Sherry Turkle

An engaging look at how technology is undermining our creativity and relationships and how face-to-face conversation can help us get it back.

The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

Reclaiming Conversation

David Young

Good content, makes you think about your own habits of conversation / avoidance : https://www.funkypenguin.co.nz/opinio...

Anish Ravipati

Everyone needs to read this book. Time and time again I see myself idle in group settings in which everyone is glued to their phones, discounting the value of being with each other physically. This book does a great job of exploring the effects of social media and smartphone addiction on families and children alike, and should be considered more of a wake up call for the rest of us.

Yeng Tan

“Loneliness is painful, emotionally and even physically, born from a “want of intimacy” when we need it most, in early childhood. Solitude—the capacity to be contentedly and constructively alone—is built from successful human connection at just that time.”

“But if we don’t have experience with solitude—and this is often the case today—we start to equate loneliness and solitude. This reflects the impoverishment of our experience. If we don’t know the satisfactions of solitude, we only know the panic of loneliness.”

Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground. We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves. We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square. The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity. But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures. Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do. The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.

Michael Friess

The book covers one of the most crucial topics of our time: The emersion of technology into each moment of our life has a huge impact on who we are as individuals, as families and groups, and as society. We need to be aware about this transformation and its impact to make conscious decision and keep essential aspects of humanity alive.

As usual Sherry Turkle puts a light on the topic from as many perspectives as possible: inner dialogue, conversations at the family table, dating, work environment and political discourse. Plus AI and conversations with robots.

Stemming from the social science her style is not to make the point with facts and figures rather with stories and quotes. This makes it more colourful, more tangible but can also feel more lengthy. She also restrains from giving oversimplified answers.

My favourite quote is the picture of "rhythms of respect" weaving through meaningful conversations.

Jeni Enjaian

Eh. 
Sometimes I do not know how to write a review of any extended length for those average books, those books that I can get through but learn little from. For this one especially, I felt like Turkle used the majority of the book not to analyze the evidence in front of her but to preach at the reader. For someone like me who finds speaking out loud one of the least comfortable methods of communication (I do it daily as a teacher but it is not my preferred method) due to a mild speech impediment, her tone rankled me. She spent the majority of the book saying that if you prefer the written word you are less than. She spared little thought for those who need the written word to communicate or those who think about and process the world differently.
I guess I talked myself from "eh" to "nope."

Reclaiming Conversation The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

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