Blog post #2

Sherry Turkle: A TED talk “Connected, but alone?”

In Sherry’s TED talk “Connected, but significantly alone?”, is the realest speech I’ve heard by far. Our generation is booming with the lack of communication skills, romance, and their self awareness. Sherry starts her talk with a story how she got a text from her daughter wishing her good luck. Nowadays, we don’t even have to see anyone, and still send them a text with a press of a button. The real question is, why didn’t she call? Sherry showed the audience a picture of her daughter and her friends being “together”. The girls were all sitting next to each other, but they were all in their own world of social media. What does that show us about people being “together”? Nothing. In this society, you can be in a room filled with people, and still feel alone. Sherry stated this is why we turn to our phones. Whenever we feel the need to escape, it’s super convenient to look down at our phones and feel connected. People are constantly complaining that our generation is lacking communication skills, being physical, and more productive. The adults of this generation are the problem, because kids absorb the adults actions. We see parents going out, taking emails, or texts in the middle of a conversation. When kids see that, it’s a bad habit they start doing when they get a hold of a phone. Sherry indicated a great point on how “we share therefore we are.” What we share online, shows a representation of us. Whether it’s our thoughts, feelings, or activities we’re doing. With the help of technology, people can easily know when it’s their friends birthday, without knowing it at the top of their head. Sherry ended the speech with a reflection that it’s sad how we will have to rely on robots in the future. If this doesn’t get you worried, I don't know what will.