instantaneous answers and constant entertainment. We no longer get bored, or know how to. Most of us have spent over 10,000 hours online and it has changed the way we think, act and relate to one another. Cultural critic Douglas Coupland, novelist Richard Flanagan, and cognitive scientist Sally Andrews spoke to Adam Spencer about the ultimate brain teaser: have we reached a point of no return, and what have we given up without noticing?

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Sydney Writers' Festival

Does leaving your smart phone at home make you fe…

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