¶ … Flight from Conversation," Sherry Turkle argues that technology is changing the way we interact with one another. As communicating via technology becomes the norm, we reshape our interactions with others to give us more control over those interactions. Conversation -- and other, deeper connections -- become more difficult to achieve.

I agree with Turkle's point. For most of human history, our ability to communicate with each other was governed by time and space. Today, we find that neither of these things matters anymore. You can awake in the morning to messages from all over the world. What's more is that you can manage how and when you see those messages and respond to them. My own experience shows clearly that we do take the opportunity to manage our interactions with others as a means of ensuring that we avoid the messiness of human interaction.

Turkle also makes a valuable point that the way we see ourselves and the world also becomes colored by this constant interaction with technology. By relying on an interface, our perceptions of the world are filtered through the technology. When we can only express ourselves through this filter, even the way we see each other becomes filtered through the technology. Her advice to foster conversation, and indeed other forms of communication that rely time and space to govern them, is advice well worth taking. When I think of my own life, it is clear that when I take the time to forge meaningful relationships with others I am in a much stronger position. The dynamic of communication, and indeed of the relationship, is distinctly different. Those are the richest relationships I have, not the ones I filter through my technology. I fully agree with Turkle's argument in favor of conversation.

Works Cited:

Turkle, S. (2012). The flight from conversation. New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all