The Flight From Conversation

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“Many people tell me that they hope that as Siri, the digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone, becomes more advance, “she” will be more and more like a best friend”(138) .Sherry Turkle is a renowned professor, author, and a media commentator who has been studying media and technology for many years. Often talking to talking to audiences about the dangers that come with engaging in virtual media. In her essay “The Flight from Conversation” Turkle addresses some concerns she has about the impact that technology (our phones primarily) are having on people. Turkle believes that people are abandoning face to face conversations in exchange for telecommunication and is misguided in her assumption. Over the past fifteen years Turkle has studied technologies of mobile connection and she has talked to hundred of people who all seem to believe that texting/email is superior to old fashioned conversations. Quite a few of the people who Turkle has interviewed tell her of not enjoying being alone and the need of having a cellular device near them at all times to feel connected. This is how she introduces the “alone together” (136) idea in which one
All accusations made were proposed and only witnessed by her which in turn only weakens her argument. Without any statistics, data, or even numbers, it is difficult to be aware if any of what she believes is true. Facts can never be underestimated simply put because of the pivotal role they play in any argument. Moreover, this piece is overcrowded with bias against technology that manifests itself into almost an attack on anything with a screen. Although Turkle has a couple excellent points on the impact technology has had on people, she is looking at the wrong side of the coin. Only looking at cases of people who are obviously lacking in something more than a friend and generalizing the entire population as if everyone is all

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