by K.C., (Pre-3 Parent)
In the last few months, I have found myself listening to more and more podcasts after the kids are in bed. My hunger to be connected to what’s happening in the world, and my long list of things to do (laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning…) can coexist in the land of late night podcasts.
Last week, while I was prepping a meal for the next day, an episode stopped me in my tracks. I was listening to an feature on Note to Self, and the guest speaker, Sherry Turkle, was talking about how smartphones have hindered our ability to have real conversations with each other, stating “even a silent phone disconnects us.”
This hit me pretty hard, and I realized that as a result of my perceived need of being connected, I am not always living in the present with the people around me. Moving forward, I am going to make an effort to put my phone out of sight, zipped in my bag, or out of reach so I can be a better listener and active participant.
After listening to the podcast, I put Turkle’s latest book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age, on hold at the library. I’m pretty far down on the list, but I’m thinking I will probably do better with the audio version so I can keep on folding all that laundry.
The podcast, Note to Self, hosted by Manoush Zomorodi talks with everyone from big name techies to elementary school teachers about the effects of technology on our lives, in a quest for the smart choices that will help you think and live better.
Sherry Turkle has spent the last 30 years studying the psychology of people’s relationships with technology. She is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. A licensed clinical psychologist, she is the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. Turkle is the author five books and three edited collections, including a trilogy of three landmark studies on our relationship with digital culture: The Second Self, Life on the Screen and most recently, Alone Together. A recipient of a Guggenheim and Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship, she is a featured media commentator. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Sherry’s latest book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age is being released October 2015.