The current technological advances in the world have been of greater impact to the society. We are connected in a technological world that is characterized with hi-tech devices such as phones, laptops, and other advanced gadgets. This has made communication easily thus playing a critical role towards connecting people in the social life via text messages, calls, video calls, emails and social media platforms. Therefore, technology is seductive as long as it satisfies ones’ need (Turkle, p. 1).
How does it feel living a life full of diverse technological devices? Is it tiring to live such a life or worth living? This is what most of the people are asking themselves including Sherry Turkle, the author of the book “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.” In chapter eight of her book, Sherry Turkle a professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT asserts that people nowadays are all “technological cyborgs” as life without the technological devices would probably seem impossible (Turkle, p. 1).
The author emphasizes on how technology advances have impacted the millennium generation in terms of exposure to the internet which has further affected their up bring and social welfare. We are masters of ourselves and thus our duty to shape your lives and not allow ourselves to fully commit to recent technological advances. Turkle mentions that although we may enjoy the technological networking, there are huge implications that are associated with such technologies. The author is rather neutral on the current technological advances in the world through depicting both the beneficial and disadvantaged sides of being exposed to the internet (Turkle, p. 1).
A large percentage of the world’s population is dedicated to the digital world. The use of mobile phones and computers on a daily basis have become the center for our social, economic and professional interactions. With the help of internet access, the digital devices have allowed us to accomplish more and more daily tasks not to forget building our social life. Despite the digital technology helping us develop an outstanding social life, it has had some major implications for the nature of our relationships. Therefore, Sherry Turkle, in his book Alone Together, she explores how our dependence on technology has affected our human relationship (Garcia, p. 1).
As the title suggests, Turkle argues that we are busy demanding more from technology and less from family, friends and even co-workers. In her previous work, Turkle has never been a critic of what technology could bring about but things changed in this recent work Alone Together. She presents controversial views of how technology is replacing complex pieces and its impacts on relationships. She, therefore, divides the book Alone Together is thus divided into two narratives, the first part focusing on the social robots and the second part is based on the relationship with people (Shatzer, p. 1).
The first part of the book introduces the narrative of “the robotic moment,” which involves robots used to provide closeness to individuals who are isolated. Turkle describes how robots are used as a substitute for other people or things in form of Tamagotchi’s, My Real Baby, Furbies and AIBO robot dogs. She also touches on the highly cooperating robots at MIT. Can robots be babysitters? Can they show love and care towards humans? The question is rather complex and difficult to answer since there is an ongoing debate as to whether robots can be programmed and developed to a capacity where they care, love and be in a relationship, which is yet to get a concise conclusion (Shatzer p. 1).
Questions concerning robots becoming caregivers and companions have been on the forefront on the world news nowadays. A robotic caregiver in the form of My Real Baby was an example of a sociable robot that Turkle used in this book. My Real Baby was turned to a babysitter, this robotic babysitter idea came as a result of the many children who are being left alone and the fact that babysitters are hard to attend to the baby in case of an emergency hence the idea of My Real Baby. My Real Baby would replace the human version, thus integrating itself into the daily life activities of a caregiver. Turkle observations showed that children with active robotic babysitters would prefer keeping their robots while those with boring human babysitters would rather prefer robotic babysitters.
With the popularity of robotic toys, Japanese designers are claiming that robotic baby seals are having significant positive psychological effects on patients in nursing homes. In an interview with an elderly woman named “Miriam” suffering from depression, Turkle notices how the woman finds comfort holding “Paro” a robotic baby seal which serves as a therapeutic therapy to the depressed patients. While Miriam is comforting Paro, the robotic baby seal responds with purring and loving eye contact with her as it had been programmed to do so. The robotic sociable baby seal reduces Miriam’s moments of sadness and depression and thus serving as therapeutic tools in nursing homes (Garcia, p. 3).
Contrary to the interaction between Miriam and Paco being rather harmless and reflective, Turkle sees this intimacy acts from sociable robots like Paro as an interference to the nature of human relationships. This is evident as in the case of Miriam who was comforting her Paco instead of her son. This element of intimacy is what concerns Turkle, she sees the danger that the robotic Paro has brought to Miriam when she finds comfort with Paro instead of her son, while in the real sense she’s been alone. Paro is a robot and therefore not capable of truly sharing a lot with the depressed Miriam as her son would have done. Therefore, the moment we substitute our interactions with sociable robots in place of humans is the time we completely accept and embrace “The Robotic Moment” (Garcia, p. 3).
