Talking Mass Communication Perspectives - "Smartphones as Substitute Teachers" Artwork

Special Topics in Media

Special Topics in Media Studies is a lecture-based podcast that tackles media history one artifact at a time. Each season of the series we will investigate a different mass media theme, medium, or programming genre. While our focus is educational (it is an academic podcast after all), we tailor our conversations toward a broad audience of media enthusiasts.

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Special Topics in Media

Talking Mass Communication Perspectives - "Smartphones as Substitute Teachers"

July 15, 2025 • Garret Castleberry • Season 13 • Episode 5

This week we wind down our "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season of Special Topics in Media. Garret Castleberry and Season 13 guest host Annabeth Fehrle reflect on how technologies challenge traditional educational systems, spring-boarding conversation out of Brian Gilchrist's essay, "The Smartphone as Permanent Substitute Teacher," which is featured in the academic anthology Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture (Roberts, 2016).

Reading Reference: Brian Gilchrist. "The Smartphone as Permanent Substitute Teacher". In Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applications. Roberts, K. G. (Editor). New York: Peter Lang, 2016.

Host: Garret Castleberry, Annabeth Fehrle

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

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