Source: Writers Write
Tag: Sociology
Our fantasies of substitution (with tech) have cost us…
Sherry Turkle is a professor at MIT and “studies how technology is shaping our modern relationships: with others, with ourselves, with it.” I found her talk to be (very) important, timely and a bit frightening (as I internalize her thoughts as to my personal behavior.) Lori @ Donna & Diablo describes this talk as “chilling” – I’m with Lori.
I would encourage you to watch the entire video. Prof. Turkle is terrific. I pulled some key excerpts below.
“Our fantasies of substitution have cost us. Now we all need to focus on the many, many ways that technology can lead us back to our real lives, our own bodies, our own communities, our own politics, our own planet. They need us. Let’s talk about how we can use digital technology, the technology of our dreams, to make this life the life we can love.”
“…I’ve studied technologies of mobile communications and I’ve interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people, young and old, about their plugged in lives. And what I’ve found is that our little devices are so psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do, they change who we are…”
“…People text or do email during corporate board meetings. They text and shop and go on Facebook during classes…Parents text and do email at breakfast and dinner while their children complain about not having their parents’ full attention…And we even text at funerals…We remove ourselves from our grief or from our revery and we go into our phones.”
“…I think we’re setting ourselves up for trouble – trouble in how we related to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves and our capacity for self-reflection. We’re getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere – connected to all the different place they want to be. People what to customize their lives…Some people think that’s a good thing. But you can end up hiding from each other, even as we’re all constantly connected to each other.”
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