Discussion Ideas for class on 2/15/2013 -- Turkle Chapter 8.


1.  How do we choose to communicate?  

    (a)  When was the last time you made an actual phone call (i.e. not a text)
         to someone other than a parent?  Is the phone call dying?

    (b)  Turkle says we don’t use the phone as much because we’re often not up to 
         the demands of it.  Many adolescents love the fact that texts can be 
         carefully constructed, whereas phone calls require give and take. There’s 
         a lot of talk about being able to control things better when it’s done via 
         text, where you can edit your message exactly as you like.

    (c)  How important is it to you to be able to control the message you present 
         when talking to others?  Do you see phone calls as a lot of pressure?
         Is texting more or less efficient than talking?  Or is it just used
         for different things?

    (d)  Another possible benefit to texting is that it’s asynchronous. Suddenly, 
         we see phone calls as a possible inconvenience to others as we demand 
         their attention immediately, and maybe they’re busy.  Before, we mentioned 
         that we seem to like being constantly disrupted, though (or at least that 
         we accept it as the way things are now). How do we resolve this apparent
         contradiction?
    
2.  Time is a big theme. Technology leads us to expect faster responses to each other. 
    Technology also makes us expect things to develop quickly, whereas many things in 
    real life (relationships in particular) happen incrementally over a long time.

    (a) You have probably grown up thinking this is the way things are. 
        How do you see this affecting us in the future?

    (b) How have you expectations changed about response times with technology?
        (How do you feel if I don't get back to you about a question on 
        a problem set for a couple of hours, for instance?)


3.   Turkle writes about how many people have developed an online self 
     that is independent of their "real-life" self. 

    (a) Do you have online "avatars" or a "life-mix" as Turkle describes it? 

    (b) What about Pete who spends significant about of time on Second Life talking 
        to Jade, a sort of second wife. He notes that it’s easier to talk to Jade about 
        some issues than his real wife because he doesn’t have to be concerned with 
        Jade worrying about him like his wife would. Thoughts? 

    (c) What is it about the medium that makes this work?

    (d) Are these relationships the same (or good substitutes) for what we have 
        (or could have) in face-to-face reality?

    (e) Turkle suggests that the digital world cannot offer the same opportunities 
        for relationships that ``real life'' can.  Is this right?  Is it a problem?  
        Is there a place for Pete and Jade's sort of relationship?

    (f) Adolescents seem to worry a lot about their Facebook profiles and what others
        will think about them based on that information. This includes the obvious 
        things such as profile pictures, but also minor (?) things such as the order of 
        artists in “favorite music.”  Do you care that much about your online presentation?

4.  "Multitasking" -- Is this really working well for us?

    (a) What is it about this method of working that appeals so strongly to us?
    
    (b) But Turkle cites scientific studies showing that multitasking makes us 
        less efficient at all of the things we’re working on.  (We'll look at 
        one of them in detail for next class.)

    (c) Does being more able to get access to information, to respond quickly 
        to requests for communcation, and to deal with problems lead to more 
        stress?  Know it's hard to compare if you haven't lived differently -- 
        Have you every tried to go without access?

    (d) If you think all this is bad, can we reverse this trend?

    (e) What do you think of Turkle's "horror stories" about parents so
        busy with email and texting coworkers that they are not 
        interacting with their children?  Have you experienced anything
        like that?  If so, how did it make you feel?

(My ideas:  "Adults" love multitasking because it makes them feel productive. 
Being "connected" partly means being in control (or at least able to influence
outcomes).  But that also creates a sense of stress when you feel
it is impossible to "disconnect."

Many of us seem to love the technology because it allows us to be on-call at all 
times to respond to family/friends and carry on social interactions when and where 
we choose.  But is the time needed for quiet reflection and deep thinking lost by 
doing this?  How is it affecting education? Is it really possible to learn subjects 
like mathematics well in this atmosphere?)