Connected, but alone?

They say technology is the greatest contributor to the development of mankind. They say it has changed our lives for the better. But is it invariably so? The cultural analyst Sherry Turkle, who specializes in the study of how technology is shaping the modern social life, proves it wrong in her speech “Connected, but alone?”, introducing us the negative effects our devices have on human communication.

It is worrying to Shelley, how technology is redefining our understanding of the very basic idea of what communication is.  Communication is the exchange of information between at least two sides. It is a mutual relationship – the one in possession of the info needs the other to listen and reflect, while the other needs someone to let him in on the topic in the first place. However, by looking towards robots and similar machinery for company, we are actually breaking this sense of mutuality because it is simply easier that way. In this case, we have control over the flow of communication – we don’t need to take into account the other sides’ views and can shape the conversation to fit our comfort zone, leaving no chance for spontaneity. The former is what people fear the most about real-time social interaction because it exposes them with no way to click the undo button.

While making us unable to freely socialize, technology has also robbed us of the ability to cope with loneliness, according to Shelley. We spend the better part of our days in the virtual world, trying to constantly find company. However, it is in solitude where we can explore and define ourselves, which is necessary to be able to appreciate those surrounding us. If we are disconnected from our deeper selves, we turn to others to compensate the lack of self-assurance, therefore using them rather as “spare parts”, as Shelley put it, than companions. So as long as we keep running away from solitude into the depths of the Internet, we are actually falling deeper and deeper into isolation in reality. Therefore, it is of fundamental importance that we try to plug off once in a while to learn to deal with the company of our own selves.

However, Shelley finds it is not all that bad. She is strongly optimistic, that the onslaught of technology is simply a touchstone on our way to better, more true-hearted communication. It may actually be considered a tool to help us affirm our values and direction, to make us appreciate the company of one another over all else. Because, in the end, technology is just an emotionless bundle of codes and machinery which can offer us nothing more but what we know to ask for. We force it to work our way by programming them to act in a certain way under certain circumstances. Real human relationships, on the contrary, take unexpected turns and constantly surprise us since we can never know what the other person has in store for us. It is this same spontaneity we are so afraid of that actually emotionally attracts us to each other the way that computers will never be able to.

Technology is great. There is no denying that. But there is no such thing that is all-good, so we have to be on a constant lookout for its negative effects. As it endangers face-to-face human communication, it important to once again redefine the ways we see communication in order to ensure the sustainability of the social species that we as Homo sapiens sapiens are. 


HM

Vocabulary Extention: Adjectives

Cunningham's chummy dropping of the ‘Mr’ from his name did not fool him for a moment: the withdrawn and irascible figure he had encountered in mid-afternoon was nearer the soul of this man than mine accommodating and smiling host of the Skein of Geese's oak-panelled restaurant. (Into the blue. Goddard, Robert. London: Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990, pp. 119-225.)

Cunninghami semulik “härra”-tiitlist loobumine ei lollitanud teda hetkekski: see endassetõmbunud ja kergesti ärrituv tegelane, keda ta keskpärastlõunal kohanud oli, sarnanes veel vähem selle mehe hingega kui tammepaneelidega kaetud “Haneparve” restorani vastutulelik ja naeratav peremees minuga.

Belief in the devil persisted; for the dying and those ministering to them, Satan was no figment of a distraught imagination. (The masks of death. Cecil, Robert. Lewes, East Sussex: The Book Guild Ltd, 1991)

Usk kuradisse jäi püsima; surivoodil lebajate ja nende eest hooltitsejate jaoks ei olnud Saatan kõigest hullunud ettekujutluse vili.

It was evident from the young man's circumspect excitement that he thought he'd got his first genuine schizophrenic hypochondriac. (Cast in order of disappearance. Brett, Simon. London: Vicor Gollancz, 1975, pp. 31-192. )

Noormehe ettevaatlikust erutusest oli ilmne, et ta uskus end olevat just kogenud oma esimest ehtsat hullumeelset hüpohondriahoogu.

She felt herself to be still very slightly dazed, disorientated enough to give the impression that she was a disinterested observer of the scene and not quite able to realise that these things were in fact happening to her.(The truth of stone. Mackenzie, David S. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company Ltd, 1991, pp. 99-187)

Ta tundis end veel kergelt uimasena, piisavalt segaduses jätmaks muljet kui stseeni ükskõiksest pealtvaatajast, ning suutmata päriselt taibata, et need asjad olid juhtumas hoopis tema enesega. 

They were not overawed by the forbidding tors and jagged rocks, nor felt themselves threatened by the rolling acres of granite uplands. (Topaz. Bennetts, Pamela. UK: Magna Print Books, 1988, pp. 9-206.)

Nad ei heitunud ähvardavatest kaljutippudest ega sakilistestd kaljudest ega tundund end ohustatuna aakritepikkustest rulluvatest graniitkõrgustikest.

They were both busy people, preoccupied with their work — Robyn with her supervisions and the completion of her PhD, Charles with the demands of his new job — and the thought of having to adjust to another partner, to study their interests and minister to their needs, wearied them in anticipation.(Nice work. Lodge, David. London: Secker & Warburg, 1988, pp. 1-105)

Nad mõlemad olid hõivatud, tööga ülekoormatud inimesed - Robyn oma järelvalve ja doktorikraadi lõpetamisega, Charles uue töö nõudmistega - ja teise partneriga kohanemise, tema huvide tundma õppimise ning vastastikkuse abistamise mõte kurnas neid selle ootuses.

But he was equally unhappy with the typical alternative, with what he saw as the uneasy combination of materialism and immaterialism. (The empiricists. Woolhouse, R S. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, )

Ent ta oli samavõrd õnnetu tüüpilise alternatiiviga, milles ta nägi vaid materialismi ja immaterialismi rahutut kombinatsiooni.

The cocoa-brown eyes were scanning her bewildered expression, and a glint of gentle amusement crept into the steady scrutiny. (Love by Design. Ryan, Kendall  )

Šokolaadipruunid silmad puurisid tema nõutut ilmet ja sellesse vankumatusse läbivaatlusse süvenenud näkku sugenes õrn lõbususenoot.

Already startled by the apparition, the crashing down of the big heavy door completely unnerved me.(Railway ghosts and phantoms. Herbert, W B. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles Publishers plc, 1992, pp. 57-200.)

Ilmutusest niigi ehmunud, lõi suure raske ukse kokku varisemine mu täielikult verest välja.

And the sobbing began again, and to see her so defeated — remembering how gallant she had always been, even in the alley when she had attacked her assailant with her shoe — overwhelmed him. (An American princess. Marshall, Paula. Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, 1993,)

Ja nuuksumine algas taas ning teda nii lööduna näha - mäletades kui vapper ta alati olnud oli, isegi ses kõrvaltänavas oma ründajale vaid kingaga kallale tormates - muserdas teda.

HM