If people start to buy the idea that machines are great companions for the elderly or for children, as they increasingly seem to do, we are really playing with fire.
Sherry TurkleRead
It used to be that we imagined that our mobile phones would be for us to talk to each other. Now, our mobile phones are there to talk to us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The evolution of mobile phones has shifted from facilitating communication between people to becoming tools that communicate with users.
Sherry Turkle's quote highlights a profound transformation in the purpose and function of mobile phones over time. Originally designed as devices for direct human interaction, they have now evolved into sophisticated tools that deliver information and notifications independently, altering the way we engage with technology and each other.
Themes
Mobile PhonesCommunicationTechnologyInteractionEvolution
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impact of technology on society, this quote can illustrate how our devices have changed their role.
More from Sherry Turkle
All quotes →We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.
Sherry TurkleRead
The most used program in computers and education is PowerPoint. What are you learning about the nature of the medium by knowing how do to a great PowerPoint presentation? Nothing. It certainly doesn't teach you how to think critically about living in a culture of simulation.
Sherry TurkleRead
Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities. And as it turns out, we are very vulnerable indeed. We are lonely but fearful of intimacy. Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our networked life allows us to hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other. We’d rather text than talk.
Sherry TurkleRead
Human relationships are rich and they're messy and they're demanding. And we clean them up with technology. Texting, email, posting, all of these things let us present the self as we want to be. We get to edit, and that means we get to delete, and that means we get to retouch, the face, the voice, the flesh, the body -- not too little, not too much, just right.
Sherry TurkleRead
The feeling that 'no one is listening to me' make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us.
Sherry TurkleRead
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