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Authentic Social

@authenticsocial

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Authentic Social is an applied research lab at the intersection of sociology and technology. Founded in 2016 by @caityb. NYC x AMS

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@caityb opened @brainbarhu, Europe’s largest festival on the future, on 26 September 2024 in Budapest. The keynote focused on designing a sociotechnical future, through debunking popular myths about technology (paper tigers).

“GOING BACK TO NORMAL? Why the analog way is a progression, rather than a regression?”.

@sidmoorthy was a wonderful host!

Some of the myths busted during the session:
MYTH: Digital life is a constant progression that always leads to improvement.
MYTH: Notification culture doesn’t affect me—I can handle constant multitasking.
MYTH: A digital detox is the quick fix for screen overload.
MYTH: At work, it’s ALWAYS more efficient to ‘ping’ someone rather than pick up the phone.
MYTH: Being online constantly keeps me more informed and connected.

Thank you @mircsisipos, @kirakaragits, & the entire Brain Bar team for such an incredible conference!

We are designing a sociotechnical future. caitlinbegg.com

@progressiontoanalog taken in Budapest, Hungary by @authenticsocial

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2 years ago

Joint talk with @harvardhbs professor @amycedmondson at @re_publica in Berlin! 28 May 2024 — “FREEDOM TO FAIL” #RightKindOfWrong #rp24

“Edmondson and Begg will explore the paradox of failure in the context of technological advancements, highlighting how digital platforms and AI can both facilitate and hinder equitable opportunities for failure and growth.

They’ll address the critical role of organizational culture in creating spaces where failure is not merely tolerated but is seen as a vital component of learning and discovery.” taken in Berlin, Germany by @authenticsocial

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2 years ago

@dutchdesignweek @piet_hein_eek

Excited to announce my seminar at Dutch Design Week 2026, “Stuck in the Screen? In Defense of Drifting”, hosted at Piet Hein Eek. Friday 23 October 18:00-20:00, free admission.

From the DDW26 programme website (link also in bio):

92% of people check their phone upon waking; only 5% sleep with their phone outside the bedroom. In this evening session, Caitlin Begg expands on her Editor’s Pick TEDxPrincetonU talk with new original research and screenshots (a DDW-only twist).

In Defense of Drifting
With real data around accelerated communication’s influence on everyday life, love, and work, attendees can learn more about hypercommunication and how to work both WITH and AGAINST it (depending on the circumstance). Caitlin will help you understand how drift and sociotechnical design can work to counter our society’s tech-heavy incentives. Often the solutions for hypercommunication and excessive screen time involve dumbphones or going off the grid, both perhaps preferable but very impractical. Only 35% of people in her recent study said they could easily go 24 hours without a smartphone, so why are conversations catered to this? Leave with a new perspective.

The Session
Join us for a Friday evening session at Piet Hein Eek—Caitlin Begg will be presenting for the first 45 minutes, followed by Q&A and mingling. Participants will also have the ability to contribute to ongoing research if they choose. Caitlin has experience advising MillerKnoll (parent company of Herman Miller, HAY, etc.), Salesforce, and many other organizations on sociotechnical design strategy. Based in New York, she researches tech’s effect on everyday life, love, and work... this combination makes for a unique, valuable, and also entertaining session.

#dutchdesignweek #dutchdesign #sociology #hypercommunication #sociotechnicaldesign by @authenticsocial

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12 days ago

hypercommunication.com by @authenticsocial

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22 days ago

My TEDxPrincetonU talk is now live on YouTube! It received an “Editor’s Pick” designation, reserved for ~1% of all talks. Shortlink is bit.ly/caitlinbeggtedxprincetonu, link also in bio

I delivered the talk on 28 March 2026, and it is based on data from my recent study of 1,067 Americans called “Stuck in the Screen?”—re: technology’s effect on communication and relationships.

