Speech From Alone Together : Why We Expect More From Technology And Less From Each Other

In “Selections from Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other,” Sherry Turkle explores the implications of many different psychological phenomenon that humans have when reacting to computers that have life-like characteristics such as Tamagotchis and Furbies. One of the specific psychological processes Turkle describes involves a shift between “a psychology of projection to a new psychology of engagement” with these machines (Turkle, 470). In “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,” Jonathan Lethem talks about the differences between the gift and market economies. Turkle’s psychologies of projection and engagement significantly impact Lethem’s gift and market economies.

In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matters. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question about identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism.

The article “Always On” by Turkle discusses society’s inability to detach from the technological world. Quite a few times, she toys with the idea of technology as a search for one’s identity; or perhaps, a change in identity. This struck me. As I post a picture displaying the love for my dog on one day, and then a picture of my political views the next, aren’t I too changing my identity day to day, moment to moment? On Tuesday, I am Kaitlyn- the concerned voter and feminist fighting for equality across the board. As Wednesday comes, I am Kaitlyn- the animal-loving, puppy-obsessed dog mom. However, even with my changing identities, it is the constant marking of history unique to the internet and networking that make all of these micro-identities

The modern trend is switching from conversation to connection as digital devices are being relied on more. People are avoiding face to face contact and are forming relationships with their technology. Their devices have no human experiences, but they still find them more trustworthy and comforting than other humans. Sherry Turkle successfully gets her point across that communication is failing with the use of ethos, logos, and

Within Twenge’s argument she consistently uses pathos, ethos, and logos. When talking to Athena, a 13-year-old girl who lives in Houston, Texas, about how smartphones have affected her life directly Twenge consistently employs pathos. They discuss her favorite songs, TV shows, and what activities she enjoys with her friends. Relating back to emotion, Twenge remembers from her own days where she would “enjoy a few parents- free hours shopping with her [my] her friends.” Athena admits “ It kind of hurts” when she is with her friends “and they don’t actually look at my [her] face.” Even with no parental supervision, technology still takes away from interactions of friends. Twenge’s research on the iGeneration has shown that this generation is

Identity is one’s perception that shapes one’s mind. It reflects the outer aspect of personality and the life choices we make as an individual. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, a dystopian futuristic novelfuture, Equality talks about how society is integrated to try to control his mind, body, and spirit. In “Don’t. The secret of self control” by Jonah Lehrer, a nonfiction article, Lehrer explains an experiment where children are determined to be a high or low delayers. Furthermore, In “Who Holds The Clicker” by Lauren Slater, a nonfiction article, Slater explains analyzes the fear of how brain implants can treat intractable mental illness. The formation of identity is created when a person is tied to the choices he makes,

It is clear that there are many things that shape people’s identity. It could be family, surrounding, culture and many other things. These things help people to become who they are and affect the way they see the world around them. The question what shapes the identity is discussed in the works “Selection from love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become” by Barbara Frederickson, “The Naked Citadel” by Susan Faludi, and “The Myth of the Ant Queen” by Steven Johnson. The authors view this question from different perspectives. However, there is one common thing that could be seen in all the three works. The authors prove that person’s identity is mostly shaped by interaction with other people and the

As a person goes through their life, they encounter many choices and options. The most obvious ones are what they will wear, eat, or do for each day of their life. Everything that they do, even the most simple decisions, can and will impact them and who they are as a person. This will become a part of their identity. However, as the social beings humans are, their identities can be effected by those around them, virtually and physically. Most especially, every person’s identity is affected by the opinions and thoughts of others which can be expressed online, through verbal comments, and body language. This causes each person to question themselves and attempt to view themselves from the eyes of others. And when people question their identities

Human interactions with each other and with other objects such as products of technology create relationships between human beings themselves, and between human beings and these objects. Through these relationships, most people have either met acceptance or rejection from the people or things they have related with. Some of these are as a result of differences in what is conventionally accepted as normal while others are just as a result of unfulfilled expectations from the relationships created. In his article “son,” Andrew Solomon discusses how, at an early age, his parent-to-child relationship with his mother modified his identity and the struggle between his real identity formation and the expectation which his mother and the society had.

