Katie Davis interviewed on KUOW

Bill Radke interviewed Assistant Professor Katie Davis about her book "The App Generation" for KUOW, a public radio station supported by the University of Washington. Davis will speak at Town Hall Seattle on April 23

Interview excerpt: 

I begin and end my days with technology.

My iPhone alarm goes off, I check the news and email, I stream the radio, I surf the web by day, and I fall asleep to the sound of my white noise app.

Are people like me just modern, or are we app-dependent?

Katie Davis is an assistant professor at the University of Washington Information School and co-author of a new book, “The App Generation.”

Davis defines app-dependence as “when someone uses apps – and really any sort of new digital technology – as a starting point, a middle point and an end point; their go-to source for any answer, any source of social connection, even for self-expression.”

Davis is not a Luddite. She uses GPS to get places, sometimes. But she’s troubled by the way people, especially young people, express and limit themselves.

“If you’re using an app – a creativity app, maybe a painting app or a music app – to compose a song or to paint a picture, it’s important to realize that your range of what you can do is going to be constrained by what the app developer has programmed into that app,” Davis said. “So, your color palette is going to be constrained by the colors that the app developer has chosen to put in there.”

Listen to the complete interview.