EXTENDED LECTURE WITH Q&A
The Intimacy Question:
How Technology Is Changing What It Means to Be Close
A recorded lecture and extended audience Q&A with Lisa Blair, PhD
A visually rich presentation exploring how technology is reshaping intimacy, romantic relationships, and our expectations of connection.
What you'll receive
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A 46-minute recorded presentation delivered through a visually striking slideshow, featuring carefully curated imagery that brings the ideas to life while exploring how digital technologies are reshaping intimacy and romantic relationships
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A full one-hour audience discussion and Q&A, expanding on the themes raised in the presentation
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A 9-page Companion Guide to the Lecture, distilling five-plus years of doctoral research into an accessible reference for yourself, your relationships, or your work with others
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Research-grounded insights, strategies, and relational practices drawn from contemporary scholarship, offering thoughtful ways to navigate the influence of dating apps, social media, and emerging AI technologies on romantic relationships
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Immediate streaming access, allowing you to watch the complete presentation and discussion at your own pace
ABOUT THE LECTURE
Are we more connected — or more alone?
We often assume that more communication means more connection. But the experience of intimacy—the felt sense of being known, met, and held in relationship—may be changing in ways we do not yet fully understand.
— 51% of people say their partner is distracted by their phone when they are together.
— Sharing about your relationship publicly online lowers intimacy and satisfaction for both partners.
— People are forming genuine emotional bonds with AI companions — and when those systems are changed or taken away, users report real grief. Real heartbreak. Over a chatbot.
— AI sex and love robots already exist and operate. How will it affect humans to bond with an entity that is not alive and does not experience care?
These are not isolated trends. They point to something deeper: a shift in how intimacy itself is being formed, experienced, and understood. As our relational lives become increasingly mediated by screens, algorithms, and artificial systems, we are entering new terrain—where the boundaries between human and technological connection are no longer clear.
This is not ultimately a lecture about technology. It is an inquiry into what it means to be close to another human being—and how that meaning may be changing in fundamental ways.
Drawing on research across sociology, psychology, and digital culture—as well as her own transdisciplinary work on intimacy in times of accelerating change—Lisa Blair offers a rigorous and deeply human inquiry into the evolving nature of connection.
This lecture invites us to consider not only how technology is shaping our relationships, but how it may be reshaping our expectations of intimacy itself: what we turn toward, what we avoid, and what it now means to feel close, seen, and known in a world where connection is increasingly mediated.
The lecture is approximately 45 min. followed by an hour-long audience Q&A.
"The Soul is not neat, the Soul is not refined; the Soul is messy, creative, and emergent, and it does its own thing."
—Dr. Lisa Blair on the difference between AI and the human soul
IN THIS LECTURE
In this lecture, Lisa presented research on the impact of digital technology and AI on romantic partnerships. She discussed findings on smartphones, social media, dating apps, online pornography, and AI companions, highlighting both benefits and challenges to intimacy.
The lecture covered statistics on partner distraction, social media-induced jealousy, dating app safety concerns, and the effects of pornography on adolescents and emerging adults.
Participants shared personal reflections and questions during the Q&A session, discussing topics like AI companionship, the importance of in-person connection, and strategies for navigating digital relationships.
The conversation explored how technology can create false intimacy while simultaneously addressing the need for human connection and authentic relationship building.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Here’s what participants said about the lecture:
"WE CAN FEEL YOUR CARE!" — Alana
"We are privileged." — Lynne
"Such an important conversation... the timing of this is phenomenal for me." — Whitney
"I particularly liked the spectrum you showed — I think this is/will be really important when talking about and understanding where we sit as individuals." — Dawn
"Thank you for sharing your deep wisdom and passion with us so generously." — Stacy
"These conversations need to keep happening. That book for the general public is SOOOO needed." — Becky
THE PRESENTER
Ph.D., Transformative Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies
M.A., Process Work
Process Work Institute
B.A., Sociology–Anthropology
Middlebury College
Certified Process Work Diplomate
Co-host, In Two Deep Podcast
Lisa Blair, Ph.D.
Lisa Blair is a scholar, writer, and educator whose work examines intimacy and love within contemporary social contexts. Her doctoral research reconceptualized intimacy through a transdisciplinary lens, examining how global complexity, AI, and digital culture have reshaped romantic partnerships over the past two decades.
Her work has been published in World Futures, the Journal of Conscious Evolution, and the award-winning International Handbook of Love (Second Edition). She teaches and consults internationally on emotional intimacy and conflict resolution for couples.
Lisa and David Bedrick co-host In Two Deep, a podcast about emotional intimacy, conflict, and connection from a depth psychological perspective.
Published in World Futures, Journal of Conscious Evolution, International Handbook of Love (2nd Ed.)