CONNECTED BUT ALONE

Connect, But Alone

Does too much of a good thing ever become a problem? Sherry Turkle was trying to answer that
question in her TED Talk, “Connected, But Alone?” Turkle was once a huge fan of the innovations of the
Internet and she was also in awe of it but she realizes the negative effects of having an instant
connection to anyone, anywhere, anything. Turkle gives examples from research she performed to show
that technology has become very addicting and that we have become very secluded because of our
overuse. She also gets her audience to examine their own personal experiences. What Turkle is showing
from her research may make a lot of people unhappy. People will be unhappy because no one agrees to
have a problem, especially in the case of addiction. Turkle wants to shine a spotlight on technology
addiction, though it may not be as bad as a drug or alcohol addiction. Nevertheless, it is still an
addiction. Turkle knows she has to establish credibility in order for her to diagnose mankind with this
condition. Turkle uses two different appeals to make this happen. Her first appeal was to use emotion,
while her second was informing the audience of who she is by sharing her background with them.
In her first appeal, she shared a text from her daughter at the beginning of her presentation. The text
message read, “Mom, you will rock.” “I love this. Getting that text was like getting a hug,” she told her
audience (Turkle). Just by sharing that little conversation between her and her daughter, the audience
received a sense of the type of person Turkle is. She approached her audience as a caring and loving
mother who is able to have a healthy relationship instead of just a TED Talk worthy academic. She
constantly connects herself with her family, which causes the audience to get in touch with their
emotions. Turkle uses this emotionally wired connection as a way to prove her credibility to her
audience and also present a reason as to why they should find her trustworthy. This is not Turkle’s first
TED talk. She has done several ones and she could have used her experience to establish her credibility
but she went a different route. She uses her story about her daughter’s text to ease her way into her
speech. She says, “Actually, that reminder of my daughter brings me to the beginning of my story. 1996,
when I gave my first talk, Rebecca was five years old and she was sitting right there in the front row”
(Turkle). The image of her daughter Rebecca being at her mother’s show about 10 years ago was a way
for Turkle to further present herself as a nurturing mother. She also told them about her academic
achievements: she has written books about the Internet, which got her on the cover of some very
prominent magazines. She represented herself as someone who deserves their attention. In another
part of her presentation, she displayed a sign of her merit as she talked about a conversation she had
with Stephen Colbert, who is a well-known celebrity. She also announces herself as a psychologist.
Presenting herself as a loving mother and well recognized psychologist, she sets the stage for her
audience to have a listening ear towards her.
By using real world experiences, Turkle gains her audience trust. She is also using this strategy in her
presentation to inform her audiences of her discoveries from over 15 years of research. Turkle stated
that “we are smitten with technology,” and it has really made us addicted to nonstop connections with
one another in a meaningless way (Turkle). She tells them that she had to come to an understanding
after she had “studied technologies of mobile communication and I’ve interviewed hundreds and
hundreds of people, young and old, about their plugged-in lives” (Turkle). Showing the number of
people Turkle has had conversations with shows she was not just pulling information from nowhere.
Also, the fact that she interviewed people of different ages to help explain her findings is a way her
audience would understand whether they were young or old. She gave examples throughout her
presentation they were aimed to relate to as many different people as possible. An example of Turkle
trying to connect with those of a different background is when she shares different examples of the way
people use technology. People text or send emails during corporate board meetings. They text, shop,
and stay on Facebook during presentations, actually during all meetings” (Turkle). The visual description
given by Turkle did not only provide information about the negative side effects of technology, it also
helps the audience put themselves in the shoes of people who do these things. Turkle helps the
audience understand what their flaws were without outright pointing them out. What Turkle is doing is
shining a negative light on the audience while maintaining her positive emotional appeal that she
established in the beginning. Turkle uses examples of people that are unknown to her in the general
public and also, she shares her personal encounters with real life people to help show instances where
people have had some moments to reflect, which something she really drives forth in her lecture is.
Turkle uses a 50-year-old businessman as an example of someone that is going through reflection.
Turkle made sure to mention the gender and the age of the man to help present a more human feel to it
all. Just saying his name wouldn’t have really accomplished anything considering the fact that the
chances of her audience knowing him were quite slim. The purpose of that story was to display a man
who had complains about the way technology has influenced his coworkers, but then realizing that he is
no more different than they are. Even though there were some specifics in the story, the story was a
generic one and can be used in pretty much anyone’s life. She used the word “work” instead of calling
him a banker, a fireman, or any specific job; his friends are just friends, not judges or policeman or
anything specific (Turkle). She did this because she wanted the audience to be able to ask themselves if
this can relate to their lives. It lets them have a moment of reflection.
In addition to showing situations of people’s reflection, she also talks about her own findings when she
did the same. One of the more memorable reflections was a conversation between Turkle and Stephen
Colbet. Their conversation made Turkle to ask herself a very important question: which is made up in a
way that Turkle can make a reflection that was provoked by thoughts (Turkle). Even though Turkle is the
only one on stage, she talks as if there’s an actual dialogue going on which is a much more interesting
and entertaining way of showing one’s thoughts instead of a dull lecture. She uses this technique so
often in this lecture and it makes for a very lively presentation.
In addition to talking about conversations she has had with others; she also asks that the audience have
some reflection time with a few of the questions Turkle asked at some point in her lecture. “Have we so
lost confidence that we will be there for each other?” (Turkle). She didn’t directly give an answer to this
question but instead use an example of an old woman who found comfort by getting a robot. Turkle
didn’t answer all her questions with illustrations from the past. There were times where she explicitly
answered the questions herself. An example would be when she asked this question to herself, “Why
have things come to this?” She then said her opinion as the answer to that question. There are
differences between the two different forms of audience questions and that is that Turkle formed a way
of going from one case study to another. What is really meaningful in her presentation is the conclusion
that she provided.
The main thing to take away from Turkle’s lecture is that she shows findings from research conducted
on a topic for years. Turkle does not only state her findings on one practical study, she ties the
conclusions with those from a different study. Her end result is then a very thought-provoking lecture
causing the audience to do some reflecting on their personal experiences with being addicted to
technology.