Can You Hear Me Now

Today it is very easy to get tethered to electronics and communications that give you instant results. A quick check on networking site is becoming the norm verses actually picking up the phone and calling the person you are catching up with. Sherry Turkle, in her essay “Can You Hear Me Now?,” discusses points and personal experiences that persuade the reader that today’s society is becoming “more connected- or more alienated”, than ever before. Turkle utilizes the pathos appeal by using the rhetorical appeals of anecdotes, assertion, and reasoning. She relies heavily on the use of pathos throughout the entire article. This is important because it gets the reader involved in the story and sets the stage for the entire article.

In his June 12, 2015 article” Flick Flick”, published in Commonweal, Rand Richard Cooper argues that the technology of “handheld devices” interferes with being in present with others and being present with ourselves. He measures pieces of evidence to illustrate his point; for example, he mentions teens in a school bus busy with their phones and they do not communicate with each other. The author uses technology; however, he agrees that with the excessive uses of technology we lose the ability to communicate, the personal freedom and our time to our selves. Also the author claims that we lose the appreciation of nature around us and our ability to do the daily actions. Cooper even explains how people interact with their phones and cannot stop

Society’s dependence on technology has proven to impair communication skills. In the novel, Mildred and her friends can serve as a powerful example of this. One night, Mildred holds a social gathering at her house. The gathering consisted of watching movies. Montag, the novel's main character, increasingly becomes more distressed and pulls the TV plug. He proclaims, “Let’s talk” (Bradbury 271). The women’s reaction to the proclamation suggests they were uncomfortable. The novel says, “The woman jerked and stared” (272). As Montag asks them questions about their lives, they struggle to answer. In addition, following 15 years of research, Sherry Turkle gave a TED talk in 2002 outlining the way technology impairs human interaction. She says, “Human

I am constantly on my phone almost every second of everyday; texting friends, scrolling through Instagram, tweeting, or sending ugly snapchats of myself. All behind a screen, I felt connected to my friends, my followers, and the world. However, I was actually slowly losing my grasp on reality as I indulged myself in the world of social medias. Reality hit when parents came to Wellness Committee with concerns about their children’s overwhelming use of technology. As the Director of the Wellness Committee, this issue became my focus because I realized that constantly being on technology was unhealthy. It was also affecting the connections I made with people in real life; I was always too busy on my phone to make conversation with the those around me. I wanted my peers to be aware of this and to encourage them to disconnect from technology and connect with the real world. Therefore, I organized an informative community block and a no-technology lunch with the Chair of the Wellness Committee.

“Can you hear me now?” has to be one of the most memorable lines from an ad campaign in history. That campaign was a major win for Verizon Wireless. It helped the company gain market share and reduce customer turnover making it one of the most competitive entities in the industry. Verizon has positioned itself as an industry leader in communications, information and entertainment products and services for consumers, businesses and governmental agencies. It functions in two main divisions: Verizon Wireless and Wireline. Verizon Wireless’ main products and services are wireless voice and data services over both 4G LTE and 3G networks, and equipment sales around the United States. Wireline offers products and services that

Ever since technology began so prominent in the modern world, can anyone remember going outside for more than 30 minutes and not see a cell phone or computer? Probably not, as these pieces of technology have become so ingrained in people’s lives, no one wants to leave their home without still being connected. And there is no reason to, as friends, family, and strangers share the same sentiments. Unplugging from technology is not only a decision people don’t make for personal reasons, it simply isn’t conducive to a productive life, as many people’s work and social lives wouldn’t be the same, if exist at all, without being connected to other people or the internet with just a single touch.

Smart phones have become such an important part in our lives that we lose focus with or without them. When they’re in the palms of our hands we can’t seem to stop using it; when we don’t have

The author and esteemed Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sherry Turkle, in the essay, “The Flight from Conversation,” published in the New York Times on April 22, 2012 addresses the topic of conversation versus connection. It argues that technology is interfering with the ability to communicate. Turkle supports her claim first by using ethos to establish her credibility, second by using logos to provide her logic, and finally pathos to relate and move the reader. Turkle establishes a sentimental tone in order to appeal to her audience’s emotions on the topic. The author’s overall purpose is to persuade her audience to be together and to interact in person so that they will

