Public Talk on Outsourcing Intimacy: The Cost of Connection without Courage

For over 30 years, I’ve been studying the shifting ways we meaningfully connect with others, or try to, through the internet and technology.

And on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in San Diego, I’ll be giving a public talk about how intimacy, and our ability to cultivate emotional and physical closeness with others, is being increasingly impacted by technology. Especially with the rise of human-like AI interactions.

Here is an event description:

Intimacy has never been more accessible, but in many ways it has also become harder to truly build.

Technology helps us flirt, self-soothe, seek validation, explore sexuality, avoid discomfort, and even simulate companionship. And over the past 30 years, these options have become easier, faster, and more personalized.

Yet as connection becomes more convenient, the human skills that create true intimacy, such as vulnerability, reciprocity, curiosity, risk, and repair, may be growing weaker. And it’s these deeper forms of intimacy that create real connection and more fully nourish human well-being.

In this timely and provocative talk, Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus examines the rise of “outsourced intimacy” and asks a deeper question:

As technology gets better at delivering frictionless connection, are we losing the patience and practice required for the very human skills that make intimacy meaningful?

This talk is part of a new community speaker series called “Big Idea Night.” The intent of Big Idea Night is to:

• Bring community members together around one important learning topic.

• Gather in a cool venue with good drinks — thank you, Bivouac Adventure Lodge!

• Create opportunities to talk, share, laugh, and make new friends.

Tickets are $25 with a complimentary drink ticket.

And “Friends of Jenn” can use the discount code IKNOWJENN at this link: Big Idea Night with Dr. Jenn.

~Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus — Sociologist, Intimacy Speaker, Relationship Coach, Author