Examining Turkle and Wesch

In the TED talk Connected But Alone   Sherry Turkle discusses the idea that our growing dependence on technology such as cell phone to use apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter has changed people in such a way that we look for connection on technology  in order to control the message that we put out about ourselves. Face to face conversations leaves people feeling anxious  and have gotten to the point where kids suggest that Siri (the cellphone voice ) might be a better friend and listener than a real person. "We get so used to be shortchanged on conversation and to getting by with less that we seem almost willing to dispense with people all together."

This seems a sad commentary on where we are as a society and we have all seen kids hanging out together not looking at each other at all.

Perhaps worse is this :

I know in my home we are not immune to either of these scenarios. I try to have dinner with my kids "tech free" as often as possible (when they are not working or with friends) and have real conversations where we look at each other and truly listen. 

I think this also has profound implications for my teaching in an early childhood setting.

Children come to me having been placed in front of screens as babysitters as well as having parents who are absorbed in their own technology. They struggle to communicate with other children, to play and share, and they lack the necessary fine motor  skills needed to write.

Wesch in Crisis of Significance  talks about his experience as teaching and calls it "anti-teaching" . 

He talks about needing to repurpose his traditional lecture hall that is designed for him to stand in front of 500 students and do a brain dump into a space where students can collaborate and ask questions to solve problems. This is how he believes true learning happens.

Wesch does realize the importance of technology in that it has created global connections. He uses technology as a tool for getting his students to connect to learning in his classroom and  to collaborate and talk about global issues.

At first, it may seem that Wesch and Turkle are unrelated but I believe that they are allies in this new world. Wesch forces students to have the kind of learning experience that takes them out of their phones and collaborate with one another in ways that Turkle worries are lost. I think that as teachers we have this responsibility and it is one of the worries I had coming into this class. Technology can be useful but it can not replace human connection and interactions in learning.