Hi, readers!
In my last post, I provided a book review on Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Today, I wanted to zoom in on Turkle’s position regarding communication via mobile devices. Yes, yes, that little phone that doesn’t just connect your voice to a loved one overseas, but also text messages, chats, pictures, tweets, snapchats, and everything under the sun that you could think of.
First off, let me just say that she made it very clear on numerous occasions that our devices are a distraction.
In your hand? A distraction.
On the table? A distraction.
Silent but lights up? A distraction.
In your backpack but thinking about who is texting you? A distraction!
This is why Turkle suggests the Solitude rule; it’s time to phase ourselves out of allowing our mobile devices to distract us! Now, don’t get me wrong, Turkle totally thinks that mobile devices connect us (she states that on page 12); she does not deny nor take away from that power. What she focuses on is how much power do our mobile devices have over us?
Turkle also does not deny the fact that mobile devices have the power to spark conversation; yes, spark! She uses an example of a Mood App and how that would help patients open up (Turkle 116). But the meaningful conversation was face-to-face without focusing on the mobile device; it was more meaningful than just documenting a mood, and that’s Turkle’s goal. At the end of the book, Turkle emphasizes how mobile devices can now speak back at us (like Siri), and that came out of loneliness and/or fear of loneliness. We want to speak to others; we yearn for that interaction, so why not call someone, or yet, speak face-to-face?
Overall, Turkle sees the mobile device as a tool, and I would agree with her on this. Our attachment to our mobile devices are too strong and create many different emotional and psychological side effects. We need to sit in solitude, reflect, and learn how to treat our mobile devices as tools.
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