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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights how technology can appeal to our human weaknesses, providing a false sense of connection while simultaneously isolating us.
Sherry Turkle's quote explores the paradox of human connection in the digital age. While technology can create opportunities for companionship through digital means, it also allows people to avoid the deeper emotional requirements of true friendship. The convenience of texting replaces face-to-face conversations, leaving many feeling connected yet profoundly lonely, revealing our vulnerabilities in the process.
Themes
TechnologyConnectionLonelinessFriendshipDigital Age
In practice
Example use cases
In a keynote speech about the influence of technology on interpersonal relationships.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
We are inhibited from aggression by the presence of another face, another person. We're aware that we're with a human being. On the Internet, we are disinhibited from taking into full account that we are in the presence of another human being.
Sherry TurkleRead
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