Out of the myriad of topics we have discussed, read and reviewed, I have chosen to focus on one I believe is of the upmost importance: The Flight From Conversation. In Chapter Two of Rhetoric and Civic Life, Sherry Turkle laments on the lack of true connection through conversation between humans.
This deficiency, as Turkle continually illustrates throughout the chapter, is due to our absorption in technology. You can witness this for yourself by just walking around campus. Everyone is in their own little bubble: earphones in and eyes glued to a screen.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love technology just as much as the next person, but the lack of conversation has reached an epidemic. When I walk down the street and see people avoiding eye contact with me by whipping out their phones, it disappoints me. I can’t safely navigate the sidewalks without the threat of someone running into me head first, and it’s infuriating! I can’t even count the number of times I’ve stepped out of the way at the last second just to avoid another oblivious student.
Not only is technology used as a way to avoid talking in person, but in cyberspace, it’s used as a means of keeping each other at a safe distance: “not too close, not too far, just right.” We edit and “perfect” our pictures, texts, and emails to present ourselves in the best light. In reality, “human relationships are rich; they’re messy and demanding.” It’s through the mistakes and blunders that we learn who someone is, what makes them tick, and what makes us love them.
What I think is the most important point of Turkle’s argument is that by constantly being connected to our technology we don’t have time to connect to ourselves. We don’t self-reflect, which is imperative to growing as a person.
So, the next time you are alone, instead of automatically reaching for your phone, I implore you to take a few moments to enjoy the solitude. Enjoy being in your own company instead of superficially associating with others through a device. This way, you will be able to connect to yourself.
Nice job Julia! I actually wrote about the same chapter. It is interesting to see in the ways we agree. You managed to include a lot of what I wanted to say but didn't get a chance to since I focused on other points. One thing I didn't think about was how a reason to be alone rather than on your phone is to be able to self reflect. I took it instead as a way to observe the world around you. It was nice reading your post to know I'm not the only one my age to think our use of technology has become a bit excessive in some senses.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. When I read this chapter I got the overall message that our generations social skills, in person, suck. I can't say they completely suck, I think it's just different now, but to have the ability to talk over technology is great, but if it complicates or compromises our face to face social skills, it's probably not good.
ReplyDeleteEveryday I almost get run into by someone that has their eyes glued to their phones. I am probably guilty of this myself though, and I agree with you that we used our technology to avoid talking to people, which ultimately hinders our in-person communication skills. Interesting point about how digital communication gives us the opportunity to edit anything we say, which hides who we actually are. I think this holds true and as you said leads to the communication breakdown because we cannot actually learn a person's true personality through this digital communication.
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