Talk:Sherry Turkle

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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mmalioto, Carolineskrobak, Dominic.esteban, Araji98.

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Growing Up Tethered By: Sherry Turkle Reflection Paper

In the 20th and 21st century, the world-systems theory divides the division of labour into three basic categories: Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery. The Core countries comprise the higher skilled labours and the Periphery the lower skilled labour. What is interesting about these three categories is that they represent the three stages of the epidemiological transition throughout time (Clarke, 2008). The first stage is the age of Pestilence and Famine which is clearly faced by many of the peripheral countries today and is best represented by an agrarian society. The second stage is the age of Receding Pandemics where a decrease in epidemics and famine was introduced creating a population explosion, this perhaps best represents the semi-peripheral nations. The last and third stage is the age of Degenerative and ‘Man-Made’ Diseases which is most common to the core countries where deaths are the result of heart diseases, cancers, and heart strokes. What I will argue here is that the fast technological advancement that created anomie in the digital world brought us another ‘Man-Made’ disease in the semi-periphery and core countries and does not significantly improve the social quality of life. This disease will continue to exist so long as technology is ahead of its time because societies are not given enough time to adjust and realize its potential, and hence why the phrase “the medium is the message” coined by Marshall McLuhan is relevant in the modern age. Being constantly connected may seem to be a privilege in the digital divide, and it mostly certainly is when it is regulated such as how technology is used by professionals in the government sectors to help society function in a more efficient fashion. Examples of efficient systems are doctors sharing information, police officer and paramedics communicating to respond more effectively, and politicians can save money on travel expenses by simply using virtual conferences. Regulation is a key element for society to properly function and have a Social Order. The issue arises when the consumer sector of technology abuses and misuses how one should be connected or tethered creating a Spontaneous Order that seems endless as technological advancements seem endlessly ahead of their time. They often enter an unfamiliar terrain where they go with the flow usually allowing their pleasure principle to act as their guide due to the lack of the reality principle or realness in the virtual world. The system becomes almost like an underground system with no strict rules causing tensions between people. Tension are created as living tethered for the average person means that one has to place more energy and time to stay connected with others. Another example of little regulation in the virtual world is the virtual wars conducted by Al-Qaeda which uses the web to campaign its own propaganda quite effectively (Course pack, p.193-200). They use ‘Virtual Bombs’ to create a psychological effect that undermines their enemies’ abilities and their view of how the war is progressing. Moreover, they are able to strengthen their weak ties between different cells around the globe and globally recruit new members (Kennedy and Gabriel, 2011). Therefore the threat is not physically abroad, but also within the enemy’s territory. According to the article, traditionally, one had to separate from their caregivers to be able to become independent. And it appears that naturally with or without technology the kids want to separate from their parents to explore their identities. Therefore the issue is not one of separating from parents to become mature, but rather one’s separation from friends in the digital world where a technology-enabled social contract becomes demanding on the each individual to be continually communicating with the other, and when people rely on each other for support, they lose maturing the self and its emotions. They feel that they constantly need to express their emotions whether small or large and will not know how to reconcile them until a support in the tethered world has come for help. Therefore, they cultivate a collaborative self rather than an independent self. This is dangerous as one switches from inner-directedness to other-directedness that constantly takes the other’s ideologies, values, goals, and the likes and dislikes of their community disregarding the thinking for the self. In other words, people seek others’ opinions for validation of the self. The ‘other’ or friend becomes the self-object, and the personality of the person seeking help becomes fragile. Tethered individuals live in a world that is conducive of narcissistic behaviour where they master their front stage in the public of the virtual world where their ‘friends’ are their fans. This feeling of constantly being at the front stage is similar to the life of a celebrity. Perhaps there is little difference as Jean Baudrillard presents to us that everything is hyperreal in the modern day (Course pack, p.171-182). According to Baudrillard, we live in the Third Order of Simulacra where the simulacra bears no relation to any reality at all like that of the computer world or Reality TV. The Pleasure principle and the Reality principle have clashed and one can no longer tell one from the other. In this system, people become anxious and may feel guilt if they don’t support their fans. Managing the front stage to please others is not a new phenomenon as this was always done around families and friends. However, what is new here is that the self-presentation or front stage, whether it is a Facebook user or a celebrity, is made available around the clock with accessible information about the individuals’ life. People feel that they are left with no private space, something the periphery and semi-periphery countries somewhat have. Private space reduces the stress on the individual to allow one to reflect on the self and have the ability to function more independently. We all live under stress, but this is a non-productive stress and according to the social exchange theory its worth is not proportionate as some may be significantly more demanding than others, and when that demand is not fulfilled and because that individual placed a lot of effort to present the self, they will feel a sense of rejection. Therefore, according to the Social Exchange Theory, the cost is more than the reward or vice versa. The network can be worth a lot more to some than others producing hierarchy within the network where some will have more social capital than others. However, regardless of your place in the hierarchy, you may still experience a high degree of stress that will consume the self. This prolongation of stress can lead to a physiological state called allostasis (Clarke, 2008). The allostatic load can lead wear and tear on the body which make it prone to disease as the bodily functions are slowed down abnormally reducing the functionality of the immune system. But what we should perhaps do is partially or not completely blame these individuals as they may be victims of capitalism as Marcuse suggested. That is their pleasure principle is refrained by making them work longer hours and limiting their sensuous body the psychological component of being a social being that needs human interaction to create a social support network (Course pack, 225-243). A third of Canadians believe that a leading source of stress are the long hours worked and the demand of their jobs (Clarke, 2008). Therefore, a person with limited time on their hand turns to an easy mean to become a social being, and that is being tethered. Being tethered costs money and using social systems generate lots of money which multiplies the effect of capitalism. In Addition, some of the functions of a social support network are a sense of being loved, esteemed by others, and experience of being part of a network (Clarke, 2008). In other words, the quality of the social support network rather than its quantity is important to help comfort one’s identity and sense of coherence. The around the clock front stage only creates anxiety about the self constantly making one self-conscious of what others are thinking and doing. In conclusion, the periphery countries work extended hours which limit their social interactions, yet they have a qualitative social support as they tend to be collective in nature with feelings mostly reconciled via inner-directedness. On the other hand, the core countries also somewhat work longer hours but have more social interactions via public networks with limited qualitative social support as individualism is the norm and they tend to reconcile their inner feelings via other-directedness. Therefore, the quality of social life has not dramatically changed between the core and periphery countries.

