“As we expect more from technology, do we expect less from each other? Sherry Turkle studies how our devices and online personas are redefining human connection and communication — and asks us to think deeply about the new kinds of connection we want to have.

Sherry Turkle studies how technology is shaping our modern relationships: with others, with ourselves, with it”

“Turkle argues that the social media we encounter on a daily basis are confronting us with a moment of temptation. She maintains that drawn by the illusion of companionship without the demands of intimacy, we confuse postings and online sharing with authentic communication. We are drawn to sacrifice conversation for mere connection.

After listening to Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk I find myself much less concerned about technology than she is.

I’m not sure that anything is really different now with text messaging, internet, robots . ..

The sense of being alone and looking for SAFE connection has been around since I’ve walked this planet. I’ve talked to pets, stuffed animals.  How is that different from talking to a robot?

I’ve spent many an evening of “togetherness” with friends sitting  in a dark movie theatre or in a noisy restaurant,  places where intimate conversation was impossible. How is that different from “finding  the illusion of companionship without the intimacy” through technology?

Again, I disagree with Turkle when she describes how we “clean up” our images, thoughts and feelings through technology.  I think that not much has changed with our fear of intimacy. Technology just makes it faster, more expensive and convenient  to avoid it.
Turkle is a professor in the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT and the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.”