Secular Student Alliance's video: 2020 SSA Con - Finding Realness Meaning and Belonging in Our Digital Lives with Chris Stedman

Chris Stedman talks with Ryan Bell about the subject he covers in his new book, IRL (out on October 20, 2020 from Broadleaf Books). If you spend much time texting or chatting online, you know IRL stands for, "in real life." Stedman's book invites readers to consider how we use the internet to fulfill the essential human need to feel real—a need many of us once met in institutions, but now seek to do on our own, online--as well as the ways we edit or curate ourselves for digital audiences. The digital search for meaning and belonging presents challenges, Stedman suggests, but also myriad opportunities to become more fully human. In the end, he makes a bold case for embracing realness in all of its uncertainty, online and off, even when it feels risky.