Hungry Ghosts in the Machine will discuss the ways in which social and other digital media utilize nostalgia to heighten anxiety, depression and alienation then offer fleeting cures that ultimately lead to a cycle of longing and, at most, only temporary satiation. It will finally be stated that wellbeing and spiritual practice freed of the compulsive aspect of social media use might form a useful role in a wider movement aimed at fostering healthy communities.

‘… if Srnicek is the best Marxist thinker of the data economy, Watson is—dare I say it?—the best Marxist thinker of the culture of data.’ — Conrad Hamilton (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at East China Normal University.