Q&A: SHERRY TURKLE, Psychologist & Author – ALONE TOGETHER
Written on August 6th, 2014 |
Aired 02/13/11
How much technology do you use? Email, texting, facebook, twitter, second life, etc. How's it working for you? Has it freed you up, given you more time, or has it added new demands to your life that actually make you feel you have less time? If you're using social media regularly, do you feel more connected with your friends and family or less?
Clinical psychologist SHERRY TURKLE has been studying our relationship with technology for most of her career, and has written several books about what she's experienced and learned. Of her newest, ALONE TOGETHER, she has said, "This is a book of repentance. I have been studying computers and people for thirty years. I didn't see several important things. I got some important things wrong." I was already interested in talking to her, but that really grabbed my attention. I'm interested in people, maybe especially experts, who are willing to change their minds.
Turkle writes: "Technology promises to let us do anything from anywhere with anyone. But it also drains us as we try to do everything everywhere. We begin to feel overwhelmed and depleted by the lives technology makes possible. We may be free to work from anywhere, but we are also prone to being lonely everywhere. In a surprising twist, relentless connection leads to a new solitude. We turn to new technology to fill the void,but as technology ramps up, our emotional lives ramp down."
http://www.alonetogetherbook.com/Q&A: Paula Caplan, Author/Psychologist/Playwright
Written on August 4th, 2011 |
Aired 07/31/11
PAULA CAPLAN, a clinical and research psychologist, is currently Affiliate at the DuBois Institute and Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, both at Harvard University. She has been a Lecturer at Harvard and a Professor of Applied Psychology and Head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She is the author of 11 books, including Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship; You're Smarter Than They Make You Feel; They Say You're Crazy; and her latest, When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans. Paula is also a playwright.
