Together...but alone

Both Wesch and Turkle share interesting ideas about technology and our connectedness. If you ask me, I would say they are allies in the conversation around new media and tech. Essentially, they both say we need to focus on our human connection. 

While technology has made great strides in being able to connect us to people halfway across the globe, it also has inhibited us from connecting us to the people across the table. 

We've all done it. We turn our desks into cockpits (as Turkle describes it) with screens -  getting into class or a coffee shop and  pulling out our tablets, laptops, and phone all at once and laying them out in front of us. Or maybe we have been scrolling through our phones when walking to class, or through the store. Maybe having our airpods in our ears as we walk through the park. 

 

We avoid human interaction. (If you ask me, there are so many psychological reasons we do this - but for the purpose of this class I will be focusing on technology.) We build these fortresses with our phones, laptops, and tablets. Please don't ask me when the last time a friend called me up to talk about their day. I decline phone calls and ask that the person text me instead. I scroll endlessly on my phone when I'n waiting in line at the store because what is the alternative? Speaking? to another person?  No thanks.

Wesch and Turkle both get at the idea that we need to refocus human interaction. We need to connect in a way that is meaningful and present. Both in and out of the classroom, we need to take a look at the person. We need to be able to connect with that person and interact with them, and learn from them.