Alone Together

"I am naked without it!" This was the phrase that made me think after I read Chapter 8 of Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. A cyborg in the book says this phrase when it is talking about technology. This made me think of the countless number of people who are constantly on their phones, tablets, and laptops trying to connect themselves more and more into the "world".

Civilization is now spending most of their time on the internet. People love their new technologies. They have become incorporated into family life and we have no regrets with the time we have lost with one another. For some odd reason, we seem closer to someone over the net then we do actually sitting face to face. When I think about this, it is no wonder why so many relationships start online.

 The book also states that "the internet provides new spaces". We look at our unsolved issues and missed opportunities and fill them with the internet. It baffles me that we believe that it is good enough. Our generation is now living in a second life, not the current life that is behind the computer screen. With our technologies, we have created an easier lifestyle for us including a easier life worth living. Everything a person can want is now online. People can have families, relationships, and jobs all at their fingertips. They can connect with all of these via a screen and when they do not need them, all they have to do is close their computer screen.

Technology has become so advanced that being connected is no longer about the distance, but the available technology that is given to us. Technology allows us to never have to be alone. People can turn on their cell phones and with the push of one button, they are connected. We often hear people discussing their personal lives in public while shopping, dining and even while using the bathroom instead of in the privacy of their home or bedroom. Some people now believe that just because they are on their phone they are in private. False!  Everyone in the room can hear the drama going on in their life from one side. They become absent from civilization because they are discussing matters that are happening elsewhere.  Turkle makes a very good point by saying, "It is those on the phone who mark themselves absent". People often make subtle cues to saying that they are in a different place.

We often are interacting in the living world while also interacting in a virtual world. We do this so much we often do not realize it or even are concerned about it. So, it’s no longer “multi-tasking” anymore, but “multi-lifing”. With all the avatars we can claim online, we can have multiple identities. Another world can allow us to be anything we want. I can’t help but ask which one of these lives are real? Are people really projecting their real life over Facebook, blogs or Twitter or are they portraying what they want to be or want others to believe? Probably the ultimate question the book raised for me is, “What is ‘real life’ anyway?”