A Reflection On “Alone Together” By Sherry Turkle

Sherry Turkle spoke about how people stay connected but still feels alone. It focuses on how badly we want to be connected but at the same time trying to avoid the real meaning of connection. Media and technology masked the real emotion that the people wants to express, it is very easy to say the words that makes other people feel good but do we really mean it or is it just because it is the right word to say. It is very hard to tell what others really feel now that we are all dependent to technologies. With all the positive effects of media and technology to how we communicate with others, I think that there are a lot issues regarding this that needs a whole heap of attention.

Human relationships are amusing but at the same time can be messy and demanding according to Turkle (2012). People want to be with each other, people want to feel the sense of belongingness but ironically we want to feel that kind of connection without engaging to personal commitments. I can somehow relate to what Turkle had said, I am very vocal of how I missed my friends and kept on telling them about it and that we should definitely hang out as soon as possible but when they ask me if I’m available I kept on rejecting their invitation most of the time. Which leads us to depend to technology to help us feel connected.

These deadly modern technologies make us so immersed with the idea that it helps us to have a better and stronger relationship with other people but in fact this is one of the reasons why gaps are actually made. Just like what the speaker said, having no connection makes us feel like we are not ourselves therefore we use technology to express our self and to connect with people. But with this kind of method we end up making ourselves feel isolated trying to solve with connecting but truth to be told having so much dependence with technology unconsciously made us to be afraid of intimacy. In addition, the best example for this was the picture of Turkle’s daughter and her friends of having a get together but still instead of talking to each other they still end up itching their phones. The latter was also evident with me and my friends rather than enjoying the moment and communicating together.

It was also mentioned that we let media represent our self, not of who we really are but how we want others to see us. It was very easy for people to manipulate the things that other people may see, it was very easy to create an identity that many people will follow and talk about on social media. There was an article that I’ve read, about a 26-year-old woman who has $10, 000 worth of debt trying to be an Instagram star and influencer. This worth of money was spent to buy designer bags and clothes, and to go on a luxurious vacation while having a low salary job just to post it on Instagram and have that picture-perfect lifestyle. This may look like a simple issue with having so much to spend just to show off, but if we look thoroughly to this situation, it also affects the mental or psychological aspect of a person where we tend to feel anxious, inadequacy or think low about ourselves. Which leads us to do things that are beyond our means and capacity.

Taking everything into account, technology can be a big hindrance for us to understand other people and ourselves. Wherever we go, we always have our phones on our hands. Yes, technology makes communication a lot easier and confrontation a little less hard because it fails to convey our true emotions compared to personal engagements with other people that sometimes may lead to arguments and failed relationships. We all thought that we are being connected by technology but emotionally speaking we are slowly drifting apart from our loved ones as we try to connect. Technology is pretentious in a way that it gives us an illusion that it can provide comfort and company. One thing that have sealed on my mind from the video is that for us to avoid loneliness, we have to experience being alone once in a while. Alone time to reflect about ourselves.

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