Lectures on Tap - Why We Doomscroll: Disconnection and Bad City Design

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "Why We Doomscroll: Disconnection and Bad City Design"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Tayana Panova

Why do so many of us feel glued to our phones? For years, we’ve been told we’re “addicted” to our devices—but what if the problem isn’t just in our pockets, but in the cities around us?

In this eye-opening lecture, psychologist and researcher Dr. Tayana Panova explores what our smartphones give us that our real-world environments often fail to provide. She’ll unpack how loneliness, poor public spaces, and car-centric planning can leave core human needs unmet—driving us toward endless scrolling as a substitute for true connection and engagement.

Dr. Panova’s seminal paper, “Is Smartphone Addiction Really an Addiction?” helped shift the field toward understanding “problematic smartphone use.” A leading voice at the intersection of psychology and urban design, she creates widely followed content on healthy cities, co-hosts The Perfect City podcast, writes for the Social Life Project, and co-leads Vital Cities to advocate for urban design that supports wellbeing.

Come rethink your relationship with your phone—and your city.
Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Felecia For The Win