'Sorry Please Thank You': Technically, We're All Alone
Sorry Please Thank You
By Charles Yu Purchase BookPurchase close overlayBuy Featured Book
TitleSorry Please Thank YouAuthorCharles YuYour purchase helps support NPR programming. How?
Smartphones and tablets just need a flick of a finger to keep us updated about news and friends anytime, anywhere. As much as we're connected, though, we're also detached. That's a big theme in a new book of short stories by author Charles Yu.
Yu's stories are sad ones. They're techy, too. One story, "Standard Loneliness Package," is entirely about humans using technology as a way to buy detachment from the ordinary emotions of human experience — grief, heartbreak, awkwardness.
For all its advantages, Yu tells Weekend Edition Sunday guest host David Greene, technology has the power to make us lonely.
Related NPR Stories
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7zRZ6arn19nfXJ%2BjmluaGppZH52g5NwbG1wZWTAsL7RsmSppJWWwKZ506GYp6Ndrry2edOemqGmmZiurbjYZq6eqpVirq24jJqjqKaV