The digital ethnographer Michael Wesch on the dark side of social media, what we learned from Iran, and why the future of the web depends on human interests—not market interests.

As a graduate student in Papua New Guinea, Michael Wesch studied how the introduction of books and literacy changed government and society. Now, as a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, Wesch examines how digital media is changing human interaction. His YouTube video “Web 2.0…

My name is Patrick, and I’m addicted to technology. And I’m not the only one. This fact was recently illustrated by a trip I took where I had no phone, no computer, and limited (>3 hrs/week) of internet access. For a month. Try doing that right now. I don’t foresee a lot of you leaving your chairs and trashing your iPhone. But I’m going to try my hardest. Find out how.

My name is Patrick, and I’m addicted to technology. And I’m not the only one. This fact was recently illustrated by a trip I took where I had no phone, no computer, and limited (>3 hrs/week) of internet access. For a month. Try doing that right now. I don’t foresee a lot of you leaving your chairs and trashing your iPhone. But I’m going to try my hardest. Find out how.

The digital ethnographer Michael Wesch on the dark side of social media, what we learned from Iran, and why the future of the web depends on human interests—not market interests.

As a graduate student in Papua New Guinea, Michael Wesch studied how the introduction of books and literacy changed government and society. Now, as a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, Wesch examines how digital media is changing human interaction. His YouTube video “Web 2.0…