In Sherry Turkle’s TED talk she talks about peoples’ “plugged in” lives; by “plugged in” she defers to technology. She argues that technologies (such as phones) are psychologically powerful, and they are re-editing human connection. People are constantly using their phones — whether it is during a meeting, in class, or during a presentation. Additionally, when friends spend time together they are on their phones most of the time — denying each other their full attention. Moreover, in face of hardship and grief, people turn to their phones for comfort. This may be because when you are texting you have the ability to edit and delete what you say. However, Turkle states that texting does not allow people to learn from each other or understand one another. Nowadays, robots, such as Siri, are designed to be companions; yet, how can one make sense fo their life with a machine that has no real life experiences? Due to peoples’ heavy reliance on technology, humans do not have the capacity for solitude. Individuals wrongfully believe that always being connected is going to them feel less alone. Furthermore, Danah Boyd talks about the complicated ways that teens try to achieve privacy. She states that teens care deeply about privacy and do innovative things to achieve privacy. She also makes a distinction between being in public and being public. Yet, online it is difficult to be in public without being public. Boyd then discusses how teens have been achieving privacy. She gives one example of a girl who hops from one foster home to another and constantly deactivates and reactivates her facebook so that her new foster parents do not see what she is up to. Thus, this teenager asserted control in the social situation she found herself in.
Boyd’s lecture about being in public verses being public really stood out to me. I never really took a moment to think about the difference until I watched her video. I think it is important to realize this distinction. In addition, as she was explaining examples of how teens “achieve privacy” I thought of a personal experience. In my senior year of high school many students changed their names on facebook so that colleges’ admission counselors are not able to look them up. For example, my friend Joseph changed his name to “Trader Joes.” As soon as he got into college however, he changed his name back.
Questions:
1) Should “robots” (such as Siri) continue being invented? Or are these products decreasing in person, human interaction?
2) What can we do to make sure that teens avoid using their phones when they are together?
3) What is your example of “achieving privacy” as Danah Boyd defines/describes it?
UWP 104D 