Designers of these robots’ ague that their interventions will have a positive impact to both the children and adults as it will enable us to put into practice our relationship skills in the pursuit of eliminating the issue of loneliness. As in the case of the 8-year-old girl in Turkle’s work, the girl expresses her feelings to a little robot dog “Aibo” due to the sounds that the dog makes. Therefore, not only do children pay attention to such robots, but also adults who assume that robots too demand care by either acting as caregivers to the robots or expecting robots to take care of them (Ekbia, p. 240).
Turkle, therefore, foresees a behavioral change in humans and a psychological risk behind the robotic moment. She argues that the robot reduces human being relationships with each other and at no point will a robot become a companion since it’s not capable of doing what human being can do. Giving the robot's room in our society will be a suicidal thing as it is an act of diminishing and betraying the norms of human behaviors, especially human interaction (Ekbia, p. 55).
Part II of the book explores the risks, anxieties, and betrayals that the digital technology and the internet have exerted on the everyday life. The risks of the second part are almost similar to that of the robotic moments which are the sense of togetherness whereas we are alone as depicted in the different sociable robots in the book. The digital technology and the internet has similar risks where it eliminates loneliness while physical-wise we are alone. The act of treating robotic objects as humans and online humans as objects is yet another twist in the book where Turkle illustrates as a way of reducing human relationship (Ekbia, p. 154).
The digital generation is totally absorbed in the world of internet and thus expects technology to do everything for them including learning, typing and anything you think. For example, in any social situation, the millennials will expect every moment to be recorded via phone cameras and digital cameras. Despite the ability of the digital world of technology enabling us to multitask, the implications associated with it are enormous in terms of giving attention to people. Turkle uses Audrey, a teenager to illustrate how the digital technology has taken much of attention to people in the world. Audrey prefers texting over phone calls simply because she can manage to text multiple people at the same time and thus being drawn to the quantity of the conversations contrary to the quality of the information which is critical (Behr, p. 11).
Another example that Turkle uses to illustrate the risks that the digital technology and the internet have brought is through Adam. Adam is a songwriter and a singer as well, he faces disappointments in life and therefore seeks to overcome them through building a circle of friends and spending much of his time in participating in the shooter game. Adam finds it helpful towards his efforts to minimize life disappointments. The author heavily criticizes Adam’s approach towards dealing with life disappointments which she argues that his approach has no real effect (Ekbia, p. 223).
The central theme in Turkle’s arguments includes the computing and stimulation-verses-real implications of technology. The simulation-versus-real technological debate continues to be a metaphor to many individuals since the meaningful end has never come to an agreement. With the current computing world, the debate is rather taking a new twist as to whether the stimulated experiences by digital devices are for real. She argues that stimulations offer the warmth of technological cocoon (Ekbia, p. 228).
The stimulated warmth of technology is perhaps the best confessional sites as it provides confessors with an opportunity to relieve their emotions. Turkle then takes a contradicting remark that states that argues that the internet community is rather a not the best confession site as it exposes people’s troubles instead of connecting people who care about one another. It may further limit us from acting to our troubles by giving us that sense of belonging and security. These are among the issues that Turkle reflects in her book Alone Together which later turned her into a psychoanalytic observer in the current society.
Turkle and her prestigious work in the book Alone Together have taken lots of attention and sympathies from the different target people on how the digital world holds unto human beings. The things that are explained in Turkle’s book are some of the most pressing issues that the present-day society is experiencing. This book has raised some questions of major concern to the society including What’s next to our humanity and identity when we embrace robots as companions? What is next since we prefer using websites to make ourselves busy instead of engaging in active conversations with others? Are we willing to leave our children in the hands of robots while away? Are we comfortable when robots are taking care of our elderly parents and grandparents in nursing homes? (Ekbia, p. 289).
The author explains some of the listed questions concerning technological advances and their status which seem to lack answers. Turkle frames the questions as quandaries, and that there seems to be only one choice between robotic caregivers and loneliness, texting and no-phone-calls, virtual love and romance-free life. Turkle argues that the main way out to find the answers to the questions is trough breaking the frame, questioning every single premise that gives rise to the technological advances risks, anxieties and betrayals (Ekbia, p. 289).
Among some of the questions that Turkle suggests are singled out as the necessary conversations which should be taken into consideration if really, we want to avoid the potential risks of technology and their quandary framework. It is rather difficult not to notice Turkle’s character as one-sided about the technology and its possible implications. The robotic moment and the internet have been the major contributors to the recent societal evils that we are experiencing in today’s world (Garcia, p.3).
