TEDxUIUC - Sherry Turkle - Alone Together

Sherry Turkle talks about why we expect more from technology and less from each other.

Sherry Turkle is a professor, author, consultant, researcher, and licensed clinical psychologist who has spent the last 30 years researching the psychology of people's relationships with technology. She is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. Her many books include a trilogy on digital technology and human relationships: "The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit," "Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet," and most recently, "Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other." Her investigations show that technology doesn't just catalyze changes in what we do -- it affects how we think.

This talk was recorded at TEDxUIUC 2011 (02/19/11), which was organized at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by a group of students led by Cristian Mitreanu.

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[eydreiandioquino]

The things we have to do for our grades. Keep fighting for your dreams!

[monsieurb]

3:50 we are in competition with technology
4:00 culture of distraction
4:50 phantom ring
6:30 from multitasking to multiLifing
6:45 architect of the our intimacy
7:12 we are lonely but fearful of intimacy
7:20 illusion of companionship without the demands of frienships
8:00 too busy communicating to really connect
09:00 alone together (...) rather text than talk
goldylock
nous sommes consumés par ce dont nous nous nourrisons
12:00 metaphore of addiction

[Tipster]

amazingly insightful and profound, especially considering this talk was given almost 7 years ago

[justpinahy]

How i wish I seen this talk that time when i was doing my undergraduate research. She said it all when nobody wanted to admit it. I love this research, it says a lot even if its just a 16 min video.

[vcalle]

I am an Internet Communications student in Australia and have written a paper “Mirrors and light: Performances of identity....” for Western Australia's Curtin University's CommUnity: Online conference Networks & Communities 2012 . This talk influenced my subject choice and writings. We should all be one with ourselves before we can be as one with others. Thank you Sherry Turkle! Great food for thought!

[OrlandoFerrand]

Sherry Turkle is not only a visionary but an amazing teacher. I feel as if I were in the presence of an enlightened prophet. What a message!

[WalterPaulKomarnicki]

what an irony - we've never been so connected, yet never so alienated from each other - and ourselves!

[AlfAGaming]

Doin school work on this rn lol, need to make a summary for a grade

[cmorales]

Good talk indeed. I think sometimes we have to think about technology from another perspective. However, I think we should think in the ways that we can use technology but at the same time avoid the temptation of being isolated.

[andrianejar]

I got here because its our assignment to watch this TEded! But I find this aspiring!

[mmb]

Remember when we exchanged letters by mail? Remember the excitement when we went to the mail box and realized there was a letter from a friend, relative or lover? We looked forward to receiving letters the same way we look forward to see that little red icon. 

[mariyamamman]

The book killed me. Now I'm looking for summaries to complete my AP psychology paper. my life

[janmegannon]

Albeit that technology has made the globe 'smaller', never before has the distance between two people sitting right next to each other been greater!

I have seen couples in a restaurant, he busy on his mobile device connecting with someone a world away, she equally active on her device; both sharing the feelings created by physical proximity in the real world, with an entity somewhere in the virtual world.

[xxblodlustxx]

It's a persuasive speech. The point is to identify and discuss a problem, and also present some sort of solution or point of view in hopes of convincing the audience.

[Rhettimus]

She's right on point, but also it doesn't mean you should be afraid of it. It's like anything you can learn to control it, then you can embrace it.

[jamesschutz]

Has anyone on Youtube ever heard, if you do not have anything to positive to contribute to a conversation then don't contribute at all? No wonder why our society is becoming stagnant in thought and creativity. People find it better to crucify opposing thoughts instead of actually listening and growing as a person.

[amdsz]

this woman is so intelligent, each passing sentence excites me in ways i cannot even comprehend.

[paulNC]

She is leaving out how easy it is for all of us to be in touch with people! I hate negative people!

[SmackDownBrown]

Any extrapolation heralded from encounters based primarily on one's own needs suits the primary aspect of ego, emotion and necessity alone. There can be no reality-based relationship where perspective rules the roost. If forced to incorporate one's own meaning into what others type then the ultimate basis is self-cohesive and self-reliant, i.e., I say to you "I hope I don't die tomorrow" you are left completely to that of your own device and therefore forced to exact your own meaning to it.

[thay]

Around 9, regarding the use of text messages rather than calling, I think the problem is more about the general lack of time than just antisocial behavior. All in all, it's always about how you use the technology, which is difficult sometimes. I do generally agree with her on downsides of tech for socialization, though.