References

Clarke, Juanne N. 2008. Health, illness, and medicine in Canada. 5th ed. Don Mills, Ont. New York: Oxford University Press. Kennedy, Jonathan and Gabriel Weimann. 2011. "The Strength of Weak Terrorist Ties." Terrorism and Political Violence 23(2):201-212. Course Pack of Sociology 3373G. Winter 2012. Lavrence / Cambre. Course Pack No. P-0122

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There should be people out there who understand these things much better than I do. Why don't you have a go at this stub? KF

Oy. I do know how to spell. :-( -- Zoe

I do not understand: Is this a belated comment on my August 27, 2002 invitation to add something to this biography? KF 06:34 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

No, no, it was your correcting of my atrocious spelling of psychologist.  :-) -- Zoe

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Turkle studies Computer addiction? what's that? Kingturtle 10:12 Apr 20, 2003 (UTC)

There's a fair amount of redundancy in this article, and Life on the Screen. Specifically the part about hard/soft mastery, bricolage, etc. Should this info be removed from one of the articles? Which? Max 02:57, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

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In the sentence, "In Life on the Screen, Turkle, who is not a Marxist, claims that misrepresenting oneself in a Multi-User Dungeon may be therapeutic." The "is not a marxist" bit is totally out of place. I will remove it. —Preceding unsigned

Changing the subject, does no one have any criticisms of her work? I find it dubious that no one has publicly criticised her work.

XXsome dude

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Wow, this article needs work. Very rough and mostly highlighting weird tidbits but missing the important stuff. Let's fix it! Asbruckman (talk) 19:40, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

She has a new book out, i think. Evocations of Object or something... some one do it and get the glory before i doSanitycult (talk) 14:23, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree - too many random bits of information and not enough about them. What about "how children learn about computers and how this affects their minds?" Why is her and her ex-husbands paper influential? It needs more. It could be organized better too. The information jumps all over the place. Better organizational flow would make this a higher quality article. Also, some citations are missing for the ISBN numbers. Those can be found easily. Finally, more specific information about her works in detail would further describe the type of work she has been involved in.Zkrog (talk) 18:32, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

It definitely needs a lot more information. Having all the info crammed in the intro paragraph makes the rest of the article feel empty. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bernie325 (talk • contribs) 21:27, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

I added two new sections to the article, one for "Life on the Screen" and one for "The Second Self." I elaborated a little bit on each of these works, and also added two references on the bottom of the page. Marinarasauce93 (talk) 01:50, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

I found the ISBN numbers for the missing works. I also further elaborated on the Second Self. I made a few grammatical corrections and gave better flow to the article. I added a few more details to the information box as well. Zkrog (talk) 18:36, 20 December 2011 (UTC) ETC: A Review of General Semantics; Jul2011, Vol. 68 Issue 3, p365-365, 1p - this is a review of Turkle's book Alone Together. It could be used to add critical views on this work. Zkrog (talk) 18:41, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Also, I cleaned up this discussion board. No more tiny text! Zkrog (talk) 18:46, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

The newspaper article "How high-tech connections erect a fortress of solitude", by S. Watson, would help improve the article, because it has a lot of information on Turkle's Alone Together including the characters, plot, and Turkle's reasoning behind the story. Also, the journal article "Social media: the end or start of a golden age?" by V. Wadhwa, would be a good source because it provides Turkle's own opinion on social media in our society. Marinarasauce93 (talk) 01:15, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I did a little editing and added some information to the paragraphs in the top section that discuss Life on the Screen and The Second Self. Marinarasauce93 (talk) 01:17, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I did some editing including editing her birthplace and date of birth, editing some stuff in the intro paragraph and adding sections for her early life and her book Alone Together. 2 sources were added. One was a review from the New York Times of her Alone Together book. And the other was an encyclopedia that discussed a little bio of Turkle. Bernie325 (talk) 02:45, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I added a section about her research about MUD. I thought that it was a very big part of her research, especially in Life on the Screen. I provided some info about her opinions and what she discovered. Bernie325 (talk) 03:20, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I am very surprised that her name isn't located in the list of Notable Alumni from Abraham Lincoln High School. She was a Valedictorian and is a renowned writer. Bernie325 (talk) 03:27, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Structure and Content of the Article

The introduction of the article is lengthy and broken apart. Each separate paragraph states a different fact about Turkle's life, instead of each paragraph being connected to each other. The article could also use more pictures to make the article more lively, because the only one used is the one picture of Turkle in the little introduction box. The balance of the article is not very balanced, because the longest segment of the article is the introduction. The rest of the sections (which include books, papers and reports, interviews, references, and external links), need a lot more elaboration because the majority of them only contain lists of references. There are no explanations of these sections. Also, there should be a lot more sections in this article, based on the insufficient amount of information that is included in each one. There are aspects of the topic that are missing. The article coverage also needs a little work, because there are no negative criticisms of Turkle; there are only positive facts about her and her work. There needs to be a balance between the positive and the negative criticisms in order to show that the article is not biased in any way. In terms of reliable sources, it does not appear that the article used many reliable sources, if any, because there are not nearly enough references or footnotes used in the article. There are a total of only two footnotes, which means that not enough sources were used, and the article may have been written without complete information about the subject.

