What Makes Us Human? by Cindy Messina

Why did my 16 year old daughter have such difficulty calling her softball coach to find out if her softball game was cancelled due to rain? Why does my niece seem to be insecure about having a face to face conference with her college professor when she was in need of tutoring? Why does my 28 year old son prefer to write quick texts to his dad in lieu of calling him to give him the same message? Why do I prefer to text my best friend well wishes for her first day back to work after maternity leave over calling her or visiting her the day before she has to go back to work? What is technology doing to us as human beings?

Joseph Weizenbaum started his career programming artificial intelligence as a means for emotional therapy and ended his career questioning the ethical relationship between technology and human life. He made a distinction between deciding and choosing. One is the product of judgment the other is a calculation. He is quoted as saying, “It is the capacity to choose that ultimately makes us human.” I see this trend continuing and becoming ever present with each new “social” and “communication” application being developed, marketed, and used by the masses and becoming a way of life. Sherry Turkel piggybacks on his supposition.

Sherry Turkel is a leader in the field in technology who wrote a book entitled “Alone Together”. She, too, questions what technology is doing to us as human beings and how it is retarding our ability to relate to one another and how human encounters are growing fewer. With the use of technology we have the ability to make contact with anyone in the world at any time, yet she asserts that we are all suffering from feelings of loneliness. She advocates for direct human connections through conversation. Furthermore, technology, although good in countless ways, is contributing to the shortening of children’s’ attention spans. As an educator, I am struck by how this is phenomenon is not conducive to quality learning. In fact, I am wondering if any of my TIE classmates were struck by the irony that I utilized a Web2.0 application to simulate a “conversation” with Sherry Turkel.

Remember being told, “keep your elbows off the table”? I have a friend who insists that there is “no texting at the table”. Today I saw a post on pinterest.com that had a picture of a pretty basket a mother places by her front door in which visitors are invited to deposit their phones. The sign on the basket says, “Put your phones in the basket and socialize with the people here. They are awesome.”

Conversation With Sherry Turkle
by: Cmessy

 Presentation on Sherry Turkel