Doing Well: The Wellbeing Science Insights Podcast · Life Management Science Labs

Matthew Harrison: Technology's Role in Shaping Digital Identity and Wellbeing | Doing Well #86

·1 hr 9 min

This episode stays with technology and the way it shapes digital wellbeing. Lu Mo opens with the show’s science-informed frame and introduces Dr. Matthew Harrison as an experienced teacher, researcher, and digital creator with a passion for utilizing technology to enhance social capacity building, belonging, and inclusion in education. The conversation begins with a personal look at how much technology has changed over one lifetime. Harrison remembers an IBM 286, a CRT monitor, DOS commands, and a mouse ball that filled with fluff. He sets that world against the iPhone 14 mini in his pocket and the networking power it carries. The discussion then moves into the early internet. Harrison recalls going to Ballarat university with his dad and waiting five minutes or more for an image of the Mona Lisa to appear in Netscape Navigator. That memory becomes a simple way to describe how miraculous the web once felt. From there, the show turns to social connection. Harrison says technology has gone through major paradigm shifts in what people can do with one another. The first shift he names is the old internet. The episode keeps its attention on the human side of the change rather than on gadgets for their own sake. Harrison’s background in education and digital practice gives the discussion a practical edge. He talks about technology as something that can support social capacity building, belonging, and inclusion. Lu Mo’s interviewing style stays gentle and responsive throughout. She validates the guest’s reflections and lets the conversation move at an easy pace. The tone remains curious rather than argumentative. Even when the subject turns serious, the show stays approachable. The episode is more interested in lived experience than slogans. It asks what it means to grow up alongside each new layer of digital life. It also treats those changes as emotionally real, not just technically impressive. By the end, the conversation has built a clear link between early internet culture and present-day wellbeing. The result is a grounded look at how people come to understand themselves through the tools they use.

As heard by us

A thoughtful look at how digital life has reshaped connection and wellbeing.

Matthew Harrison frames a familiar subject with a steady, human focus, using digital wellbeing, belonging, and inclusion as a way into the larger question of how technology changes everyday life.

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Why you'd press play

You want a calm guide to how technology shapes digital wellbeing and the way people connect online.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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