Living Online and Other Technological Challenges

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Living Online, and other Technological Challenges 1. The Online Looking Glass by Ross Douthat In the sad case of Representative Anthony Weiner’s virtual adultery, the Internet era’s defining vice has been thrown into sharp relief. It isn’t lust or smut or infidelity, though online life encourages all three. It’s a desperate, adolescent narcissism. 2. Going Offline for Goodness’ Sake by Kristyn Komarnicki This summer I flew to Toronto to see some old friends. In an act of the will that required great strength and determination, I decided to leave my laptop at home. 3. Book Review: Alone Together by Sherry Turkle Basic Books, 2011 Reviewed by Dale S. Kuehne Sherry Turkle wants to talk about technological attachments. Not files we attach to emails, not attachments that allow us to charge our iPod on our car’s cigarette lighter, not special lenses to attach to our iPhones. No, in her recent book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, she wants to talk about the deep and potentially troubling attachments we form with our email accounts, music devices, and smart phones. As an MIT professor, Turkle has spent much of her career studying the psychological and social impact of technology on human life. Her particular interest is in studying how robotics and personal technological devices impact how we relate to others and ourselves. She approaches the subject with an appreciation and fascination with technology, and yet from that vantage point has discovered some chilling data concerning how technology is making it more and more difficult for us to be human. She speaks of how robotics have advanced to the point that children often prefer virtual pets to real pets and how the elderly can find such comfort in virtual pets or robots that they don’t feel as much need for human companionship, including their children. She lets us know that the technology is advancing so rapidly that we will soon be able to create human robots that are so “human” and personally engaging that Scientific American is exploring legal marriage between humans and robots. Turkle gives us a glimpse into how personal technology and social networking is changing our lives, and especially the lives of our children. For an increasing number of people the most important relationship in their life is with the device that gives them

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