Politician Christian Lous Lange once said, “Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master.” Even though Lange spoke these wise words over a hundred years ago, their truth translates into today with ease. To better understand today’s interpretation, Sherry Turkle’s essay “Growing Up Tethered” acts as a useful tool. Her use of qualitative evidence is easily relatable creating plenty of opportunity for discussions. As a clinical psychologist, Turkle brings in a perspective unfamiliar to most STEM students. For exploration of how recently developed technologies affect our lives, “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle grants an intriguing first step. A world where every action, feeling, and thought originates from what people interpret …show more content…
Turkle begins her paper with the shocking statement, “Roman, eighteen, admits that he texts while driving and he is not going to stop” (236). Not only does she use this as a captivating hook, she uses it to introduce the appalling dependency young people when it comes to technology. Even though everyone knows secretly how much they cling to their phones, Turkle talks about it freely. She opens the curtains and shines a light on the atrocious overuse of phones and social media. Through various interviews, the reader learns of how extreme social media affects day-to-day life, “‘Sometimes you don’t have time for your friends except if they’re online’” (237). Teenagers fall into a vicious cycle of not having time for friends because they go online to see their friends instead of logging off and seeing each other in person. With this is mind, Turkle uses her psychology background to analyze why staying online is so …show more content…
Throughout the entire essay, Turkle backs up each of her claims with an interview from relatable sources. Lest having a lack luster read, Turkle’s use of relevant first-hand accounts allows for connections to the reader’s own life resulting in a growth of interest and debate. When describing the severity of cellphone use on a child’s independence from their parents, Turkle interviews a group of high school students who currently experience such events. Turkle notes that this specific topic “elicits strong emotions” (238). The responses that the boys give are not just something they are going through as each one agrees with what the other has to say. Again, when finding supporting her claims of “the collaborative self,” Turkle interviews a freshman who speaks for seemingly just herself but realistically, a generation. This freshman admits that if one of her friends does not understand her woes she will “‘call another’” (241) until someone does. Turkle expertly pulls in interviews from the generation of people she analyzes to illustrate her message. Rather than gathering evidence from professionals who have a lot to say on the matter, Turkle turns to the object of her research instead. It is so rare that one’s topic of enquiry can give their own insights and opinions but with Turkle, she embraces this rarity to boost her
In both Nicholas Carr’s and Clive Thompson’s articles, there are resemblances and distinctions in how both authors view technology. Both author agree that modern day people depend on technology. In today’s society, people are more likely to pull out an electronic device to search information that is needed. Also, both authors also agree that social media is affected the way humans think. Social media has created an online “culture” that has changed the way people think and behave.
In recent discussions of smartphones, a controversial issue has been how the excessive use of smartphones are affecting the adolescents of this generation. Jean M. Twenge argues in her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” that the redundant use of these gadgets along with social media use is in fact detrimental to the current and upcoming generations. My experience using Snapchat, Instagram, and other applications on my smartphone supports Twenge’s stance because the excessive use of these applications has caused me to feel melancholic. According to Twenge, “Psychologically, however, they (iGens) are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011.
In Nicholas Carr’s article, “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds” (November 10, 2017) Carr discusses the implications of allowing our smartphones to have such a huge effect on our lives. Smartphones serve many purposes, and have created massive societal effects throughout the world despite being introduced roughly only two decades ago. One can converse with anyone in the world at any given moment, they can watch any television show they want, and they can receive alerts so they no longer have to put effort into remembering things themselves. However, with so much control over people’s own lives, one begins to wonder about the negative consequences of the smartphones themselves.
Sherry Turkle argues that the dependency on technology in society eliminates the ability to communicate in her essay “the flight of the conversation.” Similarly, Paul Barnwell criticizes societies’ technological dependence but narrows the conversation to the current generation of high school students in his essay, “My Students Don’t Know How to Have a Conversation.” While both authors intend to argue the necessity for making conversation ultimately Turkle better identifies the issue and reaches a wider audience. In incorporating a variety of examples in her essay, Turkle asserts that technological dependency is shaping our world.
