Through mobile technology, basic concepts like “friendship,” “conversation,” and even “memory” are being redefined, changing how we interact with each other and even how we think. The mechanism by which this occurs is based upon metaphor. Metaphors allow us to communicate new ideas, such as what a technology does, by redefining old ideas. The workings of a robot, for example, are exceptionally complex, but even a child will understand “a machine that plays soccer.” Meanwhile, mobile technology exists in a constant, and quick, cycle of refinements and user feedback, greatly accelerating the impact those products, and their metaphors, have on us. But do we understand those changes and their consequences? In this talk, Sarah and James Bowdoin Professor in Digital and Computational Studies Eric Chown will make the case for taking a critical look at digital metaphors, and will show off some soccer-playing robots along the way.