AEN1

Pablo, Alyssa Fiona

SHERRY’S SPEECH ANALYSIS
1. Why is the speech titled "Connected, but Alone"? Explain the implication or
connection of the title to the message/theme of the speech. What insight have
you gained from the speech?
The speech is entitled ‘Connected, but Alone’ because is talking how we are so
“connected” in the digital world, but in reality we were just blinded by it, and
Sherry also found out that “those little devices in our pockets are so
psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do, they change
who we are”. It is exactly the definition of our generation, adolescents and even
grown-up people tend to be more connected in the digital world and feel more
‘comfortable’ because they engage more with each other easily without any
effort; for example, a person can be so good having a conversation with
someone in the text, making jokes, always active, hiding from who he really is,
and once the person goes out in the real world he didn’t know how to start a real
conversation without controlling what he wants to say, thus he wasn’t being
true with himself. We are so distracted by technology and our gadgets that we
forget the real world, that we can’t leave without our phones and missing out
how life good truly is behind the screen.
2. How do people have become "alone together" because of technology?
With technology, people feel much more understood, seen and loved because is
exactly what technology gives. Most likely, people when they feel sad
especially alone, instead of talking with someone who he trusts because he feels
that no one will listen to him or understand him, he would just go to the internet
and open up to a stranger online without even thinking who he/she really is
behind the screen, because people when having a problem they reach for a
device to feel more connected and less alone. Being alone together means that
they feel together ‘digitally’ but not in the physical form, expecting more from
technology and less from each other, and as Sherry Turkle “We have everything
we need to start. We have each other. And we have the greatest chance of
success, if we recognize our vulnerability”. We still can change the way we see
technology, about how we can use technology to lead us to our real selves and
to make this life the best of it.