Manoush Zomorodi, the accomplished reporter, podcast host, and author of the new book "Body Electric," has a confession: her phone is literally a pain in the neck. And she's got 37 tabs open to prove it.
Her latest book, a collaboration between NPR and Columbia University Medical Center, takes a comprehensive look at how technology is impacting our physical health. It picks up where her first title, "Bored and Brilliant," left off - that one focused on tech's assault on mental health. Both grew out of her extensive podcasting work, including WNYC's Note To Self and NPR's TED Radio Hour, plus a 2017 TED Talk that racked up over seven million views.
Zomorodi admits she has a "constant low-grade literal pain in my neck that only goes away when I'm off my phone for a full day." She's not ready to "upgrade" to Meta glasses or anything on her face just yet. Her 37 open tabs include Google Docs, Riverside, LinkedIn, email (opened multiple times), scientific articles, and Amazon rankings for books. When she can't find the right tab quickly, she just opens a new one - hence, Gmail is open in three places.
Her favorite gadget? AirPods, because she can walk and talk unencumbered. She prefers phone calls over Zoom to get movement into her day and pay better attention. Most disappointing? Oculus. "Sits on a shelf."
She's proudest that the Body Electric study was accepted for publication in a scientific journal - her first interactive project with tens of thousands of listeners to get the full peer-review treatment. When stuck, she goes for a long, boring walk. "Centuries of long walks have produced incredible literature, inventions, and amazing ideas for what to make for dinner."
The last place she went without her phone? Never. She has teens and elderly parents. Last physical media bought? Books, non-stop - "reading on paper is the only way I can process a long piece of writing." Her biopic tagline: "Manoush Zomorodi: The woman who never took an Uber if she could get there on foot."