Sherry Turkle has been writing about people’s relationship with technology since she published her second book in 1984 called The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit. Her latest work, titled Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, was published in January of this year and people are still struggling to grasp her thesis that technology, specifically mobile technology, has caused a regression in human society. Whereas before people would call each other up, talk about random things, and be more open, people today are crafting their text messages, emails, and Facebook status updates to deliver the perfect amount of information and convey a personality that isn’t actually genuine. At the recent Chicago Humanities Festival, Turkle gave a talk that started by asking everyone to turn off their mobile phone. That obviously didn’t happen. She then recounted the glum confessions of young children she’s spoken to, who feel like they’re fighting with their parent’s iPhones, iPads, and BlackBerrys to get attention. Her ultimate goal is to convince people not to chuck their digital tools into the garbage bin, but to strive to achieve a better balance.
The video above isn’t the 45 minute talk she gave this month, instead it’s a 16 minute lecture she gave at TEDxUIUC in February, but it gets the point across. People need to start connecting with people again, not over the internet, but face to face. Every minute you spend interacting with someone on Facebook or Twitter is a minute you could have spent talking to someone over a coffee. Just because we have access to our entire social network in a device that fits in the palm of our hand, doesn’t mean that device has to be glued to that hand at all times.
If you’ve recently dialed down the amount of time you’ve spent with screens, let us know in the comments below. What compelled you to do it and how do you feel now compared to when you were staring at a flickering LCD during all your waking hours?