Now, with technology literally at our fingertips, we tend to live and breathe in a virtual realm. Creating any person we want, allowing any emotion to be unfiltered, and having no accountability to our actions, the perceived box of who we can be is ever changing. As our dependency upon this fake world increases, we’ll continually lose ourselves to reality, eventually losing who we actually are, losing such things as morals and individualism. Technology is reshaping us into cyborgs, not unique people but robotic beings found throughout the masses. Kristen Ostrenga, a young girl feeling the pressure to be apart of this mass sameness, created for herself a new person on social media.

Turkle explains how we are losing ourselves to our technology, putting more reliance on technology then our own peers. Distinguishing between identity and performance of identity is a difficult task as an adolescent because they are portrayed as the same thing. However, the idea of flexibility and the advancing of technology helps the adolescents to transition between variety of identities in order to find their one true authentic identity.

He asserts that the connection problem is a result of having distant relationships, not the cause of it. Turkle does not agree. Instead, her position is that shared distant connections make it difficult to create authenticity in relationships. She further believes that technology is one of the biggest threats sustaining shared connections with others. She defines the shared connection as “a love relationship that involves coming to savor the surprise and the rough patches, of looking at the world from another’s point of view, shaped by history, biology, trauma, and joy. Computers and robots do not have these experiences to share” (268). No matter how smart or swift technology can be, it will never fulfill the need to maintain relationships with others. Hence, having relationships with technology, such as computers or robots, is incongruent with the physical and emotional experiences felt by human beings. On a basic level, technology can be a good choice because it can help people who are not good at having relationships with others. Technology can encourage and teach others to communicate, but this may not be as beneficial as one would hope. No matter how well people can communicate with technology, they may still have trouble with relating to others. The only way to

Erikson 's theories were formulated, in part, on the back of his own adolescent experiences; growing up in fascist Germany as the child of a German father and Jewish mother, he agonized over his own cultural label in the face of the Third Reich. At the age of 37, he voiced his self-affirmation by renaming himself Erik Homburger Erikson. Literally, he redefined himself as his son; metaphorically, he redesigned himself as the culmination of the experiences of the first four decades of his life. Torn between his own unsteady conscience and the strident, crippling strains of Nazi propaganda, Erikson struggled to identify with his own notion of himself. This same dichotomy - the notion of a struggle between the inner self that one conceives, and the self-thrust upon us by the world - is the very fight that Turkle argues is necessary for the emergence of a purposeful, mature self. Today 's adolescents, she says, bombarded by the beeps, hums, and whirs of technology, have become co-dependent with the piece of metal of their choosing, unable to complete even the most basic human functions of prioritization, organization, and independent thought. Instead of enabling, technology effectively becomes a crutch -- an unwitting maneuver to postpone, conceal, and disingenuously morph. The price of quick-and-easy, Turkle contends, has been a debilitating mental servitude. Creating technology is in the hands of the people, and

Why is that replacing real life relationship with digital communication become the norm? Technology is a fresh interactive way to connect in a non-physical way. Some people fail to realize that in virtual reality you lose the quality of your real self. Finding that balance of technology and face to face in the post-internet generation can better relate affiliations. Technology is disrupting the already too little communication of family and friends on a physical and non-physical way.

Through the social connections of individuality and affiliation, we become who we are known as. Primarily, we start life with the influence of our elders. By the time we reach puberty, social awareness comes into play, and our own sense of originality takes flight with what we hear, see and touch and this, in turn, forms our connection with society. In sequence with this, our affiliation with friends and family form the backdrop of our existence, while our originality as an individual configures our personality. “Relationships