In this episode, Dr. Bradford considers the implications of smartphones becoming one of the participants in human gatherings, shares insights about healthy conflict resolution (hint: curiosity is the single best first step!), and the ways we need to have more disconnect from technology so that we can actively connect to the moment and the people around us.

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Katie E. Bradford completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. She teaches courses at UT-Austin in professional communication, conflict resolution, and student success, and a web-based course called “Communicating with Stuff.” Dr. Bradford studies video-based data to explain the integration of smartphones into face-to-face conversations. Bradford received a B.A. in English from UT-Austin and an M.A. in English Linguistics from Arizona State University. She previously worked as a professional editor of college textbooks for Prentice Hall/Pearson Education, and as a freelance editor of scholarly papers.