Sherry Turkle and A.I

Alone Together

 I recently watched Sherry Turkle’s TED talk for my Digital Media class this past weekend. Sherry Turkle is a psychologist who specializes in the study of online communication and the tribulations that come with it. She’s a highly educated person and I believe she has done some really important research and study on digital media. Within this TED talk, she explains how we as a society have learned to be “alone together” and the outcome of too much digital communication has caused a negative outcome on person-to-person social communication. I do agree with the statements regarding how rapidly changing digital climates have changed our world and society, however it has also contributed to many advances in technologies for mental and physical health. Sherry does touch on this in her TED talk when she speaks about the therapy A.I seals that help seniors. We can’t undo what has been done in the world of technology, but I do feel as though in the near future this technology will allow much more medical advances and possibly the chance to extend life expectancies and more concrete medical aid to seniors and people with health complications. I admire Sherry Turkle's work and the global reach she has given with her knowledge of A.I and digital communication, even if some of it comes across as “boomer-ish” - example being the images of her daughters all on phones while they hang out together. It’s not only young people that are plagued with over indulgence of the digital world,  but also the older generation that plays candy crush for hours on their smartphones. It goes both ways, but in the end, I think A.I is the future, and Sherry Turkle and all the other people that noticed this 20 years ago were definitely ahead of their time.