‼️ Description of the talk from TEDx:

Are we stuck in the screen, or does our smartphone usage tell a more complicated story? Drawing on ten years of research, including her 2026 study, Caitlin Begg examines how always-on expectations reshape work, relationships, and social life.... and how the dérive may help.

Caitlin Begg is the founder of Authentic Social and a sociologist. Authentic Social is a NYC-based applied research lab at the intersection of sociology and technology. Since her undergraduate Harvard sociology thesis in 2016, she has spent the last decade researching how digital communication reshapes human interaction. Caitlin speaks around the U.S. and Europe, presenting her work at venues ranging from the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting to World Summit AI in Amsterdam. She is also the host of the @progressiontoanalog podcast.

•••

One of the solutions I speak about to stop being stuck in the screen is the Situationist dérive (drifting). I first discovered the Situationists through this song, “Love It If We Made It” by @the1975. “The poetry is in the streets” is one of the lyrics… translated to French, “La poésie est dans la rue”… a popular 1968 saying often tied to the Situationist International. The SI was a French revolutionary group from 1957-1972. One of the ways the Situationists found poetry in the streets was through the dérive (translated from French, dérive means drifting).

#smartphone #dailyhabits #research #sociology #tedx taken in Princeton University by @authenticsocial

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2 months ago

Honored to share the stage with two legends @amycedmondson and @jessicagelman at @harvardhbs for the @harvardvarsityclub event “Mastering Intelligent Failures for Success in Sport and Business”, 31 March 2026

Thank you @harvardvarsityclub for such a great event ❤️

📸 Hensley Carrasco taken in Harvard Business School by @authenticsocial

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6 months ago

@wsj 29 January 2026 “Everybody is Suddenly Obsessed with 2016” by @hannaherinl by @authenticsocial

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7 months ago

🇸🇪 Presented “Four Principles of Sociotechnical Design” @stockholmuniversity // @snohetta x invisible lab

7th Nordic Science and Technology Studies Conference - 11-13 June 2025

“Four Principles of Sociotechnical Design” provides a framework for constructing spaces to foster collective contribution and sustainable working relationships between people, their tools, and their physical surroundings. Informed by nine years of sociological research, these four foundational principles call for attention to everyday conversation; critical observation of quotidian relationships with technology; engagement with psychogeography and avoidance of the ‘non-place’; and the application of ethnomethodological methods-which make sense of our everyday world through observation and communication.”

the week before my wedding in the same dress I wore to my bridal shower 🤍 taken in Stockholm University by @authenticsocial

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7 months ago

CLOSES THIS WEEK - stuckinthescreen.org

We are conducting an online survey-based research study called “Stuck in the Screen?” designed to analyze technology’s effect on communication and relationships, especially through the lens of smartphones and social media.

If you are 18 or older and based in the U.S., you may be eligible to participate in this voluntary 5-10 minute survey.
For more information, visit stuckinthescreen.org (link in bio).
For those of you outside the U.S., we hope to launch a global version of this study later in 2026. by @authenticsocial

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7 months ago

stuckinthescreen.org

I am conducting an online survey-based research study called “Stuck in the Screen?” designed to analyze technology’s effect on communication and relationships, especially through the lens of smartphones and social media.

If you are 18 or older and based in the U.S., you may be eligible to participate in this voluntary 5-10 minute survey.

For more information, visit stuckinthescreen.org (link in bio).

For those of you outside the U.S., I hope to launch a global version of this study later in 2026.

@authenticsocial by @authenticsocial

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8 months ago

@bostonglobe online and in print, November 2025 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/21/lifestyle/talk-travel-strangers-decline-sad/ by @authenticsocial

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9 months ago

Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on the Workplace panel @harvardclubnyc // 10 November 2025

Should we get off? 📱📵📴 panel // 14 November 2025

With past @progressiontoanalog guests @andrewyang and @steverathje @joinnoblemobile offline party // 14 November 2025 taken in New York City by @authenticsocial

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9 months ago