Hi I’m Grant.

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I am a PhD student, grants/technical writer, and podcaster. ​​

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I research the dynamic interplay between media technologies and culture in the context of everyday life. 

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• In one thread of my work, I examine the social construction of mundane technologies that I call infrastructures of everyday life—smartphones, automobiles, platforms, calendars, and so on. As such, I study how they have come to structure everyday life to uncover taken-for-granted ways of experiencing time, space, and each other amid contemporary sociotechnical systems.​​​

• In a second thread, I interrogate discourses about technology which occur with media (such as social media or news coverage), focused on ways of talking about, visualizing, and imagining technologies which advance visions of the future of public life.​

• In a third, I study the things people actually do with their devices (media practices) in everyday social life, and consider these practices in light of social and media theory. 

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In each of these interrelated areas, I aim to historicize and de-mythologize the technologies which surround us daily, speak to their cultural functions/foundations, and imagine how to build more human infrastructures for everyday lifeworlds. 

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I mix critical, interpretive, and historical methods and engage a range of fields including critical cultural studies, science and technology studies, visual culture, and urban studies. My current and recent projects address: the temporality of digital images; discourses of environmentalism, technology, and public life in the 'Climate Tech' sector; AI in the 2023 writer and actor strikes; and the entanglement of platform logics with emerging mobility technologies.

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Beyond studying how people talk about and imagine technology, I participate in the conversation through my teaching appointments and podcast, Media, Culture, & Why we feel like crying so much. The show engages with critical texts and theories on media, everyday life, and modernity for a lay audience. Through casual and accessible conversations, we empower young people to think critically and historically about their everyday media habits, practices, and encounters. The pod is available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or with no account through this web player.​ If any of these topics sound interesting to you; or you have other subjects relating to media, technology, and culture you want to chat about, we are always on the lookout for guests, so please drop me a line.

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I am currently a second year PhD student of Communication, Information, & Media at Rutgers University New Brunswick. Prior to beginning doctoral school, I received an MA in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University, where I held research appointments in the Civics Education Research Lab and Digital Health and Happiness Lab. Prior to that, I studied theater and sociology at Texas Christian University.

 

Along the way, I launched a freelance grants/technical writing service through which I have secured over $6 million USD in funding for various community health and sustainability mobility initiatives.

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Thanks for your interest in my website, and please do reach out! I'd love to talk to you. 

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Grant Lattanzi

June 2025

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