THEY SAY

Sherry Turkle proposes that young people growing up in today's modern society are "tethered" to their phones and have a desire to be constantly connected with each other. She interviewed many young people, mostly high schoolers, and found that many of them feel a desire to be contacted or "interrupted" because they know that it is someone reaching out to them in some regard. She claims that "these young people live in a state of waiting for connection. And they are willing to take risks, to put themselves on the line". She believes that this desire stems from our feelings of loneliness. She claims that with this technology, many young people feel also have a desire for instant gratification. In an interview with a sixteen year old student, the student claimed that she would text/ email/ post about a certain event the moment it happens and, moreover, expects an immediate response. This student wants to be validated in her feelings and that she expects a response from those she tells. Sherry states that the "validation of a feeling becomes part of establishing it, even part of it" and that "technology, on its own, does not cause this new way of relating to our emotions and other people. But it does make it easy".

     Though her findings are valid and her conclusions are logical, I only agree with most of Sherry's argument. I agree that young people today, if not anybody wired into modern technology, do seek more instant gratification and can be considered less patient. Do I think that the concern for validation can limit the effectiveness of how we express ourselves? Sure. However, I don't agree that the situation is as bad as it seems. Yes, people rely more on their phones than ever, but if we think about how much a phone can do for us in this day and age, we can see that a greater reliance on technology, especially social technologies, is to be expected. The fact that it can be considered easier to reach another person through the power of modern technology, shouldn't be looked at as some strange phenomenon. I also think that the desire for instant gratification isn't new either. I believe that speaks more to the human condition. If we look at early humans, if they waited for anything either they would die of starvation or get killed but something that was hungry. The desire to make life easier in any way possible is just a natural ambition for human beings. We want to do things faster and cheaper and more efficiently. I don't think technology is all to blame.