In “How Computers Change The Way We Think” Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT, founder of the MIT Initiative on technology and self and clinical psychologist argues that technology today is negatively impacting our natural thought process as humans. She focuses primarily on a few major concerns such as privacy, identity and the dangers technology present to us in our everyday life. Turkle does mention the development of educational programs for the computer but really focuses on the challenges we will face with advancing technology. While the author expresses major concerns for our future with technology, it’s clear she understands that technology is here to stay and seems to be warning us that changes need to be made in order for us to adapt correctly.
Turkle is clearly an established authority when it comes to this subject matter based on her credentials and education. She makes a few compelling arguments that evoke some interesting questions regarding the influence of technology in our society but she fails to cover other important aspects which hurt her argument. What Turkle doesn’t talk about in her essay are the masses of people who are unaffected by technology, those who are deprived of computers and technology completely or even some of the incredible benefits of technology in our society today.
With her heavily cautious tone, Turkle repeatedly warns us of the potential dangers we face if we continue down the same path we are currently on. One of the major concerns she expresses in this essay is privacy, or lack thereof. Turkle claims “middle-school and high-school students tend to be willing to provide personal information online with no safeguards” (p.602).
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This is a very general statement with no given evidence to support her. I believe that privacy has been a major topic of discussion for a long time now and if anything, most people are more apprehensive now than ever to provide personal information on the internet. She also notes that college students seem to disregard privacy laws and increased online surveillance, another generalization with no support to back her up. Turkle then goes on to predict the future by implying that in ten years “the relationship of privacy and government” will be so complex it is going to require extensive education to comprehend.
Another area of concern for Turkle seems to be self identity issues. She believes there are too many opportunities for us change how we present ourselves online. This is a valid concern considering the impact it may have on adolescent development but could be easily avoided by being an active parent and monitoring what your children are doing with their time spent online. The author implies that if children are portraying themselves a certain way online, it may be difficult to “develop authentic selves” (Turkle, 602).
Again, this could easily be remedied by taking control as a parent over what your children are doing online. Getting them involved in sports and other social activities seems like the most logical way to help an adolescent develop themselves and their social skills. Turkle makes a few interesting arguments about the role technology plays in the development of an adolescent identity but the same arguments could be made for letting your children participate or not participate in almost any other social activity. There will be consequences for almost anything children do but there will always be benefits as well, it just depends on the way you look at things.
At one point in this essay Turkle implies that word processing has eliminated the idea of thinking before doing. She claims that word processing gives the user an opportunity to manipulate and experiment with their writing before it is finally put on paper. She compares typing on a computer to and old fashioned type writer and almost insinuates that typing on a computer is cheating. I would completely disagree with that argument and say that technology has given intelligent students the opportunity to perfect their writing before finalizing it. Similar to myself, some if not most people may be unable to organize their thoughts efficiently enough to compose their best possible writing assignment on the first attempt. For this reason specifically I would say the technology of computers and word processing has been a blessing for students of all ages.
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Another claim Turkle makes is in the paragraph labeled “Taking Things at Interface Value” (p.604).
In this part of the essay she goes into discussing reductive understanding. She gives an example from the past when the first generation of computers were manufactured and says the people who made them understood them in their entirety. From here she explains that computers grew more complex and peoples understanding of them have been on a decline ever since. This argument could also be made about the automobile and probably every other piece of technology invented. The first people to manufacture the earliest automobiles were probably expert mechanics that understood every detail of each automobile. As automobiles and technology evolved, we as operators are not expected to understand the fine details about mechanics and how cars are made. We have professionals in those specific fields whose livelihoods depend on that kind of knowledge. Just like with the automobile, it has to be expected that we as operators will never fully understand each detail about every computer.
At one point in this essay the author cautions us about a life lesson she learned when playing a video game in the early 1990’s. She seems to believe that the way we deal with simulated scenarios in a video game will mold the way we deal with important real-life situations. She goes too far with this when she says we need to form a new type of literacy that will help us understand software and simulation comparable to the literacy humans have developed over the course of several centuries. She also states that we need to rebuild our culture around technology. Turkle believes that the dangerous situations we experience in video games and movies are ruining our culture. She believes these scenarios are not real and therefore we do not take them seriously enough. Based on this she argues it is too difficult to “see moral dilemmas in terms other than a battle between Good and Evil” (Turkle, p.605).
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I understand this essay was written over ten years ago and things may have been different back then but I believe currently, most adults understand the difference between simulation and real-life and can make rational decisions accordingly.
As I stated previously I understand and support some of Turkle’s views regarding some of the negative impacts technology is making. She does make some very valid arguments that support her stance and raise some concerning questions about the path technology has us headed down. Overall I think the essay was well written and Turkle is obviously an established authority when it comes to this topic but I don’t believe that the evidence or examples she provides makes a good enough case to take this essay as gospel.
Works Cited
Turkle, Sherry “How Computer Change the Way We Think”. The Writers Presence: A pool of readings seventh edition. Donald Mcquade Ed. Robert Atwan Ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, (600-606).
