Technological Communication, Essay Example

Turkle makes the argument that in the present state of our culture, technology such as cell phones and computers have caused us to trade the natural form of conversation for these connections.  She claims that tis situation is detrimental to the state of our society and our associations with one another.  In order to engage in real conversation, she claims that it is important for people to create ways to have discussions outside of the realm of these technological devices.

I agree with Turkle’s argument that it is important to get away from these technological devices in order to maintain our relationships with one another.  Instead of engaging in the technological conversations involving emailing, texting, or the utilization of social media outlets, it is important for people to have real world relationships with one another.  This is important to not only the interpersonal skills of the individuals, so that they will be able to communicate effectively with others, but also helps to improve the overall stability of the social context of which they are a part.

By communicating more and more through these outlets, people begin to have trivial conversations with one another that no longer lead to meaningful connections that are important to the stability of society.   For this reason, people should begin to have conversations outside of this context, in order to have real world interactions that will help them to grow as individuals.  This is an important part of life, in other words, interacting with people in order to grow.  This helps to strengthen the bonds of these individuals and provides them with more meaningful relationships.

Turkle discusses the importance of having face to face conversations, which move at a much slower pace than online or technological interactions. This helps people to process the information that they receive, and to clarify anything that they do not quite fully understand. In this way people are able to learn things and have a more solid foundations of their knowledge. The rise of technological communication, however, moves much quicker, causing people to make do with receiving only a partial amount of information, the rest of which they may have to supplement with information that they find on the internet or another resource.  The importance of communication, therefore, goes much deeper than the social circumstances of individuals having conversations.  The dissemination of information is also growing at a much larger rate, which makes it more difficult for our minds to fully process everything.

The issue with Turkle’s argument, though, is that it doesn’t seem to take into account the ability that these technologies provide for people to maintain their connections from long distances.  While it is important for people who are near one another to have interactions outside of these technological environments, those who are far removed from one another could actually benefit from having the ability to share information with one another freely and quickly.  The positive aspects of being able to communicate in this way should not be overlooked.  While there are issues related to the changing climate of communication, there are also beneficial outcomes to the situation as well.  This, coupled with the dissemination of information to individuals that would have otherwise been unable to obtain it, is an important concept to consider in this conversation.