We Have Too Many Friends Online with Ruby Justice Thelot

We Have Too Many Friends Online with Ruby Justice Thelot

Author: Caitlin Begg July 27, 2026 Duration: 55:50

We discuss connection bloat, unfollowing, the 'timeline acquaintance', unread messages, ambient copresence, Instagram Close Friends, cultural obsession with quantification, the realm of the facial hyperreal, AI looksmaxxing apps, online checkpoints, shock of alteration/deletion, digital memory, and more. 

Ruby Justice Thelot is a designer, artist & cyberethnographer based in new york city. He is a Professor of Design and Media studies at NYU and the author of A Cyberarchaeology of Checkpoints. 

His recent essay for Mozilla Foundation, Everyone Has Too Many "Friends" Online, can be read here. 

Ruby's Instagram

Ruby's Substack

Ruby's YouTube


There's a quiet but persistent feeling that something essential is getting lost in our digital shuffle. Progression to Analog is a space to examine that feeling, hosted by sociologist and Authentic Social founder Caitlin Begg. This isn't a nostalgic retreat, but a thoughtful exploration of how reintroducing analog elements-whether in communication, work, or leisure-can reshape our daily experience toward something more intentional and, ultimately, more human. Each conversation in this podcast moves beyond simple tool-swapping to ask deeper questions about presence, connection, and the architecture of our attention. You'll hear discussions that weave sociological insight with practical reflection, considering how the textures of a less-mediated life can influence our relationships, creativity, and sense of self. New episodes arrive every Monday, offering a regular pause to consider the pace and quality of the everyday. Tune in for a series that treats the analog not as an antiquated concept, but as a meaningful progression.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 46

Hypercommunication
Podcast Episodes
Anemoia: Nostalgia For A Time You've Never Known [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:41
I felt an inexplicable feeling a few weeks ago, and turned to GPT-4 to help explain it. I was feeling nostalgia for a time I've never known, a longing for an unexperienced past. GPT identified this as "anemoia". In this…
A People's History of Tech with New York-based Sara M. Watson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:45
Radical futurist, tech critic, independent industry analyst, and interdisciplinary researcher Sara M. Watson and I discuss "A People's History of Technology" in this episode, which she co-founded and curates (with Emily…
A Sociotechnical Approach to AI, Sales, and Communication [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:32
One issue organizations are dealing with right now: how do we move AI from a buzzword to something that actually impacts our organization? Along these lines, in this episode I discuss the importance of a sociotechnical (…
No Phones in the Bedroom? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:21
I discuss why you should stop checking your phone when you wake up, benefits to ditching your smartphone in the bedroom, sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness, how I decreased my screen time by 65%, and more. Some referenc…
Human-Centric Enterprise AI with Helsinki-based Dr. Anna Lahtinen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:41
In this episode, I discuss practical sociotechnical approaches to enterprise artificial intelligence adoption (especially for small and medium sized businesses) with Helsinki-based Dr. Anna Lahtinen. Curiously, artificia…