In "Cyberspace and Identity: The E-Mail Revolution", Sherry Turkle focuses on the virtual world, how she perceives it takes place in today's society. Turkle also focuses on the psychological impact that living in the virtual world has on our current reality.
Turkle, currently is Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. She also is the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, a center of research and reflection on the evolving connections between people and artifacts in the co-construction of identity (http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/techself). In addition, Turkle is the author of Psychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud's French Revolution (Basic Books, 1978; MIT Press paper, 1981; second revised edition, Guilford Press, 1992); The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (Simon and Schuster, 1984; Touchstone paper, 1985; second revised edition, MIT Press, forthcoming); and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (Simon and Schuster, November 1995; Touchstone paperback, 1997). One could say Turkle is an expert in predicting behavior when technology is concerned.
In Turkle's current assessment, she states that most people, when they are in the virtual world, assume different identities based on their mood or persona. I tend to agree with this assumption. One reason being that I know many people who have based a screen name or handle on just the mood they were feeling for that day. Some felt like being women, some men, some a fantasy character. These days, the diversity of personalities seems to never end in this fast evolving virtual world.
Turkle also believes that cyberspace has a range of psychological effects (273-74). She stated that for some people, it is a place to "act out" unresolved conflicts, to play and replay character logical difficulties on a new and exotic stage. I agree with this assumption as well. The only way some people may know how to deal with emotion, or cope with a situation is to escape for five minutes to a different reality. A reality that with the click of the button, can be created as calming of an atmosphere when needed.
Erik Erikson believed that people had to achieve something personally in order to move ahead in life. To not do so would bring complications through adulthood (274).
She states, “On the contrary, teenagers report discomfort when they are without their cellphones” (240). Turkle explains that without their only source of feeling connected, teenagers feel anxious and alone. Teens see technology as their only source of connection with the rest of the world. In addition, without technology, teenagers seem uncertain as to how to respond in certain situations, creating a much greater problem than just the feeling of loneliness. It affects their social skills and ability to interact with others in various surroundings. The desire to try new things and meet new people is also affected, because teens are so occupied with the social life they have created through technology. It's their comfort zone. Furthermore, in her story, Turkle expands on the term of the collaborative self. She does so when she states, “Again, technology, on its own, does not cause this new way of relating to our emotions and other people” (242). Turkle describes that technology is not to blame for the way people connect with others in the world today. She explains it is the responsibility of the individuals using the technology to use it appropriately. It is a great learning tool. However, too much technology may cause harm. It is up to the individual as to how and when to use it. For example, the internet is a great resource, but used in excess may cause more harm than good. In some
For centuries, humans have used their interaction with one another to help shape outsiders' perceptions of them. Often communication experts refer to this as constructing one’s “social identity.” For many years, this projection of self-came through interpersonal communication; face-to-face communication or other forms of personal interaction. In the progress of technology, this development of one’s personal attributes has come to include photographs, letters, published and unpublished writings, and physical attributes. Many aspects of a person’s “identity” as others see it are difficult and almost impossible to define. In the modern age, such vague characteristics are both helped and hindered by using social media and the internet to “construct”
Have you ever thought about how technology is controlling your life? Then you should read Sherry Turkle’s “Growing Up Tethered”, and how her perspective on how technology and online interactions influence identity construction. “Growing up Tethered”, is a piece from her book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, and in this essay, Mrs. Turkle identifies and examines the adolescents growing up tethered to the wide force of technology that has come to characterize society. In more detail “growing up tethered” is stating that today’s adolescents are connected to peer pressure and in most cast parent surveillance. Turkle believes that teens must always be available to their friends and that they need a phone
Staples’ Article “What Adolescents miss when we let them grow up in cyberspace” explains how children are constantly living their lives through cyberspace such as email, chatroom, and instant messages, causing them to “miss” essential real-life social development skills when they grow up in “cyberspace” that would be vital to them when they enter adulthood. There are many examples, however the three most significant examples that support this idea is: Research is supporting that continuous use of cyberspace is isolating young socially connected people;Staples uses Prof.Robert Kraut a researcher at Carnegie Mellon university idea that people let real-world relationship get replaced by the ones made in cyberspace; and Staples’
He mentions that he is not the only person to have noticed this, and goes on to give examples to help further explain how he and others came up with the idea. Turkle’s essay, titled “How Computers Change the Way We Think”, she focuses on the idea that technology itself is changing the way we interpret the information and why the material is sometimes different than how we remember it to be. She identifies numerous examples throughout her essay that portray the effect that information gained from the internet is leaving on us. Both of these essays present similar ideas of how technology affects us as learners, but they lead into personal experiences and interpretations of the true lesson to be taught about learning with the internet at your
Sherry Turkle’s article in The New York Times “The Flight From Conversation”, she disputes that we need to put down the technology and rehabilitate our ability to converse with other human beings because we are replacing deep relationships with actual people for casual encounters on technology. Turkle tries to convince young and middle age individuals who are so enthralled by the technology that they are losing the ability to communicate in a public setting. Sherry Turkle unsuccessfully persuades her audience to put down the technology and engage with others in public through her strong logos appeal that overpowers her weak logos and doesn’t reliably represent herself and her research.
