Sherry Turkle’s “Connected: But Alone?”
Sherry Turkle shares her findings about how our rise in expectations of technology are lowering our expectations of each other. Turtle explains that people are saying that they would rather text than talk. She explains that it used to be that a person would learn about themselves in the virtual world in order to live better lives in the real world. Now people prefer to communicate through technology. She is concerned that we are letting technology take us places that we don't want to go. In interviewing people about their plugged in lives, Turkle has found that the devices that live in our pocket are changing who we are. People text or email during board meetings, text or shop doing classes. Parents text and email during dinner and their children complain. People even text at funerals. We are becoming comfortable with being alone together. Turkle finds that people want to be with other people but in other places at the same time. People are choosing to only pay attention to the things that interest them and then tune out.
Technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable. People are lonely but afraid of intimacy. We turn to technology to comfort us in ways that we can control. If people are alone for just a few minutes, they become anxious and reach for a device. This is shaping a new learner in our classroom. Advances in technology have altered the classroom communication, students are able to better communicate however there are problems with communicating face-to-face.
My own communication has changed greatly because of technology. I too prefer to text when communicating. This asynchronous type of communication seems to work well when I am communicating with friends and family that have a different schedule than I do. I often text my sister who is a night nurse. She is able to text back when she is awake and we will carry out a conversation over the course of several days. With out texting, we communicated a lot less because she was sleeping when I was awake and I was busy when she was available to talk.
Advances in technology have altered classroom communication because it has enabled parents and students easier access to their teachers. Parents and students are able to communicate with their teacher through email, text, and even twitter. They can ask questions, receive reminders about assignments and field trips, even view the teacher powerpoint presentations and notes if they have a questions about a lesson.
Technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable. People are lonely but afraid of intimacy. We turn to technology to comfort us in ways that we can control. If people are alone for just a few minutes, they become anxious and reach for a device. This is shaping a new learner in our classroom. Advances in technology have altered the classroom communication, students are able to better communicate however there are problems with communicating face-to-face.
My own communication has changed greatly because of technology. I too prefer to text when communicating. This asynchronous type of communication seems to work well when I am communicating with friends and family that have a different schedule than I do. I often text my sister who is a night nurse. She is able to text back when she is awake and we will carry out a conversation over the course of several days. With out texting, we communicated a lot less because she was sleeping when I was awake and I was busy when she was available to talk.
Advances in technology have altered classroom communication because it has enabled parents and students easier access to their teachers. Parents and students are able to communicate with their teacher through email, text, and even twitter. They can ask questions, receive reminders about assignments and field trips, even view the teacher powerpoint presentations and notes if they have a questions about a lesson.
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