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Sherry Turkle on "Reclaiming Conversation" in the Digital Age

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Cambridge Forum
Date and time
Wednesday, February 3, 2016

In today's technologically advanced society, smartphones make communication quicker and more convenient than ever, but this ease of communication does not come without consequences. **Sherry Turkle**, in her 2015 book _Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age_, interviews young people who have grown up in the age of technology and cautions us of the impact our virtual relationships and scripted conversations could have on our propensity for empathy and quality of face-to-face interactions. Dr. Turkle, in this lecture, discusses her book and the dilemma posed by the growing reliance on smartphones among young people and their parents. How can we reap the benefits of technology while striking a balance between our real and virtual lives? (Photo: [Flickr/Nicolas Nova](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/15972323994/in/photolist-qZYCjX-e4Gdy3-fkhCNa-qkqkss-2GGPi-jYox9U-sy4Qag-rSCbtk-6WpyLA-cpUaqS-b4g79a-q8kWtT-pqmvfD-egeb1W-eg4knK-egpyFd-oUqbHS-o3nsh1-xFa6v3-ykyzCN-yBdNK5-ykyzAd-ykzQsy-xFinza-ykzQjN-yBdNp5-yCbzgx-ykyzh7-ykzQ85-yBdNiU-yBdNas-yCVJEn-yBdN3y-yCbyZR-yzS51s-yBdMPN-yCbyN8-ykzPGf-yCVJik-xFa5pW-yBdMA1-ykyyB9-yCVJ7Z-yCbyuc-ykEGQF-yCVJ2i-yzS4jY-yCbyiF-ykyyjW-xFa4ZC/ "Smartphone"), image cropped)

Sherry_Turkle.jpg
Sherry Turkle
Sherry Turkle is Abby Rockefeller Mauz Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, a center of research and reflection on the evolving connections between people and artifacts in the co-construction of identity. The Initiative looks at a range of technologies including robotics, psychopharmacology, video games, and simulation software and their effects on human development. Dr. Turkle has written numerous articles on psychoanalysis and culture and on the "subjective side" of peoples' relationships with technology, especially computers. She received a joint doctorate in sociology and personality psychology from Harvard University, and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is the author of P*sychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud's French Revolution *(1978); *The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit* (1984); *Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet* (1995); and *Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age* (2015).
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