Turkles Argument, Essay Example

Introduction

In the TED talk, Sherry Turkle argued the case that we have come to expect more from technology than from each other. This has created a reliance of humans upon technology and as such paradoxically creates loneliness and isolation; this despite our unprecedented ability to connect with people.

There is no doubt that advancement in technology has increased our reliance upon science and machines to facilitate most aspect of our life. We switch on lights for illumination, use numerous electrical household appliances for doing our chores and revert to computers and cell phones for electronic communication via e-mail and social media. This lessens our understanding of technology as we take such appliances for granted and reduces social contact in the physical sense.

Supporting Turkle’s Argument

Within the context of my own family setting we are very widely geographically dispersed and we rely upon modern communication to keep in touch. This means the use of phones, computer e-mail, computer software like Facebook and Twitter ( referred to as social media). This has enabled the group of family and friends to remain in contact but it is not really the same as having physical social interaction and as such it is a bitter/sweet thing. On the positive side we would lose contact as a social group without the modern technology available and on the negative side it offers a sense of loneliness and isolation and to an extent makes you feel sad that those close to you are both a long way away and not an integral part of your lives.

This sense of social isolation is true for many immigrant families that have moved to North America from other parts of the world. Technology like Jets has made transportation and movement throughout the globe much easier. Many people leave their old lives behind in order to seek better prospects in another country and our nation has been founded upon immigrants and we have built an infrastructure based upon the railroad and advanced technology.

Human beings are essentially social animals and need one another for mental stimulation and support. Technology has intervened and offered many substitutes that move us away from the very fabric of our creation. We have reached the stage now that many people cannot comprehend what life would be like without all of the technology that supports our everyday lives. Television has provided global coverage of events around the world and took this directly into our homes and private lives. Consider how devastating it must be for Syrian people living abroad and seeing their own country being torn apart by Civil war or the recent uprisings and brutality emerging in parts of North Africa. In many regards the technology makes us suffer from ‘information overload’ and the inability to comprehend all of the data we receive from the world around us. This often leads to us retreating into the confines of our own world and becoming more socially isolated.

The advent of technology has created a more lazy society and people are less inclined to learn and discover how to do things for themselves. Technology has made it easy for us. If we need light or heat we simply flick a switch. In many regards we are losing the physical interaction with people through sports, meetings and other social interaction. The concept of teleworking and people working from home on computers, seen as a significant cost saving for companies, has further diminished social interaction and increased our sense of isolation. In some regards we have allowed technology to desensitise our world and take less responsibility for our individual actions.

The horrifying events of the Tsunami in Japan illustrated both the power of nature and our reliance on technology. In this case nuclear technology to supply power to the Eastern Seaboard of Japan. The elimination of the nuclear power plant in the area contributed to both radioactive pollution and the elimination of electricity for a vast region. This bringing the area to a standstill with the inability of light or power to deal with the aftermath and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

The reality is that we are now totally reliant upon our technology for survival and other than certain nomadic tribes and parts of the third world we could not survive without it. The danger may not emerge from a superiority contest between man and machines but more scientific evolution in the field of genetic engineering and the potential cloning of humans with modified DNA structures that will make them resistant to killer diseases but may create a similarity index between a new race of humans with less individual character and distinguishing features.

Conclusions

Scientists throughout time have stated that we will not be able to stop the pace of technology. It is however astounding that in the last 100 years we have achieved greater progress than the preceding one thousand years. Perhaps the most important advances of technology will be that in the field of medicine that will determine our capacity to survive on the planet. Today we have a situation that has medicine wrapped up in a structured and controlled framework of ethical research and standards. Advances in technology are increasing the human lifespan. What Turkle must realise is that technology is purely a result of mankind’s evolution and progress here on Earth. It defines our own limitations and abilities but other than that has no real credibility. We must assume responsibility for defining our own level of social interaction.