Interface Value: Rhetorical Strategies in Turkle’s, “How Computers Change the Way We Think”
“Technology does not determine change, but it encourages us to take certain directions” (Turkle 341) Sherry Turkle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor’s, “How Computers Change the Way We Think,” published in 2014 in Identity: A Reader for Writers, argues that technology, specifically computer based tools, have become an extension of our thoughts and our identity. Beginning with evidential experience as a Science and Technology Professor to build her argument, Turkle appeals to the audience with the growth of technology, 20 years of survey data, privacy and students, identity, powerful point about Powerpoint, a faint look toward the future. …show more content…
She describes a specific scenario where she taught a lesson on Freud in a history of psychology class over the impact of computer based objects on their emotional lives. Turkle continues by revealing how a student argued against how Freud thought that Freudian slips weren’t a person’s mixed emotions, but rather “a power surge” (340). Throughout the article, Turkle takes the audience from 1970’s age of computers to the modern day age of computers by experiences to strengthen her argument. Turkle describes her first use of calculators in the 70’s at MIT and how these calculators led to many errors that weakened the ability to do free hand work - due to the lack thereof. More specifically, Turkle transitions to the most used item of technology around the world, computers.
Being an ethnographer and psychologist with survey statistics from the 80’s adds a layer of credibility that helps show just how vast the use of computers has come to affect the our thoughts and identity. She points out that 20 years since that survey, she proclaims that, “technology has become more explicitly designed to have emotional and cognitive effects” (340). This quote displays the comparison of technology …show more content…
This source is, American statistician and pioneer of data visualization Edward R. Tufte’s, “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint” (Turkle). A quick Google search finds that Tufte was a professor at Yale University for computer science and statistics whose research aided in the betterment of graphic design for web based programs i.e., Powerpoint. Tufte tells his experience with technology and the mind: “PowerPoint equates bulleting with clear thinking. It does not teach students to begin a discussion or construct a narrative. It encourages presentation, not conversation.” Citing this lone source revitalizes Turkle’s credibility by revealing that despite her book, The Second Self and Life on the Screen, which covers the topic of psychology and human technology interactions, she also has an opinion from a technological pioneer to support her
“Technology does not determine change, but it encourages us to take certain directions” (Turkle 341) Sherry Turkle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor’s, “How Computers Change the Way We Think,” published in 2014 in Identity: A Reader for Writers, argues that technology, specifically computer based tools, have become an extension of our thoughts and our identity. Beginning with evidential experience as a Science and Technology Professor to build her argument, Turkle appeals to the audience with the growth of technology, 20 years of survey data, privacy and students, identity, powerful point about Powerpoint, a faint look toward the future. …show more content…
She describes a specific scenario where she taught a lesson on Freud in a history of psychology class over the impact of computer based objects on their emotional lives. Turkle continues by revealing how a student argued against how Freud thought that Freudian slips weren’t a person’s mixed emotions, but rather “a power surge” (340). Throughout the article, Turkle takes the audience from 1970’s age of computers to the modern day age of computers by experiences to strengthen her argument. Turkle describes her first use of calculators in the 70’s at MIT and how these calculators led to many errors that weakened the ability to do free hand work - due to the lack thereof. More specifically, Turkle transitions to the most used item of technology around the world, computers.
Being an ethnographer and psychologist with survey statistics from the 80’s adds a layer of credibility that helps show just how vast the use of computers has come to affect the our thoughts and identity. She points out that 20 years since that survey, she proclaims that, “technology has become more explicitly designed to have emotional and cognitive effects” (340). This quote displays the comparison of technology …show more content…
This source is, American statistician and pioneer of data visualization Edward R. Tufte’s, “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint” (Turkle). A quick Google search finds that Tufte was a professor at Yale University for computer science and statistics whose research aided in the betterment of graphic design for web based programs i.e., Powerpoint. Tufte tells his experience with technology and the mind: “PowerPoint equates bulleting with clear thinking. It does not teach students to begin a discussion or construct a narrative. It encourages presentation, not conversation.” Citing this lone source revitalizes Turkle’s credibility by revealing that despite her book, The Second Self and Life on the Screen, which covers the topic of psychology and human technology interactions, she also has an opinion from a technological pioneer to support her