The typical U.S. teenager sends 3,500 text messages a month on portable digital devices, and American children send eight texts for every phone call they make or receive. This same generation grew up with Furbies and other robotic friends. While all this technology might seem harmless or even beneficial to the masses, Sherry Turkle argues that it carries risks. Sherry is an MIT professor and clinical psychologist, as well as the author of a new book is called “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.”
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Comments [3]
I link therefore I am.
I listened to Shelly yesterday on the radio and it was very interesting. I think it's like we're like a herd of Buffalo running towards the cliff. We really don't know what the endgame will be with all these advanced technology. It does not create jobs.
I agree that physical contact is much more important to relationships. However, all this wailing about text messaging is getting annoying. I prefer texts to calling. I only use a cell phone; I often find phone calls intrusive, and let them go to voicemail when I am out or at work. Texting is far less intrusive to my daily life. It takes a few seconds to respond to a text, I can answer when it's convenient, and it doesn't cause me to ignore the person I am with.
As far as the kids and communication, what is so different between texting and talking on the phone? This is what adolescents do, because they don’t have the autonomy to see their friends whenever they please. Remember the popular image of teenaged girls gabbing on the phone. Now at least they aren’t clogging up the line.
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