Sherry Turkle's Article: The Power Of Introverts?

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In the article Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation, an overview by Jonathan Franzen, talks about how cell phones in today’s generation negatively impact face-to-face communication. “Parents give their children phones. Children can’t get their parents’ attention away from their phones, so children take refuge in their own devices. Then, parents use their children’s absorption with phones as permission to have their own phones out as much as they wish. (Franzen). It’s truly a vicious cycle, according to Sherry Turkle. It starts off as a kid getting a phone, which then turns into a cycle of them being too involved with their newly acquired pieces of technology to interact with their parents, which in turn causes their parents to use their …show more content…

Society today favors extroverts. As a society, we see values such as outgoingness and sociability very important. These are all traits of extroverts (Cook). Even schools value these traits, which is, in a way, negatively impacting introverts. Because introverts don’t possess these specific traits, they feel that there’s something wrong with them, and in turn causes them to try and become more extroverted. It doesn’t really work that way. You can’t try and pass as something you’re not. Being an introvert is not a bad thing, though, as Cook talks about in his article. Working in a group causes us to mimic the behaviors of other without realizing we’re doing so. This is called groupthink, when the beliefs of group members conform, often unconsciously, to those beliefs of other group members. Introversion can help solve this problem, though. Since solitude is one of the most important factors for creativity, working on projects solo can help create better and more efficient solutions than if the problem was solved with multiple people working in a group. According to Cook, humans function better along than with others. Introverts are more likely to be motivated by dedication to their …show more content…

If it’s a small project that could be accomplished by working alone on it, then I am all for working alone. However, if it is a large project requiring lots of new ideas and people to help bring the final product together, then working in a group would be much better. It’s not that I am opposed to group projects, it all depends on the circumstance. For example, in junior year of my high school career, we had a major project called “World’s Fair”. For this project, we were assigned a country at random and we had to do extensive research on it. The project required a lot of work; a fifteen-minute oral presentation, a poster, and we even had to make a native food from that country. We had the option to work alone or with a partner. I thought about working alone, because that is what I’m normally accustomed to do, but because of the sheer magnitude of this project, I knew that working with someone else would be a lot more beneficiary. At the end of the project, I was very glad I chose to work with a partner. We were able to divide the work up, and in turn, present a better final product than if I had chosen to work alone. So, no, I do not think that introverts are too self-involved, nor do I think that they are merely using an excuse to avoid working in a group. Like I said, it all depends on the context of the situation. If the finished product would be

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