Felicia Song is a cultural sociologist who studies the place of digital technologies in contemporary life. Having trained in History, Communication Studies and Sociology from Yale, Northwestern, and University of Virginia, her research is oriented around the rapidly evolving digital technology industry and how the adoption of social media and digital devices fundamentally alters the landscapes of family, community, and organizational life.
She is author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age (InterVarsity Press Academic, released November 2021) and Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together (Peter Lang 2009). Dr. Song’s prior research has included studies of expectant women’s online information-seeking habits and the evolution of “mommy bloggers” as social media professionals. She regularly speaks on digital practices, social media, the digital media industry, parenting in the digital age, and spiritual formation at universities and colleges, churches, schools, parent groups, and conferences.
She also serves as Associate Editor at Current, an online journal of commentary and opinion that provides daily reflection on contemporary culture, politics, and ideas.
Dr. Song lives in Santa Barbara CA with her husband and two children. When she is not working, she enjoys reading children’s chapter books, gardening, doing the NYTimes crossword puzzle, and daydreams about becoming a bass player.
Released in November 2021, Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age explores how our contemporary digital habits are both shaped by the existing digital industry and shaping our imaginations about how we relate to God and others, and how we inhabit time and space. This book uniquely binds sociology and theology together, arguing that both are needed for understanding how to live well in a digitally saturated society.
Latest news about my trip to the Vatican and speaking at the Plenary Assembly for the Dicastery of Communication.
Listen to recent podcast interviews on Mars Hill Audio with Ken Myers, Christian Humanist Profiles with Christina Bieber Lake, and Christianity Today’s Viral Jesus with Heather Thompson Day.
See recent blog posts on Current and Christianity Today’s Better Samaritan.
“Digital media has shaped our spiritual lives and churches in profound ways, yet we have few guides to navigate this new terrain. I have longed for a book like Restless Devices to be written. Felicia Wu Song compellingly examines the addictive qualities of digital media—its ubiquity and totalizing power. But her depth of expertise and profound Christian imagination allow her to go further than mere critique. She offers us practical hope in the ‘counter-liturgies’ of the Christian faith. I highly recommend this powerful work of spiritual formation to all who seek to live humanely and faithfully in our digital age.”
-Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night
I have been looking for this book for years. Dr. Song brings the top scholarship and the deepest Christian reflection to bear on the important spiritual topic of how we faithfully engage our devices. In this digital age, which requires new forms of moral and spiritual reflection, there are few topics that could be more relevant or more needed. This is a book I will read again and again.
-Elaine Howard Ecklund, professor of sociology at Rice University and author of Why Science and Faith Need Each Other
Engineers may build our digital tools, but we need wise social scientists like Felicia Wu Song to help us understand their wider impact. This timely bok not only illuminates the challenges of a society saturated by digital technology but also points a way forward with practical guidance for living faithfully in a digital age.
-Derek C. Schuurman, professor of Computer Science at Calvin University and author of Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology
Dr. Song unpacks a modern digital landscape that is cracked and parched–but she doesn’t leave us in our thirst. Instead, she extends her hand and guides us back to the source of living water by way of a well-trodden path she has traveled with her students throughout her professorship. It is a true gift to journey with Dr. Song toward a reimagined relationship with our devices- one where we’re transformed less by them, and more by Christ
-Krista Boan, cofounder of START: Stand Together and Rethink Technology
Finally, a book that goes beyond simply lamenting our cyborg-like reliance on soul-hollowing electronic devices….Dr. Felicia Wu Song offers us something unique: an alternative theology and praxis that doesn’t require the demonizing or rejecting digital digital tools. Interpreting our current technological situation within a fully embodied Christian framework that stresses our fundamental need for community, Dr. Song teaches us practical liturgies that lead to true growth within our current context rather than retreating it. Beautifully written, this is a valuable contribution to Christians navigating our brave new world.
-Samuel L Perry, professor of sociology and religious studies, University of Oklahoma
FELICIA WU SONG 