More Talk, Less Tech
“It’s wonderful to be speaking to an audience that’s looking at you!” remarked Sherry Turkle at a talk in New York last night. After all, most of us tend to be distracted by our screens, dividing our attention between the real and the digital worlds. An MIT professor who explores how technology is affecting our humanity, Turkle argued that we are facing a “crisis of empathy” as face-to-face interactions decline in quality and quantity. Her new book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, lays out her theory (also outlined in a recent New York Times column) and the research behind it.
During the evening, presented by New America and hosted by Slate’s Amanda Hess. Turkle emphasized that she has nothing against technology per se, but we must recognize how it’s interfering with the ways people relate to each other. She said her students, for example, shy away from office hours, preferring to craft the “perfect” email at home; given a group assignment, they collaborate via Google Docs rather than around a table. The result is that it’s harder for professors to bond with and mentor students. Students’ group work is perfectly good, but unlikely to be truly inspired without the sparks that can result face-to-face. Among the broader issues Turkle cited is the tendency of mobile-immersed parents to tune out their children.
What’s to be done? Find ways to “design around our vulnerabilities,” said Turkle, who has studied the psychology of online interaction for most of her career. When Hess pointed out that she feels compelled to regularly check her phone for work reasons, Turkle added that corporate culture will need to change too — and she’s hopeful it will. The mindfulness trend may be “the tip of the iceberg” in moving employers to encourage more in-person conversation and less around-the-clock digital communication. Turkle also believes more people are coming to understand the negative impact of technology on their interactions. She ended the night by emphasizing a favorite theme from Reclaiming Conversation: that every new technology makes us confront our human values, and in doing so, question what they are.
Marian Berelowitz is an editor, researcher and writer with focus on consumer and digital trends, branding and marketing.
