Connected

 "Let's talk about how we can use the digital technology of our dreams to make THIS life, the life that we love." 

Sherry Turkle closes her TedTalk entitled, "Connected, but alone" with this inspiring call to action.  

Turkle, who was once on the cover of WIRED magazine, has changed her tune as of recently.  It's not that she thinks we all need to abandon the technology that we have all become so reliant on, but that we need to change the way that we connect with technology so that we are actually making genuine connections with one another.  

I found myself nodding along to her talk when she spoke about how we as a human race have lost our ability to be alone.  For even a second.  I admit that I am someone who will take out my phone while sitting at a red light, will put on a podcast while I cook if no one else is home, and will always fall asleep by watching an episode of Bob's Burgers.  I can relate to the humans that she is referring to who refuse to experience a moment of loneliness or boredom.

Even when I am with the people who I love, the lot of us will spend a significant amount of that time on our own phones scrolling through social media.  

Turkle refers to her coined phrase, "the goldilocks effect".  What she is describing is this current phenomena in which we cultivate some form of relationships online but they are as an altered version of ourselves.  We allow people to get close, but not too close.  Not close enough to see the real vulnerable sides of ourselves.  

We are using our technology to hide from each other.

And although we are all culprits of this behavior, we all also end up with the feeling that No one is listening.  

She urges that our families, our friends, our communities and our planet need us.  They need us to be present.  They need us to listen.  And if our behavior and our reliance on technology as it is today continues, we won't be there for them.   

But she presents all of this in a positive light and with a hopeful tone.  I'm pretty sure she believes that we all still have a chance!  In fact, I think we are all currently experiencing what it could look like to form connections by using digital media through the work we've gotten to do in this course so far.  

Michael Wesch is stressing a very similar point in his article, "Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance".

"We are all interconnected, sharing one planet, and our future depends on us and future generations."

He, too is imploring us to inspire students to show up for each other and for themselves.  

The root of the problem in education, as Wesch describes it, is that students are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education.

With most classrooms set up in a way that allows schools to pack the room with students and pump them back out after having received their required credits, it's hard not to liken formal education to something like factory farming.  It has dulled the students and their curiosity and lead them to care solely about the bare minimum they need to do in order to pass.

We must urge our students to recognize their own significance and the ways in which they can impact the world.  

I think by implementing both Turkle's and Wesch's ideas for the future, we've got a shot at seeing the next generation grow into a population of conscious, connected and curious people who could make this world a much better place.