The TED Talk site just posted the most recent lecture by MIT professor and psychologist Sherry Turkle. It’s embedded below.
In her presentation, Professor Turkle illustrates several of the most compelling issues from her recent book, Alone Together. She points out that technology may give us an illusion of togetherness with others, but she challenges us to understand that digital connectedness is not a substitute for person-to-person interaction.
- Are we hiding from each other even as we are connected?
- With fewer face-to-face conversations with one another are we less able to learn how to have conversations with ourselves?
- Do feelings that no one is really listening to us make us want to spend more time with machines that make us feel like these devices are listening to us?
- Are people increasingly willing to settle for the pretend empathy of devices and robots?
Previously on this blog, I’ve written two related posts, 5 Tech-Free Times for Parents and Parents and Electronic Devices: Taking Time Out. On my other blog, AsOurParentsAge, I’ve written Are Robots an Answer to Caregiving Needs? Also in her lecture she refers to her guest visit on the Colbert Report.
Media! Tech! Parenting! 
She makes so many good points. Technology is good, but addictive and powerful to a negative extent. Nobody pages attention to what’s really happening around them any more. We need to learn to really connect.
She makes so many good points. Technology can be good, but we’ve become too controlling about how we present ourselves. We’re sacrificing true, imperfect relationships where we truly connect.