Sherry Turkle Is Wrong in Some Ways

1339 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Technology and adolescents

In Turkle’s book Alone Together, she discusses how new technologies are generally damaging the teenagers. She thinks new technologies are letting teenagers lose interest and attention in many ways like over-excessive texting rather than talking on the phone or even face to face talking, being more alone in reality but talkative with Facebook friends by showing a lot of anecdotage, and talking in her keen psychoanalytically-trained psychologist’s tone. But this does not mean Sherry Turkle is absolutely right. Just like that you can’t say the viewpoints of an argument essay must be right, if there is a mount of examples. In recent years, teenagers were born and being raised in an environment of cellphones, televisions and computers. I have a strong feeling about high technology life. Just like now, teachers require us to use laptops writing an essay; more and more online classes are available in our school schedules. There is no doubt that Turlke does do a good job on showing the variety of pathology engendered by social media, but I still think her book is one-sided bias, because she just presents some extreme examples. Through her opinions, while she doesn’t mention any ‘welfare’ that new technology brings to human beings; her ignorance of Sturgeon’s Law and her lack of access to any real long-term studies bring her the one-side biased argument—human beings’ self-destructiveness from new technology.
In my opinion, the points that are made in the book are very compelling. For example, in Turlke’s Along Together, she writes that “I interrupt a call even if the new call says ‘unknown’ as an identifier—I just have to know who it is. So I’ll cut off a friend for an ‘unknown’, said by Maury”(171) and “If I know someone writes something...

... middle of paper ...

...Turkle in some ways, but I don’t think she is a Luddite, and Alone Together is not a book of Luddite either. She took her time to see how we use modern technologies and people’s thoughts of technologies.

Works Cited

Sherry, Turkle. Along Together. Basic Books, First Trade Paper Edition, October 2, 2012
Jeffrey, McMahon. “Lesson 3: Getting Lost in the Liminal World.” Breakthrough Writer. Feb. 07, 2013. May 07,2014. Print.
Admin. “How technology has affected our everyday lives.” TNARK. Aug. 29, 2012. May 07,2014. Print.
Sen-Chi, Yu. Wei-Hsin, Hsu. Min-Ning, Yu. Hao-Yi, Hsu. “Is the use of Social Networking Sites Correlated with Internet Addiction?” Ebscohost. Aug. 1, 2012. May 07 2014. Print.
Jonah, Lehrer. “We, Robots.” NYTIMES. Jan. 21, 2011. May 07, 2014. Print.
Sherry Turkle. “The Flight From Conversations.” NYTIMES. Apr. 21, 2012. May 07, 2014. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Can You Hear Me Now?

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Turkle argues that technology has fundamentally changed how people view themselves and their lives (271). She reports that, “BlackBerry users describe that sense of encroachment of the device on their time. One says, ‘I don’t have enough time alone with my mind’; another, ‘I artificially make time to think…’” (274). Her point is that people have to make a deliberate choice to disconnect, to exist in their own mind rather than the virtual world (Turkle 274). Another point Turkle brings up is that in this technologic age children are not learning to be self- reliant. Without having the experience of being truly alone and making their own decisions, children are not developing the skills they once did (Turkle 274). As Turkle reports, “There used to be a moment in the life of an urban child, usually between 12 and 14, when there was a first time to navigate the city alone. It was a rite of passage that communicated, ‘you are on your own and responsible.

    Read More

  • Margaret Fuller - A Feminist Mind on Fire

    2371 Words  | 5 Pages

    Margaret Fuller was a journalist, critic and women's rights activist associated with the American transcendental movement. She was the first full-time female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. was an early proponent of feminism and especially believed in providing education to women.[113] Once equal educational rights were afforded women, she believed, women could push for equal political rights as well.[114] She advocated that women seek any employment they wish, rather than catering to the stereotypical "feminine" roles of the time, such as teaching. She once said, "If you ask me what office women should fill, I reply—any... let them be sea captains if you will. I do not doubt that there are women well fitted for such an office".[115] She had great confidence in all women but doubted that a woman would produce a lasting work of art or literature in her time[116] and disliked the popular female poets of her time.[117] Fuller also warned women to be careful about marriage and not to become dependent on their husbands. As she wrote, "I wish woman to live, first for God's sake. Then she will not make an imperfect man for her god, and thus sink to idolatry. Then she will not take what is not fit for her from a sense of weakness and poverty"

    Read More

  • How Computers Change The Way We Think Google Turrkle Essay

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    He mentions that he is not the only person to have noticed this, and goes on to give examples to help further explain how he and others came up with the idea. Turkle’s essay, titled “How Computers Change the Way We Think”, she focuses on the idea that technology itself is changing the way we interpret the information and why the material is sometimes different than how we remember it to be. She identifies numerous examples throughout her essay that portray the effect that information gained from the internet is leaving on us. Both of these essays present similar ideas of how technology affects us as learners, but they lead into personal experiences and interpretations of the true lesson to be taught about learning with the internet at your

    Read More

  • Alone Together Lopatin Summary

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stamford University professor, Peter Lopatin, reviews MIT professor and psychologist, Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together as well as supports the ideas and opinions in the book. Peter Lopatin reviews how Turkle's opinion on the use of personal computing changes from her previous book, The Second Shelf to her more recent book, Alone Together. Lopatin uses evidence from the text to support his view on Turkle’s change of stance on the subject of personal computing. Loptain illustrates, “A decade later, Turkle was beginning to observe that some people “found online life more satisfying than what some derisively called ‘RL,’ that is, real life”” (Lopatin). Lopatin claims, “Turkle's earlier optimism about the transformative power of digital technologies

