Disconnected in a Connected World
Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT of Social Studies of Science and Technology, gave a TED talk “Connected, but alone? During the talk, she looked at how our relationship with technology has evolved and transformed our relationships with others. Analyzing why we are so drawn to technology, she examines how technology plays on our psyche, artificially fulfilling “three gratifying fantasies”:
- Our desire to be connected with the world
- Our desire to be heard
- Our fear of being alone
When connecting with the world, people like being with each other as well as tapping into other parts of the world. For example, students in class try to listen to what the professors saying while browsing through social media sites. Why? Because when the teacher is not talking about a topic of interest to the individual, the individual can then focuses their attentions on a more significant topic.
People are lonely and want to be heard, but are afraid of being vulnerable so they hide behind technology to mask their loneliness. However, in hiding behind technology we lose rich human connections that are uncomfortable, and messy, but beautiful. In her words, Dr. Turkle says “We turn to technology to help us feel connected in ways we can comfortably control.”
Technology has created a new form of social networking that allows people to connect with others virtually. Profile pages are nodes and online friendships becomes edges. In creating online connections, a global network has developed a way for people to interact in ways that were not previously possible. However, in the process of exploring this new world of online relationships, people have lost sight of the most important type of interaction – human interaction. Because people are ultimately scared of being intimate and vulnerable, people are starting to move away from human interaction and toward the more attractive online interactions, sacrificing “conversation for mere connection.” The world is becoming more connected as a whole, but individuals themselves are becoming more isolated.
link: http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together/transcript?language=en#t-1155152