For instance, after a student has told her that they would rather talk to a screen then their own parents about dating advice, she states, “this enthusiasm speaks to how much we have confused conversation with connection and collectively seem to have embraced a new kind of delusion that accepts the stimulation of compassion,” (138). She uses reasoning from her own studies explaining how technology has affected our attitudes and mentality toward certain factors. For example, a high schooler wants to talk to an artificial intelligence program about dating advice rather than another person, such as a parent or sibling because they feel as if they can only trust a computer screen more than their family. In another instance, Turkle incorporates reasoning into why technology has become a big factor in our everyday lives. She states, “In the silence of connection, people are comforted by being in touch with a lot of people. We can’t get enough of one another if we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can control: not too close, not too far, just right,” (137). Here, Turkle reasons that technology is a favorable option to many, in for instance, having a conversation, because one has control of what they are saying, how they are saying it, and when they are saying it. All with the benefit of editing. Turkle says that one would rather be

As much as I regret to admit it, I’m attached to my phone. I’m constantly reaching into my pocket to check the time, make sure I haven’t gotten a new update, or to send a message. I do this even when I’m not talking to anyone! It’s become an addiction, having to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I'm not the only one who has this problem. Seventy-five percent of the world population has a cell phone, and that number will only increase. With the creation of new technology portions of life have become easier. Technology has changed the way we go through life. It’s made talking to people easier, as well as keeping up with the lives of others. However, the effects have affected the aspects of our lives that don’t include technology.

Sherry Turkle expresses her opinions on modern day communication and how it is affected be technology. She explains in her essay “The Flight From Conversation” how conversation is being sacrificed for connection. Studying mobile connections for over fifteen years she states; “I’ve learned that the little devices most of us carry around are so powerful that they change not only what we do, but who we are.” How does this make you feel? We’ve become accustomed of a new way of being “alone together.” Turkle expresses, instead of walking around with your head down, look up, look at one another, and start a conversation.

Said by many, the phrase “without my phone I feel naked”, has become a trend, and people’s minds have actually come to believe it is true until they convince themselves that that is the way to feel when being away from their latest purchased electronic gadget. Technological development can bring easiness to people’s daily activities whether at work or at school, but as journalist Chanie Kirschner mentioned in her article “ 7 signs we are too dependent on technology”, “too much of it, can leave you stressed and strung-out”(1). Also, “recent developments in technology such as the Internet led to a decline in ‘normal’ social behavior” (Nables). Not even two decades ago one could spend a whole day without seeing anyone known to him/her. After technology’s rage, everyone is within a hand’s reach taking that desirable feeling out of seeing people. It feels like they are around every minute hearing about their latest move as soon as they do it in what we call a ”status”. In addition, almost everything is technology-related. Books are read on tablets, people can go shopping to an “online mall”’, work from the comfort of their home’s desktop computer among many other technologically changing the way humans regularly execute

Throughout the essay, the author authoritatively repeats her experience in the field of technological communications. In the third paragraph, Turkle claims her history of “[studying] technologies of mobile connection” within the past decade and a half (135). The fact that Turkle has such a copious amount of experience with mobile devices and how society utilizes them reassures the reader that what they are reading is reputable and reliable. Turkle continues into her seventeenth paragraph by repeating that she personally has primary research experience with “people and their relationships with technology” (136). This further raises the level of credibility of the author, enabling a sense of trust to develop between the writer and the reader. The sense of trust is essential in an argument because without it, a writer loses their credibility as well as their ability to utilize their experience to persuade their audience. Within Turkle’s argument, an immediate trusting relationship builds from the beginning all the way to the end due to the constant reflections and references to Turkle’s professional experience in the social science and technology field.

Technology has triggered huge changes on various levels and the “hyperconnection” that we are living in forces us to be up to date at ever single waking minute, on average a person checks his Smartphone 150 times per day and spends more time looking at the screen on his PC, smartphone or tablet than sleeping… Our daily routines are now focused on a series of actions and all of them are mixing the digital environment with our physical surroundings: from going online to

So today we are going to take the stream of technology and see how phones affect our lives. First, we’re going to brighton our screen and learn how phones affect our mental and physical health. Then we will open our apps and talk about how they affect our social skills, and finally we’ll close out of everything and talk about how spending