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\u201cChoosing screens over people.\u201d It\u2019s a phrase we hear often these days in relation to smartphones and other digital devices. But, as Eric O. Jacobsen describes in his new book, Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens, we started choosing screens\u2014or, more precisely, windshields\u2014decades before the smartphone.\nPrior to the rise of car culture, we could expect to regularly interact with friends, neighbors, and strangers as we made our way through cities developed with walkability and multimodal transportation in mind. Especially since World War II, we still encounter those folks...but many of those encounters are \u201cmediated by the automobile windshield.\u201d Not only did car culture change how we build cities, it changed how (and how often) we encounter other people: \u201cWhen we encounter someone [as a driver],\u201d writes Jacobsen, \u201cwe don\u2019t encounter another human being with whom we might connect. We as a driver meeting another driver encounter a competitor\u2014a competitor for lane space and parking spaces.\u201d\nEric Jacobsen returns to The Strong Towns Podcast to talk about his new book, car culture, and the impact screens are having on our cities and communities. Jacobsen is senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Washington. He\u2019s also the co-host (with our friend Sara Joy Proppe) of The Embedded Church, a podcast about churches in walkable neighborhoods. A member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Jacobsen is also the author of the books The Space Between Us and Sidewalks in the Kingdom, as well as numerous articles that explore the connections between the Christian faith, local community, and the built environment.\nIn this episode, Jacobsen talks with Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn about how car culture has \u201cexploded\u201d our sense of space, fragmented communities, and weakened public and civic interactions. They discuss why conscious, rational thought and great ideas don\u2019t shape daily decision-making as much as we\u2019d like to imagine. They also talk about what Jane Jacobs can teach us about complexity and humility, why our sense of self can\u2019t be understood apart from the context of community, and why starting a car is a \u201csecular liturgy.\u201d\nAdditional Show Notes\nThree Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens, by Eric O. Jacobsen\nThe Embedded Church Podcast\nEric Jacobsen (Twitter)\nCharles Marohn (Twitter)\nStrong Towns content related to this episode:\u201cThe Bottom-Up Revolution is... Empowering Churches to Connect with Their Neighborhoods\u201d (Podcast)\n\u201cLiving in Communion,\u201d by Charles Marohn\n\u201cCan We Kick the Car Habit?\u201d by Marlene Druker\n\u201cHow Driving Ruins Local Flavor,\u201d by Joe Cortright\n\u201cThe Negative Consequences of Car Dependency,\u201d by Andrew Price\n\u201cDoes God Care How Wide a Road Is?\u201d by John Pattison