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Chesterton Perspectives brings you:
Connection vs. Communion and the Liturgies That Shape Us
A conversation with Felicia Wu Song, Sociologist, writer and speaker on social effects of digital technology. Former academic and professor who taught for over twenty years on university and liberal arts college campuses.
April 13, 2026
7:30 pm EST in person
7:45pm EST via Zoom
Many of us begin and end our days the same way: checking texts, scrolling emails, moving seamlessly from one screen to the next. What may feel like a series of small, neutral habits has quietly become a daily rhythm—one we repeat almost without thinking.
But how did this happen? While we may be the ones opening our apps, our habits are also reflective of a broader culture. One that often requires near constant digital connectivity for school, work, and life. These rhythms are both personal and societal. And they are also shaping us more than we realize.
Our “digital liturgies” inform our desires, shape our thoughts, and influence our understanding of what it means to be human. And what happens when these digital habits– intentionally designed to keep us coming back for more–begin to crowd out the sacred liturgies that were meant to frame our lives? The rhythms meant to ground us in goodness, truth, and beauty are pushed to the margins. A life meant to be lived in communion with God and one another is slowly replaced by the façade of connection, and we find ourselves increasingly isolated.
Sociologist and author Felicia Wu Song has spent years studying how these digital structures shape our lives and exploring more meaningful alternatives. Through her “Freedom Project,” she invites students into practices from the Christian tradition, offering concrete ways to recover sacred habits and real communion with God and one another.
Join us for this Chesterton Perspectives event as we explore connection, communion, and the liturgies that shape us.
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Felicia Wu Song; Sociologist, writer and speaker on social effects of digital technology. Former academic and professor who taught for over twenty years on university and liberal arts college campuses.
Felicia Wu 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. Dr. Song’s expertise has been sought by a wide range of organizations including BioLogos, The Vatican, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Trinity Forum, Thinq Culture Summit, National Association of Evangelicals, Notre Dame University, Fuller Theological Seminary, Calvin University, and Asian American Christian Collaborative.
Dr. Song lives in Portland Oregon with her husband and two teenaged children. When she is not working, she enjoys trying new breakfast-baking recipes, sewing and upcycling clothes, doting over plants and gardening, doing the NYTimes crossword puzzle, and daydreams about becoming a bass player.