Cyberbullying is also one of the topics that Turkle puts a strong emphasis on in her book Alone Together. She suggests that cyberbullying incidents have been on the rise since it is easier to bully one another on the internet, unlike face-to-face. The internet offers a platform that disinhibits someone from taking full responsibility for what he/she says compared to the face-to-face situation (NPR, p. 4).
Despite the many criticisms from technology advances and its anticipated expectations, they have greatly created new ways for socializing with people, enhanced effective means of political participation and advancing novel tools in terms of innovations. Although the book Alone Together draws arguments that attract some form of Neo-Luddism, Turkle is not by any means advocating for movements against technology. Instead, she is critiquing our technology stereotype and our expectations to technology (Garcia, P. 4).
Turkle is trying to pass a message through his work on Alone Together, she is calling for actions to be taken concerning our relationship and technology. She is recommending that the target group (Readers) take into consideration the necessary steps that will help minimize the conflicts that the technology has brought to the society. She encourages the society to avoid using phones in public and social meetings and to think critically on their respective privacy issues in the internet platforms. Despite the many technological suggestions that Turkle is offering via this book, it is nevertheless the aim of the book, as the book is aimed at showing how technology has changed the society to an extent of becoming obsessed with it and thus forgetting the aspect of the human relationship (Garcia, p. 4).
In this book, Turkle includes her day to day experiences with those of individual research which makes the book much more appealing than the many technology associated books. The main objective of the book is to enable us to live a better life in the presence of technology. The book allows us to look at what is right and wrong concerning the technological advances. Therefore, the book encourages us to think critically about how technology is relevant in our lives (Turkle, p. 4).
Turkle goes to an extent of emphasizing on the digital dependency problem among the natives and its impacts on human relationships. Not only does Turkle include the digital generation in his work but also interviews with the elderly. This shows the extent of how technology has prevailed towards establishing its dependency theory to the young generation and the elderly irrespective of age as a factor. Turkle is, therefore, able to show how technology advances are impacting the society at large (Garcia, p. 4).
Turkle suggests that the advanced networking is preparing human beings for a relationship with fewer expectations than what robots provide. She continues narrating how we are no longer connected to each other but mainly on the basis of how close our mobile phones are to us. This is evident where people in public places tend to use their phones as a strategy to avoid people’s interference. This is a complete description of how technology has inflicted towards people’s perception in terms of interacting with others. The continuous use of mobile phone is blackmailing us towards the sense of togetherness whereas we are just alone thus the phrase “Alone Together” (Turkle, p.157).
Conclusion
The book Alone Together by Sherry Turkle is one in a lifetime book the illustrates how the recent technological advances have had some major implications in the society at large. The author has been critical with how technology has influenced the society to completely commit to the technological devices and forgetting personal relationships. Technology has helped reshape many aspects of our lives, not to forget its importance in offering us the life we ought to live. Through the robotic moment, we have seen some positive things concerning technology as in the case of Aibo, Paro and My Real Baby.
The author was effective towards passing her technology message via her wonderful literature in Alone Together. It was clear that the author was a strong critique of the recent technological advances and their impacts on the society. The book leaves the target group (Readers) with questions to ask themselves. These questions are aimed at liberating the society from technology, giving them solutions and advocating for the minimal use of advanced gadgets. Turkle gives suggestions as to what should be done to eliminate this global issue. She argues that it is her responsibility to become a psychoanalytic observer in the society. Sherry Turkle was rather successful in her quest towards how technology has shaped today’s society.
Work Cited
Behr, Rafael. "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle ? Review." The Guardian, 30 Jan. 2011, www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jan/30/alone-together-sherry-turkle-review.
Ekbia, Hamid R. "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle. New York: Basic Books, 2011. 384 pp. $28.95 (ISBN 9780465010219)." (2012): 1897-1898.
Garcia, Patricia. "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle." InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 8.1 (2012).
NPR. "In Constant Digital Contact, We Feel 'Alone Together'." NPR.org, 17 Oct. 2012, = www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together.
Shatzer, Jacob. "Review Sherry Turkle, Alone Together:Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (New York: Basic, 2011). 360 pp." Welcome, May 2011,
Turkle, Sherry. "The Tethered Self: Technology Reinvents Intimacy and Solitude." Continuing Higher Education Review75 (2011): 28-31. www.techandreligion.com/Resources/Turkle%20review.pdf. Turkle, Sherry. "Alone together." (2011): 272.