Works Cited The Matrix. Larry Wachowski, DVD, Warner Brothers, 1999; Bruskman, Amy. "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace" Composing Cyberspace Edited by Rich Holeton, San Fransisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 171-180 Rheingold, Howard. " The Heart of the Well" " Composing Cyberspace Edited by Rich Holeton, San Fransisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 151-163
In both works, the authors identify how the influence on technology is changing how humans identify themselves. Carr using his experience to explain this idea giving the reader the idea that he is feeling the effect technology is taking in his identity. “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory “(53). He gives the reader a firsthand insight of how the influence of technology has change his own identity changing his mind as a whole. He also gives the example of becoming machinelike. A metaphor he uses to explain that humans are becoming emotionless, and less caring for certain ideas. They are becoming cold and brainless are the new part of their identity altering the ability to think. While, Turkle uses everyday life examples to emphasize this point. She states that people create avatars online to be represent their self the way they want to be. However, being able to change a certain aspect of an individual life alters the way they perceive who they are. According to Turkle “people who gain fluency in expressing multiples aspect of self may find it harder develop authentic selves. Some people who write narratives for their screen avatars may grow up with too little experience to share their real feelings with other people” (289). The meaning behind Turkle words is that technology is influencing how individuals view themselves, and become remapping the idea that humans are social
A professor at MIT, by the name of Sherry Turkle writes about the negative effects technology has had on our society. She begins by introducing her experience at MIT during the primitive times of the computer, a time when most faculty did not see the necessity for a personal computer. Sherry’s article is eloquently written through logical, chronological structure. She goes on to illustrate the unforeseen transformation the computer has brought upon our inner personal relationships. The article’s argument is strongly supported by Sherry’s high credibility as an author, being the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self as well as a professor and researcher in that field
"Finding One's Own in Cyberspace." Composing Cyberspace. Richard Holeton. United States: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 171-178. SafeSurf. Press Release.
Advances in technology have complicated the way in which people are connecting with others around them and how it separates people from reality. In “Virtual Love” by Meghan Daum, she illustrates through the narrator 's point of view how a virtual relationship of communicating through emails and text messages can mislead a person into thinking that they actually have a bond with a person whom they have stuck their ideals onto and how the physical worlds stands as an obstacle in front of their relationship when the couple finally meets. In comparison, the article … While Daum and X discuss that technology pushes us apart and disconnects us from the physical world, they evoke a new light into explaining how technology creates the illusion of making
“Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features.” (James Surowiecki) Whether or not is known, technology has become too heavily relied on. It is replacing important social factors such as, life skills and communication skills. While technology is created to be beneficial, there must be a point in time where we draw the line. Once face-to-face conversations begin to extinguish, this means that there is too much focus on the “screen culture”. In her writing, “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle talks
.... She says online identity is textual based but technology has furthered itself to make it visual and textual based. Turkle also says that cyberspace is a relatively consequence-free moratorium yet it seems to me that there is nothing relative at all about it. It has many consequences. She states that online identity expands and affects real identity but I disagree. I believe that online identity can not affect real identity because they should be the same. No one should play around with online identities because when returning to reality, a person will have a false sense of security and self. The world has moved on from Freudian ideas to new social practices of identity as multiplicity.
Turkle does represent great credibility from the start. First, she is writing for The New York Times, a very well known and well thought of news paper. She always went to Harvard and early on in her article states, “Over the past 15 years, I’ve studied technologies
Individuals may feel isolated from society wether it be due to their sexuality, likes, or dislikes, and the virtual world is an area they do not feel like they have to conform to certain ...