Blog Post #3

Psychologist, Sherry Turkle's Ted Talk "Connected, But Alone?" is one that comes off a bit self righteous, but yet inspires  listeners to do a little self reflection. Turkle begins the talk by quoting a text she received from her daughter, Rebecca moments before her talk telling her "she will rock"(Turkle). Turkle describes receiving Rebecca's text as "getting a hug". Regardless of the pleasant feelings texts can bring to Turkle's life, she still dedicated a majority of her talk to focus on the negatives of technology. From there Turkle continues her lecture by reveling to the audience her history with technology. To explain her relationship with technology Turkle takes the audience back to 1996  when experimentation with chat rooms and virtual communities was just beginning. Turkle describes her self as excited by the technological evolution taking place. Turkle was so  moved by the events taking place in technology that she "[wrote] a book that celebrated our lives on the internet [and because of her book] was about to be on the cover of Wired magazine" (Turkle). Turkle's introduction shows listeners that Turkle's views on technology are not completely biased against the technological movement and is useful as she devoulges deeper into the downfalls of technology.Today, Turkle states she is "still excited by technology, but believe[s]... we're letting it take us places that we don't want to go"(Turkle). Turkle informs listener that it is because of this belief she has been doing further research about the effects of advancing technology in our world. Since 1996 Turkle has done numerous studies on technologies of mobile communication and have interviewed hundreds of people about "their plugged in lives" (Turkle). From her studies Turkle found "that our devices, are so psychologically powerful [and] they don't only change what we do,[but] they change who we are" (Turkle). This statement might be true for an older generation who grow up without cell phones and tablets, but for the younger generation who have always had these advancements in technology  this statement could be seen as false. From there Turkle further explains how technology cause people to be withdrawn from the now and completely submerged into their different devices. Turkle uses the explain of an " an 18-year-old boy who uses texting for almost everything says to [her] , "someday, someday, but certainly not now, I'd like to learn how to have a conversation." Turkle uses the explain of the 18 year old boy as though he speak for an entire generation, but does not take into account that there are a lot of young people who do enjoy social interaction along with their technology. Even before cellphones and the internet many people had trouble socializing so all blame cannot be directed toward our devices. Even though the majority of Turkle talks is points out the negatives of technology  she still acknowledges that internet will not be forgotten anytime soon, but ends her talk urging  listeners to  "use digital technology, the technology of our dreams, to make this life the life we can love" (Turkle).