MIT professor and psychologist, Dr. Sherry Turkle, was a recent speaker at TED Talks.
Dr. Turkle’s presentation focused on five themes: hand-held electronic devices are changing who we are and what we do, communicating in quick blurbs from electronic platforms does not build real relationships, we are expecting more from technology and less from each other, we are sacrificing conversation for connection, and constant connection is changing the way people think of themselves.
“The feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us.” (Dr. Sherry Turkle)
What do you think? Are we afraid of intimacy and revealing our true selves to others? Does technology complicate relationships? Is technology affecting the human experience?
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I enjoyed listening to Dr. Turkle’s piece and couldn’t agree more. The pervasiveness of technology and “escapism” is breeding a new generation of introverts.
As a father of three who grew up with meaningful communications of the written word (through letters), I can see the impact of increasingly disposable digital communications on my three kids. Technology has greatly increased the frequency of our communications at the expense of the quality of what we say. In fact we are communicating more but really saying much less. My kids don’t know this yet because they have not yet (or maybe never will) amassed a shoebox of letters, a collection of completed thoughts and a more expansive expression of true feeling. The attributes of a letter (time,… Read more »
Is Technology Impairing Our Intimate Connections?
Yes!
The questions that arise are 1) what will the outcomes be? 2) what will the outcomes be?
I think there is a lot “lost” in technological communication. Inflection is not communicated through text. I’ve been trying to text less and speak more, especially for anything important. And the “story of my life” written on social media sites kinda takes a lot of the mystery and intrigue out of relationships. When you can pull up someones web page and read about everything they’ve ever done, you aren’t exactly inclined to share as many stories.
So, it would be good to learn about our identities online – but it’s “taking us where we don’t want to go” if we change who we are? How can one’s identity remain in stasis when interacting with new connections? I can’t see much difference between her complaints about technology, and early complaints about the novel. People will escape into imaginary worlds! They’ll do it at inappropriate times! They won’t be able to relate to their friends anymore! And as for the complaint that we “can’t get enough of each other, but only at a distance they can control?” I… Read more »