Technology's Impact On Relationships

February 1, 2011

Interview with Sherry Turkle, author of the book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

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Mike Carruthers:
Technology has created a definite shift in how we relate to each other as individuals.

Sherry Turkle:
Because people would rather text than talk – we’re so connected that we don’t have time to think.
 

Sherry Turkle, author of the book Alone Together...

We are very vulnerable to what this technology offers. People say this, they say that little red light on the blackberry that says I have a new mail it represents hope in my life. It’s saying there’s something new for me, there’s something that’s coming. In Jane Austin novels they’re always listening for the postmen or the way my Grandmother would listen for the mail in the morning - it’s that sense of something new, something hopeful.

For those who allow it to happen this technology has made for missed opportunities with the people we care about.

Families sit at the dinner table together each with their own cell phone, each in their own conversation – not talking to each other.  It used to be that fathers would watch Sunday football with their sons now I’m watching them do this and the father is doing email.

Interestingly all of our electronic devices feed into the idea that at any moment something better or more important could happen to us.

In the field work I’ve done I’ve been at funerals where people are texting. Once this technology became always on, always on us - the possibility for bailing out of the situation you’re in is always present.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here