    Read More

  • The Social Construction Of Humans In Alone Together, By Sherry Turkle

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sherry Turkle argues technology has change man by making man disconnect from the social interactions of everyday and finding comfort in the superficial undertakings of online media. However, technology has always been a construct of mankind. Every aspect which has affected humans is actually a seed which technology has helped grow, the manifestation of modern intimacies, or the lack thereof is a human fallacy, and not a technological

    Read More

  • Anne Frank Remembered: Review

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    opinions on the topic and the author's account of the story. I found that the

    Read More

  • You No Long Need To Be A Victim Of Cyberbullying

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now some people would argue that technology helps bring people together and brings the world closer together as the human race. One can see how someone can believe this, but in recent studies from that states “Cases of cyberbullying have increased by over a third (37%) in the last 12 months, with the vast majority of teachers (66%) citing cyberbullying as the biggest online safety concern in schools. ()“The first writer of You No Longer Need To Be On Social Media To Be A Victim Of Cyberbullying, Andrew Rossow, claims “Recent research shows an alarming increase in youth suicide which mirrors the increase in the use of smartphone technology by children.” The writer links one of the biggest problems in society to one of the easy accatibal products out there, Cell phones. Additionally, Bethany Hiatt, writer of Alarm over Surge in School Cyberbullying, states “The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has received 757 cyberbullying complaints since it was launched three years ago and completed 31,374 investigations into illegal and offensive online content.” With the advancement in technology comes the access to more knowledge and danger for children to get

    Read More

  • The Internet's Effects on Social and Cognitive Abilities

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Smahel, D., Brown, B. B., & Blinka, L. (2012). Associations between online friendship and internet addiction among adolescents and emerging adults. Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 381-388.

    Read More

  • Sherry Turkle: Is Information Technology An Identity Technology?

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    For example, while computers have replaced typewriters, it helps the students to become a better writer as they can “revise text, rearrange paragraphs, and experiment with the tone and shape of an essay” while using word processing. Thus, the computer helps the students to improvise their writing. Human relationships with computers and technology have come closer than ever before in the recent decades. Erik Erikson’s view on the element “psychological moratorium” implies the identity development in adolescence. According to Sherry Turkle, computers and the internet have given wonderful opportunities to the young generation that helps them to present themselves online through role-playing games, chat rooms, and other technological venues.... ...

    Read More

  • Personal Health And Wellness

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    Morrison, C., & Gore, H. (2010). Relationship between excessive internet use and depression: A questionnaire-based study of 1,319 young people and adults. Psychopathology, 43(2), 121-126.

    Read More

  • Is Technology Helpful Or Harmful To Society?

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features.” (James Surowiecki) Whether or not is known, technology has become too heavily relied on. It is replacing important social factors such as, life skills and communication skills. While technology is created to be beneficial, there must be a point in time where we draw the line. Once face-to-face conversations begin to extinguish, this means that there is too much focus on the “screen culture”. In her writing, “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle talks

    Read More

  • Is Technology Ruining The Future Society?

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    In other words, people are worried that the young adults will be useless without technology. For instance, Catalin Zorzini (Technology’s Impact on Society Today’s Generation, 2013.), a writer, claims that “[technology] has forced us into a lazy-minded state”. Technology is extremely well developed that it has made people’s lives very easy and relax to the extent that they do not visit their friends instead they send quick instant text messages. Furthermore, people believe that using machines will make the world become “antisocial” (Catalin Zorzini, 2013). These results from using technology make young adults useless because they do not know how to correctly communicate, struggle and work hard to achieve success, and even more so learned how to just live.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Flight From Conversation By Sherry Turkle

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although, her constant fail to back up her claims continues to hurt her overall credibility and persuasion tactics. Another example of this would be, “A 16-year-old boy who relies on texting for almost everything says almost wistfully, ““Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d like to learn how to have a conversation”” (Turkle pg. 2). This quote is very relevant and could have strongly supported Turkle’s main claim but, she leaves out some very crucial information. For example, my first thoughts were, “who is this 16-year-old boy? Why should we as an audience find this teenager to be a credible source? And why does what this one boy say even need to be taken seriously?” If Turkle would have first stated something along the lines of, “95% of 12-to-17-year-old in Britain have a mobile phone and 87 percent of those have smartphones” (Butler pg. 2). And then later decided to use this quote from this unknown 16-year-old boy the quote would have seemed much more relevant and given some credibility to her and the argument as well. This is true because it would have helped Turkle’s overall argument by showing a statistical number of the children who are being effected by this technology phenomenon and why it is important to try and prevent any further damage to these social

    Read More

  • Addiction To Social Media Addiction

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Social media has become an extremely powerful and useful tool that enables people in a modern society to effortlessly interact and socialize with each other via the internet; however, there is an extremely dark and little known side of social media: addiction. Social media has the potential to become extremely addictive to its users. The addictive nature of social media may intensely interfere with users daily obligations in the real world, which may make a recovery process necessary in order to quell the powerful addiction.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sherry Turrkle The Flight From Conversation

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the article “The Flight from Conversation” which describes the effects of technology on human interactions, Sherry Turkle argues, “WE live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection”. Many others would agree with Turkle; technology and its advances through new devices and social media takes away face-to-face conversation. Her idea of being “alone together” in this world is evidently true as many people can connect with one another through technology, altering relationships to adjust to their own lives. Despite Turkle’s opposition, I believe that technology makes our lives easier to manage. There are numerous forms of social media platforms and handheld devices

    Read More

More about Sherry Turkle Is Wrong in Some Ways

Open Document