We've reached a fever pitch with smartphones, and more and more people aren't sure what to do anymore with these computers in our pockets. Is it time to throw them in a river and "downgrade" to older school flip phones? Some folks are. Autumn Kern is one such person, and in this episode, she chats with Tsh about why she'll never go back. She makes the case that smartphones are turning us into gnostics, they're depleting us of our virtue, and they're depriving us of true community, instead giving us dopamine hits of a faux version of connection. The trade-off? A more beautiful life! * Common House * Autumn Kern’s podcast and YouTube channel  * Tsh: Newsletter | Website * Pick up a round of drinks * Recommended reads * Come to Ireland with Tsh! * Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport * The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster * Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman * Marc Barnes on smartphones * The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis * Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy * When the Church Was Young, by Marcellino d’Ambrosio 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Why Switch to a Dumbphone?

Writers and friends Seth Haines & Tsh Oxenreider chat over drinks about living sacramentally—seeing God in all things. Pour yourself a glass and pull up a chair as they talk about the sacramental nature of work, art, community, stories, love, the hard stuff, & more. 

thecommon.place

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Religion & Spirituality

Other

Spirituality

Christianity

Buddhism

Hinduism

Judaism

Islam

Books

Why do we humans, as embodied creatures, need to make things? And more specifically, why do we need to make things with our hands? What’s the benefit on both a personal and societal level? Nate Marshall and I chat about trade work (and the culture’s side-eye of it), what we learn about our souls when we work with our bodies, and what to do about this if we tend to live up in our heads. * Host: Tsh Oxenreider / X * Guest: Nate Marshall / X * Create Your Rule of Life * Buy a round of drinks * Recommended reads 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Working With Our Hands

Why do we need to make things? Because we need to be people who make things (more than we need things that are made by us). Why? The reason is simple: because making things makes us more into who we’re meant to be. We’re made to make. * Host: Tsh Oxenreider * Create Your Rule of Life * Buy a round of drinks * Recommended reads * Ira Glass’ The Gap 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Making Things

Why does localism matter? What does a need to know our local farmers have to do with our souls? Why are our neighborhoods better when we buy and invest as locally as possible (even when it’s a small amount)? Tsh and Seth talk to Hadden Turner, a 20-something British agrarian writer, who has a few things to say about living locally. * Hosts: Tsh Oxenreider and Seth Haines * Guest: Hadden Turner * Where You Are Is Where You Are * Refuge of Authenticity * And the Fields Fall Silent * Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape, by Carwyn Graves * Buy a round of drinks * Recommended reads 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Localism

Living within your 100-mile radius means living small and local—choosing to, as best possible, participate, buy, and invest our time in only that which is immediately around us, within roughly a hundred miles. There’s no way to do this perfectly, and that’s okay. But is it worth the effort? Probably. * Host: Tsh Oxenreider * Create Your Rule of Life * Buy a round of drinks * Recommended reads 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Revisiting the 100-Mile Radius

Acedia is our modern-day dragon — the desert fathers and mothers named it “the Noonday Devil.” What is it, really? And how do we fight it? Tsh talks with Harrison Garlick, a Deacon with the Diocese of Tulsa, to unpack the ladder of love we have to climb to slay our dragon. * Host: Tsh Oxenreider * Guest: Dcn. Harrison Garlick * Harrison’s podcast, Ascend: The Great Books Podcast * The Intellectual Life, by AG Sertillanges * The previous episode: Flourishing & Acedia * Create Your Rule of Life * Buy a round of drinks * Recommended reads 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Why Switch to a Dumbphone?

Download our free app to listen on your phone