It's Time to Talk ...

 It's Time to Talk 

Today while I was watching Sherry Turkle give her Ted Talk on my screen, my partner stopped what he was doing to come watch. My partner, like many, has gotten rid of all social media in an attempt to unplug from an increasingly plugged in world.  There have been many times that he has tried to explain to me why deleting instagram felt so freeing, but Turkle's argument was one of the first times I felt like I finally listened. 

Too many times have I found myself on TikTok or Instagram after learning sad or disappointing news. Instead of people watching at the mall while I wait for my partner to get his food, I find myself looking at my Facebook page. Technology has made massive impacts on what 'normal' is. 

When we got our first computer at the house, my mom warned me about giving information to strangers on the internet. Now, when I am hungry and I don't want to cook, I invite a stranger to bring food to my house giving them access to my address and phone number. 

Turkle is keen to point out the impacts technology has had on our ideal of normal behavior; mainly how we are now able to neatly edit and delete parts of our personality to fit clean texts sent to friends who also edit and delete. 

She points out that our world is becoming increasingly comfortable with being 'alone together.' That we are lacking an ability to find comfort in solitude and are thus unable to find deeper connections. Turkle's work, I believe, aligns with Wesch's work. 

Both argue that we must find more time for connections with others right in front of us - for Turkle, this means social connections in any setting and for Wesch this means peer-teacher and peer-peer connections in the classroom. 

Wesch's work sits at the precipice of Turkle's main idea: technology, if used properly, can aid connections, but it is not the heart of them. In Wesch's classroom, he creates a 'simulated' world with students that, as he says, "encourage[s] students to join me on the quest," for knowledge. This project uses technology, but as a means to bring out students' strengths and to help facilitate the connections they are building. Students are not editing their interactions, but instead capturing and creating. 

 

Today, Wesch still makes the argument that technology can be used to create connections in online classrooms with his video : Teaching Online by Going Offline .