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“Connected, but alone?

” by Sherry Turkle

As years pass by, machines become a part of humans and humans become a part of
machines. As time passes by, this relationship between the two become clearer and stronger but
who or what race do really win and benefit from this relationship? Is it the mankind or the
machines?

Things were much more different before the easily accessible and convenient technology
was distributed. Strong and intimate bond between people happen. They understand and
sympathize with other people better, they communicate better. Face to face conversations and
interpersonal communication was hard but worth giving a try. No cellphones to distract each
other, no shops to visit, no social media feeds to scroll, everything was pretty and simple back
then. When the easily accessible technology arrives, that’s where things got a little different.
And humans as always with the things they come across with, wanted to make the technology a
little better or suitable for them, one that will satisfy their needs and desires, no matter what the
cost is. Humans made a better technology, accessible platform, thousand crossroads, global
connection, but at what cost? Most people become obsessed with communicating digitally or
talking to people online without them knowing it. The common detail about technology with
comparing it with other destructive vices is that it influences the person without the person
knowing along with the damages it can bring.

In the present time, most people want to communicate or connect with other people
online rather than talk to them in personal. Most people would rather communicate with people
behind their screens than approach them face to face. Some would say that they express
themselves better when they communicate online but is it really a healthy habit to practice? One
thing I notice with these people, myself included, is that they are mostly socially awkward in
person and have the difficulty of expressing themselves. And maybe that’s the advantage of
communicating online. It gives people ample time to think of a better reply or better construction
of words which you cannot do in person because when you communicate in person, you’re
immersed in the moment, you cannot delete or undo what you have said or done. Preventing
mistakes or things that can hurt people can be done through online communication but does it
lead us to a better version of ourselves? Does it bring a sense of satisfaction? Does it provide a
deeper bond with whom we are talking to? I don’t think so. As time goes by, I also notice that
the longer you communicate online, the duller and meaningless a conversation gets. Each
conversation almost becomes stale, unevenly thought, and is as equally not important as the last,
another arrangement of words and phrases that creates no deep bond with whom we talk to or
effect whatsoever unless we are emotionally invested with the person or the topic. Words just
pop up on screen with no emotion or other tones you can get when you communicate personally.

Sherry Turkle’s talk, “Connected, but alone?,” is an excellent talk on how technology have
affected us and our communication. It shows how technology can make our life easier but at
some point it ironically also makes it harder. We are slowly dragged into being reliant on
technology itself, shedding a part of our humanity. For me the talk silently says Aristotle’s phrase,
virtu est in medio, or virtue is in the middle. Anything that’s done over moderation, destroys
someone or something in one way whether they expect it or not. In the end, it just reminds us
to make better use of our words, time, and learning to put importance on each personal
communication because for what we know, a deep and meaningful personal communication
displayed in the memory is much more better than a stale and motionless screenshot of a
conversation in one’s gallery.

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