Summary Of Alone Together By Sherry Turkle

In this ever changing world, individuals are presented with the choice to accept or deny change, but either way life continues on. Past generations lived through several kinds of change such as war, economic struggle, civil rights movements, and so much more. The most significant and recent change of this generation is the impressive advancements in technology. For the most part, the world has transformed into a cyber-social culture. Whether the use of it may be for entertainment, business, or socialization, technology has become a personal attachment to most people. Psychologist Sherry Turkle gives a detailed argument of how technology affects the personal lives of individuals, specifically the older generation in her essay “Alone Together”. …show more content…
The creation of social media and social networks have increased communications among individuals to a great extent. With those extensions, the younger generation has the power to create their own image and identity. Depending on the individual’s authenticity, they can portray themselves truly or hide behind the false realities they believe in. Turkle argues that individual’s personal networks on the internet are where they go to escape their actual lives. Technology consumes individuals like business men and women causing them to “mill(ing) around me were looking past me to virtual others. They were on their laptops and their phones, connecting to colleagues at the conference going on around them and others around the globe. There but not there,”(Turkle 275). The false reality of connection impulses the expectation of being present when in reality they are not. Situations like these are what disconnect us from the relationships around us. Focusing too much on online communications depreciate the value of authenticity. Technology has also implanted a false reality in the portrayal of successful lives. Twenge shares that media has influenced the younger generation into believing that life would be easy. One character named Tyler Durden from the film “Fight Club”, tells the reality of what the younger generation experience. He says “Our generation has had no Great Depression, no Great War. Our depression is our lives… We are raised on television to believe that we’d all be millionaires, movie gods, rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re starting to figure that out. And we’re very, very pissed off,”(qtd Twenge 171). Social media, television, and all other forms of technology have given the illusion that the future ahead of us is amazing. The younger generation 's heightened expectations are what cause the