Rhetorical Analysis of “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.” In the article “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.” by Sherry Turkle, a lack of empathy and face to face interaction skills in students today is argued to be caused by the large presence of phones in the way we interact.
Always On In this chapter Sherry Turkle discusses how new technologies have shaped the manner in which we interact with other individuals. Relationships have changed. In this new technological era, where one can remain online all time through various devices, Turkle wonders if being “on” effects the way we perceive others. Since our time is spent looking at screens, we are absent from what is happening in the real world. Instead of being aware of our surroundings, many are consumed by the many different possibilities that the Net provides.
Turkle states that, “the mere presence of a phone on a table between them (two people) or in the periphery of their vision changes both what they talk about and the degree of connection they feel.” While this may be true, along with the other studies on how technology is detrimental to society, there as also positives aspects that contribute to society as well. “It is not about giving our phones but about using them with greater intention” (Turkle). This quote by Turkle embodies how I feel about the technology debate and the more new technology and phones have developed the more we have analyzed whether or not they are good for our society, and at what age kids should use them.
Children nowadays have 1000 friends on Facebook but doesn’t have enough friend to hang out in real life. In the article “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk”, Sherry Turkle talks about how the technology have affected people with results of different research and gives her own explanation to them. This article relates to the human psychology and the use of technology It is a worth reading article because most of us can related
Behavioral changes from one generation to the next naturally occur little by little. Nonetheless, changes in adolescent behavior from the millennial generation triumphing it have been substantial and revolutionary. Today’s teens have never witnessed a world without internet. The majority of them possess smartphones and waste several hours each week on social media. But while numerous parents may feel allayed about their teens’ seeming uninterested in drinking, driving and dating, they could perhaps be overlooking the effects that continuous internet access has on their teens’ mental well-being.
Nicholas Carr is “an American journalist and technology writer” who attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University. Over the past decade, Carr has examined and studied the different impacts that computers have on our life and the “social consequences” of this new technology (Carr 123). In “A Thing Like Me” by Nicholas Carr, the author claims that technology is overpowering and dominating our lives. Carr expands on this idea further by defining it as people using “tools that allow them to extend their abilities” (Carr 124). To help with his argument, Carr uses a historical narrative about the creation of computer software, named ELIZA.
Dr. Turkle, your book provides great examples to explain how people allow technology to shape them. Throughout your book, you constantly make us think
Neil Postman Rhetorical Analysis Inventions are changing before our eyes and the world does not seem to question what new technology reveals and what its consequences will be. In the future of technology, there are many individuals who see technology as either a sanction or a burden. Many individuals cannot seem to imagine a world with no technology, however, there are many others who argue that humans are becoming too dependent on technology instead of their own observances and cognition. Technology continues to develop and has become affected people’s everyday life. This issue is addressed by an American Critic and an educator by the name Neil Postman.
The entanglement of technology that we are exposed to everyday opens our horizons to new ideas while also removing our choices and independence. Kevin Kelly’s work, “What Technology Wants”, brings to light the complex interactions between humanity and the technology we interact with every day, often without realizing we are doing so. From a young child’s seemingly innate prowess with computers to the Amish resistance to technology, our lives are directed by inanimate objects which are slowly becoming more and more powerful. The influx of new and high performing inventions allow humankind to do amazing things and solve many issues.
Turkle believes society has grown up with technology for so long that we can’t live without it. Teenagers care so much what others want and think of themselves, rather than trying to find their own feelings. Most of the time when one wants to know the others opinion the fastest way is through the internet. Turkle describes some experiments with teenagers, their friends, and how they react to
The never-ending march of the mindless stirs our rebellious spirits, causing us to believe that we are not one of them; when, in fact, we belong to this horde. The agonising expression on their faces tells a story of first-time use addiction, leading to a life-long struggle with the drug that is social media. We, as a society, are addicted to mobile technology and social media. Cutts conveys this in his unnamed work.