Draft 400-500 words
A conversation is an informal talk in which news and ideas are exchanged and involves at least two or more people. I feel as though conversations are more than a way of trading information with others; They allow me to make deeper connections with my friends, family, professors, and acquaintances. It makes it easier for us to talk and learn more about each other. In Sherry Turkle’s memoir “The Empathy Diaries,” she touches upon the importance of conversation in our lives and how it provides us with empathy and connections. Personal boundaries, limitations, and other outside forces, such as technology, determine a person’s ability to communicate with others. Face-to-face conversations expand our emotional intelligence, which guides us to deeper connections with people and ourselves.
As the director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at MIT, Sherry Turkle, puts it, “Afraid of being alone, we struggle to pay attention to ourselves. And what suffers is our ability to pay attention to each other” (Turkle 348). Essentially, Turkle is conveying that in this day and age, technology is such a prominent form of communication and is constantly evolving. People tend to rely on computers, phones, iPads, etc., to communicate with others, whether it be through games, social media, texting, or whatever. Turkle mentions that we are afraid to be alone; in turn, we use those as a way to feel more connected when it disconnects us more from the real-world communication skills we need to connect on a deep human level. In my life, I use my phone to stay connected to my friends and family who cannot be with me. However, the negative side to that positive is that I spend too much time on my phone, causing anxiety when the time to talk to people in person arises. Which results in making it even more difficult to form connections. Turkle agrees when she writes, “If we can’t find our own center, we lose confidence in what we have to offer others… We struggle to pay attention to each other, and what suffers is our ability to know ourselves” (Turkle 348). The essence of Turkle’s argument is that the technology we use provides such a big distraction that, including me, many people can find it hard sometimes to stay focused on real-life conversations. We always think about the next text, the next call, and simply the next notification to pop up and remove us from some social situation.
Draft 800 words
A conversation is an informal talk in which news and ideas are exchanged and involves at least two or more people. In Sherry Turkle’s essay “The Empathy Diaries,” she touches upon the importance of conversation in our lives, how it provides us with empathy and connections, and the impact technology has to destroy that. Personal boundaries, limitations, and other outside forces, such as said technology, determine a person’s ability to communicate with others. Face-to-face conversations expand our emotional intelligence, which guides us to deeper connections with people and ourselves. During recent class discussions of “The Empathy Diaries,” a controversial debate has been about whether technology is diminishing our ability to have empathy and genuine human connections through conversation. On the one hand, some argue that it makes our connections stronger. From this perspective, it brings us closer together because technology allows us to reach each other from great distances all around the world. On the other hand, however, one can argue, as in me, that technology causes us to check out, more often than not, providing us with distraction.
In the words of American sociologist Turkle, one of this view’s leading proponents, “We begin to think of ourselves as a tribe of one, loyal to our own party. We check our messages during a quiet moment or when the pull of the online world simply feels irresistible. Even children text each other rather than talk face-to-face with friends – or, for that matter, rather than daydream, where they can take time alone with their thoughts”(Turkle 344). According to this view, the use of our technology causes us to only think about what is on the screen, in the phone, not focus on ourselves and friends and family. In sum, this is alarming because it threatens to weaken our empathy and human connections, creating an even more apparent divide. My own view is that technology causes a greater divide. In-person communication is more than a way of trading information with others; It allows me to make deeper connections with my friends, family, professors, and acquaintances. Though I recognize that technology can be helpful in connecting us sometimes, I still maintain that overall, it will only cause more anxiety, less empathy, and fewer connections through conversation. For example, my cousin, who is around ten years old, always plays video games, watches videos on his iPad, or cannot be at the table without using his mother’s phone. He gets so sucked into the temptation of technology that it is hard to get him to step away from it and play outside like my friends and I used to do. Although some might object that “this is just the world we live in now,” I would reply that he should make connections outside of video games and learn to have real-life fun with his friends and honest conversations with them as well. Ever since COVID-19, our abilities to be social and get personal have hit a tough blow, especially for the children who were so young and raised during that time, such as my cousin. The issue here is vital because talking with each other makes it easier for us to form words out loud, think, and learn more about each other.
As the director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at MIT, Sherry Turkle, puts it, “Afraid of being alone, we struggle to pay attention to ourselves. And what suffers is our ability to pay attention to each other”(Turkle 348). Essentially, Turkle is conveying that in this day and age, technology is such a prominent form of communication and is constantly evolving. People tend to rely on computers, phones, iPads, etc., to communicate with others, whether it be through video games, social media, texting, or whatever. Turkle mentions that we are afraid to be alone. In turn, we use those as a way to feel more connected when, in reality, it disconnects us more from the real-world communication skills we need to connect on a deep human level. In my life, I use my phone to stay connected to my friends and family who cannot be with me. However, the negative side to that positive is that I spend too much time on my phone, causing anxiety when the time to talk to people in person arises. Which results in making it even more difficult to form connections. Turkle agrees when she writes, “If we can’t find our own center, we lose confidence in what we have to offer others… We struggle to pay attention to each other, and what suffers is our ability to know ourselves”(Turkle 348). The essence of Turkle’s argument is that the technology we use provides such a big distraction that, including me, many people can find it hard sometimes to stay focused on real-life conversations. We always think about the next text, the next call, and simply the next notification to pop up and remove us from some social situation.
