Great article. This is exactly how I feel. I am not anti-technology and I know and have seen the benefits of it, but by the same token I have also witnessed the negative impact it has had on society. Turkle points out that the skill and intimacy of face to face conversation no longer exists and that while people feel they are connected to their 100 friends on Facebook they really are not truly "connected" to one another. Being "connected" today has created companionship without the demands, and feelings of hurt, anger and frustration. But being "connected" has also eliminated the ability to trust, self-reflect, bond,feel compassion and empathy. We are quickly becoming a society that doesn't want or need human interaction. Some will become completely satisfied with a more interactive Siri-Apple Assistant or sociable robots therefore they do not have to be themselves but an altered version of who they would like to be.
Turkle speaks of a student saying that the greatest skill is to text while making eye contact at the same time. The student suggests its difficult, but can be done. The better skill to learn, which seems to be a lost art form, is to engage in meaningful conversation, with another human being, where you are exposed for who you really are, you are forced to make eye-contact and learn the skills of patience and dialogue. That should be class all college students must take; 3 credit course entitled The Art of Dialogue- Eye to Eye.
I still believe there is room in the classroom and workplace and society for both the Traditionalists and Progressives. We need a new revolution. We've had the technological revolution in this country no we need the "Back to Basics" revolution. We are forgetting our interpersonal skills as well as forgetting ourselves. Many get so engrossed or lost in their Tweets or Facebooking that they become very lonely and isolated. We need to stop hiding from one another behind a keyboard and come up for air every once in awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment