Alfie T.

Saromines
BSCE – 1
MW – 10:00PM – 11:30PM

Reflection on Chapter 2: The Flight From Conversation

In this chapter, Sherry Turkle criticizes the amount of dependence this generation has on
technology. While this is obviously true, I feel that it should not be criticized, but praised and
enhanced. It is not the fault of digital natives that technology has been everywhere throughout
the entirety of their lifetimes. Children are now brought up on iPad apps, and even cell phones.
Of course as they grow older technology is going to be an integral and inevitable part of their
lives. Instead of criticizing this new lifestyle, people of older generations should embrace and
involve themselves in this new era of change and prosperity. Technology has made such wildly
significant progression in the health, happiness, and convenience of the human race. Of course
there are the outlier stories of the downsides of technology, but those will inevitably occur due to
the vast and free nature of technology.
Take for example my older brother, a recent college graduate, who has just landed a job in New
York City-except not really. Though the company has headquarters in New York City, he always
works from home. This prevents wasting time commuting an hour and a half to another state
everyday, and costs of transportation. Everything that my brother does is via the computer. The
only way that he has met some of his coworkers and bosses is through video chat. This goes to
prove that replacing “real conversation” with technology is not just a thing of the younger
generations. Everybody is doing it! I do not see the replacement of face-to-face conversation as
a cop out or something that has slowly begun to happen as a result of lack of communication.
Talking via social media, video chat, and online messaging is just convenient. Also, as long as it
continues to happen there will be no need for children to learn how to communicate face-to-face
as often as they would have a few decades ago.
The last point of Sherry Turkle’s that I would like to reflect and respectably disagree with is that
of, “Most of all, we need to remember…to listen to one another, even the boring bits, because it
is often in unedited moments, moments in which we hesitate and stutter and go silent, that we
reveal ourselves to one another.” Though I can see how this statement does apply to real life,
the contrary is also true. During my last minutes with my best friend before he left for London for
three months, there were no words exchanged. As he got out of my car, all he said was “I’ll miss
you! Goodbye!” Then, I drove away down the road back to my house. As soon as I checked my
phone I was bombarded with messages from him saying many heartfelt things that he could not
have mustered the courage to say in person. My point in the end is that technology can also
bring people closer and actually give the opportunity to reveal yourself to another person even
more than in a traditional conversation.
Overall, I believe this is a changing generation, and that the use of technology should be
embraced as opposed to criticized.