Why Are We So Obsessed with Staying Connected?

Do you find yourself sleeping next to your iPhone or checking your email, phone and Facebook dozens of times a day?

San Francisco resident Tiffany Shlain set out to explore the roots of our tech obsession in “Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death and Technology,” which screens at the Petaluma campus of the Santa Rosa Junior College on Monday, October 22.

Watch the trailer

Is the obsession fueled by a fear of being alone? Because we don’t want to miss something important in the increasing onslaught of information? Or because we want to be connected to the greater world?

Shlain believes the latter and in her exploration of the topic sets the camera on her own life even as her father is diagnosed with brain cancer and she learns that she has a high-risk pregnancy.

What she discovers is that the Internet is helping bring people together, tell stories, generate empathy about the human experience and help solve the world's problems.

Shlain, who grew up in Mill Valley, will attend the Petaluma screening and take questions. The film will be shown at the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium, 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, and starts at 6pm. Cost $5/ free with students with a valid student ID card.