'Sorry Please Thank You': Technically, We're All Alone
Charles Yu is the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Third Class Superhero. Larry D. Moore/Random House hide caption
Charles Yu is the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Third Class Superhero.
Larry D. Moore/Random HouseSorry Please Thank You
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.