Marinarasauce93 (talk) 21:39, 30 November 2011 (UTC)Marina Tsay 159.91.216.38 (talk) 16:16, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

POV Dispute Jan 2013

"We should start thinking of solitude as a good thing. Find ways to demonstrate this as a value to your children. Create sacred spaces at home and reclaim them for conversation and also talk to your collage at work. Try to develop a more self-aware relationship with digital technologies, with each other and with ourselves." is not NPOV. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.97.45.191 (talk) 01:53, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Much of this section also wasn't really about Turkle, but some vague ruminations on media processes as a whole. I've removed much of the section, and tried to rephrase what remained to NPOV (i.e. by making it clear that this is what Turkle argues, rather than objective statements). 168.105.243.178 (talk) 19:48, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

Added Tone Template

The section on Alone Together is very detailed, but reads like a college essay. Should be condensed and rewritten with a more encyclopedic tone using less judgment about the book's message. Vejlenser (talk) 06:40, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

It should be split out into a new article instead. 166.176.58.214 (talk) 22:18, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

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Sherry Turkle's book "Reclaiming Conversation"

In Sherry Turkle's bio, her book "Reclaiming Conversation" is not added. "Reclaiming Conversation" discusses the effects of technology on its users and the lack of empathy that comes as a result when conversation is eradicated. I have read the book for a class at the University of San Francisco with a group of classmates that are now working to edit her bio. Is anyone opposed to "Reclaiming Conversation" being added. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmalioto (talk • contribs) 17:05, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

I think we should add a subhead for her latest book "Reclaiming Conversation", just like the subheads for "Alone Together", "Life on the Screen", etc... Carolineskrobak (talk) 17:08, 4 April 2018 (UTC)carolineskrobak

Here's a possible draft to add to Reclaiming Conversation: Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age explains how technology has affected our ability to healthily communicate with one another. Turkle argues that tweets, instant messages, snapchats, etc., have replaced face-to-face conversation, which leaves many people dissatisfied with their relationships with others. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dominic.esteban (talk • contribs) 22:05, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

^^Dominic.esteban (talk) 22:07, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Reclaiming Conversation

Reclaiming Conversation is Turkle's examination of evolving interpersonal and intrapersonal communications, and The Power of Talk in A Digital Age. As a precursor to her novel, Turkle cites Henry David Thoreau's Walden in her organization of the book: "I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society." This book is thus divided into three general parts: a single chair for intrapersonal communication, two chairs concerning the importance of conversations in friendships, families and romances, and three chairs for interpersonal communication such as in school, work, and politics. Turkle gathered data from schools, companies, families, and articulates the statistical and psychoanalytic barriers that have forced users to "sacrifice conversation for mere connection". This trade-off in interwoven intimacies and apps ultimately withholds the necessary face-to-face experiences that are needed for generating authentic connection. The capacity to interact on a personal or private basis is the cornerstone to empathy, and Turkle argues that loneliness is also essential to this. Paradoxically, Turkle presents the blossoming of technologies role in our reconciliation of lonely experiences and maintaining close social interactions. While access to mobile devices can empower connections with pre-existing relationships, it can also harm the general sense of solitude and ability to meet personal and social standards on a grander scale. The ability to connect through technology then becomes the compromise that chatting online is "better than nothing".

A few recommended edits: "As a precursor to her novel" I think you mean "preamble" not "precursor" (or even "introduction"). And, novel is not a synonym for "book." Turkle's is a work of non-fiction, so you have to refer to it as a book.Cathygaborusf (talk) 21:59, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Turkle gave a talk for Google about her book Reclaiming Conversation.

Carolineskrobak (talk) 17:07, 18 April 2018 (UTC)carolineskrobak

Sherry Turkle has spent over 30 years studying the psychology of human interaction with technology and the repercussions of this. I would like to discuss some of her points from the Ted Talk she gave to further everyone's understanding of what Turkle has accomplished between the time of graduating from Harvard and finishing her formal education and writing her first book. Mmalioto (talk) 21:47, 22 April 2018 (UTC) Yes, please add this. Cathygaborusf (talk) 22:00, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

References