Draft 1000+ words(formatting is off)
Emerson Giella
Prof. Jesse Miller
English Comp 110
27 September 2024
title
A conversation is an informal talk in which news and ideas are exchanged, and it involves at least two or more people. In Sherry Turkle’s essay The Empathy Diaries, she touches upon the importance of conversation in our lives, how it provides us with empathy and connections, and the influence technology has to destroy that. Personal boundaries, limitations, and other outside forces, such as technology, determine a person’s ability to communicate with others. Face-to-face conversations expand our emotional intelligence, which guides us to deeper connections with people and ourselves. During recent class discussions of The Empathy Diaries, a controversial debate has been about whether technology is diminishing our ability to have empathy and genuine human connections through conversation. On the one hand, some argue that it makes our connections stronger. From this perspective, it brings us closer together because technology allows us to reach each other from great distances all around the world. On the other hand, however, one can argue (as in me) that technology causes us to check out, more often than not, providing us with distraction.
In my life, I use my phone to stay connected to my friends and family who cannot be with me. However, the negative side to that positive is that I spend too much time on my phone, causing anxiety when the time to talk to people in person arises. Which results in making it even more difficult to form connections. Turkle and I agree when she writes, “If we can’t find our own center, we lose confidence in what we have to offer others… We struggle to pay attention to each other, and what suffers is our ability to know ourselves”(Turkle 348). The essence of Turkle’s argument is that the technology we use provides such a big distraction that it makes it hard for many people, including me, sometimes to stay focused on real-life conversations. We always think about the next text, the next call, and simply the next notification to pop up and remove us from some social situation.
Furthermore, in the words of American sociologist Turkle, one of this view’s leading proponents, “We begin to think of ourselves as a tribe of one, loyal to our own party. We check our messages during a quiet moment or when the pull of the online world simply feels irresistible. Even children text each other rather than talk face-to-face with friends – or, for that matter, rather than daydream, where they can take time alone with their thoughts”(Turkle 344). According to this view, the use of our technology causes us to only think about what is on the screen, in the phone, not focus on ourselves and friends and family. In sum, then, this is alarming because it threatens to weaken our empathy and human connections, creating an even more evident divide. My own view is that technology causes an additional significant divide. In-person communication is more than a way of trading information with others; It allows me to make deeper connections with my friends, family, professors, and acquaintances.
Although I recognize that technology can be helpful in connecting us sometimes, I still maintain that overall, it will only cause more anxiety, less empathy, and fewer connections through conversation. Turkle said it best, “We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other”(Turkle 344). For example, my cousin, who is around ten years old, always plays video games, watches videos on his iPad, or cannot be at the table without using his mother’s phone. He gets so sucked into the temptation of technology that it is hard to get him to step away from it and play outside like my friends and I used to do. Even though some might object that “this is just the world we live in now,” I would reply that he should make connections outside of video games and learn to have real-life fun with his friends and honest conversations with them as well. Ever since COVID-19, our abilities to be social and get personal have hit a tough blow, especially for the children who were so young and raised during that time, such as my cousin. The issue here is vital because talking with each other makes it easier for us to form words out loud, think, and learn more about each other.
Moreover, as the director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at MIT, Turkle, puts it, “Afraid of being alone, we struggle to pay attention to ourselves. And what suffers is our ability to pay attention to each other”(Turkle 348). Essentially, Turkle is conveying that in this day and age, technology is such a prominent form of communication and is constantly evolving. People tend to rely on computers, phones, iPads, etc., to communicate with others, whether it be through video games, social media, texting, or whatever. Turkle mentions that we are afraid to be alone. In turn, we use those technological objects as a way to feel more connected because we have access to them. She also says that we are all “forever elsewhere”(Turkle 344). She means that with all that distracts us, as I have said before, all we do is wait for the next notification. That makes it hard for us to stay in the moment and be present in what we are currently doing. Our minds are never focused on the now and always wander to different places besides the stuff right in front of us. I can relate to this because I find myself constantly thinking of other things when doing something or while I am in conversation with someone.
Overall, the impact technology has on society and our ability to empathically communicate with one another in person is detrimental. The fact of the matter is that technology is all around us. It is not going away; it is only advancing. Nevertheless, what really matters is how we choose to utilize it. We can choose to connect with loved ones or, like some people, make poor choices and use the internet to be cruel toward each other. Or, like most people, use technology as a quick fix, a distraction. There are ways we can use this resource to help and use it for good. Just because we have access to it does not mean we need to be on it all the time. In reality, it simply disconnects us from the real-world communication skills we need in order to better connect on a deep and genuine human level.
