Westmont Downtown Lecture Talk Explores Reclaiming Connection in Digital Age

Clinical psychologist Andrea Gurney leads a Westmont Downtown Lecture, “Invisible in Plain Sight: Reclaiming Love and Connection in an Age of AI,” on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 5:30 p.m. at Westmont Downtown | Keith Center, 29 W. Anapamu St. The free lecture addresses how modern technology affects human relationships in an era defined by constant digital access. No tickets or reservations are required; seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051. 

Gurney says society lives in the most connected era in human history, yet rates of loneliness, emotional burnout and relational breakdown continue to rise. “From swipe-based dating apps and curated social feeds to frictionless AI companions, modern technology offers a convincing illusion of intimacy, delivering validation and comfort without the vulnerability, risk or messiness inherent in real human relationships,” she says. “When we trade authentic connection for emotional ease and convenience, we end up feeling known by none and invisible to all.”

Drawing from clinical case studies, psychological research and the realities of modern dating culture, Gurney unpacks why algorithmic connection leaves individuals feeling isolated and offers a hopeful, practical roadmap for reclaiming deep, durable and authentic human relationships.

Gurney, a Westmont professor since 2005, earned a master's degree in education in psychological services at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in counseling psychology at Northeastern University. She spent eight years training at Boston Children's Hospital and completed predoctoral internships and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in individual, child, adolescent, couples and family therapy before moving to Santa Barbara. She teaches part-time at Westmont and devotes the rest of her time to her clinical practice in the community.

Her research and writing interests focus on rebuilding and rethinking how people love one another well in a fast-paced, technologically advanced world. She wrote the book “Reimagining Your Love Story: Biblical and Psychological Practices for Healthy Relationships” and created the Marriage Bootcamp e-course.

The Westmont Foundation sponsors the lecture series, Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter.