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Slide Notes
We live in a world that is relentlessly connected. From using digital technology for more mundane tasks we now incorporate it into the deepest recesses of our emotional lives.
But is there a cost to this encroachment? Are we over-using technology where human contact and face-to-face communication can benefit us more?
But is there a cost to this encroachment? Are we over-using technology where human contact and face-to-face communication can benefit us more?
From Conversation To Connection 15'
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
We're all connected now, but
Are we losing the art of conversation?
We live in a world that is relentlessly connected. From using digital technology for more mundane tasks we now incorporate it into the deepest recesses of our emotional lives.
But is there a cost to this encroachment? Are we over-using technology where human contact and face-to-face communication can benefit us more?
But is there a cost to this encroachment? Are we over-using technology where human contact and face-to-face communication can benefit us more?
Photo by yaph
145 billion text messages
160 billion instant messages
in the UK in 2013
These statistics are taken from Deloitte's UK mobile consumer report (2014). Key findings of the report include:
35 million people have a smartphone in the UK
1 in 6 UK adults look at their phone more than 50 times a day
The average Instant Message (IM) user sends over 55 IMs a day
http://www.deloitte.co.uk/mobileuk/
35 million people have a smartphone in the UK
1 in 6 UK adults look at their phone more than 50 times a day
The average Instant Message (IM) user sends over 55 IMs a day
http://www.deloitte.co.uk/mobileuk/
The theories
- Technologies determine how we live
- We determine the development of technology
- Both people & technologies shape how we live
1. This suggests that people are powerless against the rise of technology. Is that what you think? Are we powerless in the face of television? Do we believe everything we read in the paper?
2. This is similar to the argument that 'guns don't kill people, people kill people'. Is it true?
3. Whilst guns don't kill people guns are much more biased toward killing people than pillows. As Churchill said: we shape our building and then they shape us.
2. This is similar to the argument that 'guns don't kill people, people kill people'. Is it true?
3. Whilst guns don't kill people guns are much more biased toward killing people than pillows. As Churchill said: we shape our building and then they shape us.
Photo by Viernest
In the past fifteen years those devices we carry in our pockets have changed not only what we do, but also who we are
Think about changes that have occurred in:
- Family life and
- Education.
How does a profile of a social media site such as Facebook influence our sense of self?
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Customised
Personalised
Atomised
As we get used to being in a tribe of one we pay attention to only those things that interest us:
- students scan their facebook feeds in class
- teachers scan their email boxes in meetings
- colleagues prefer to text than talk
- we all plug into our personal 'edutainment' spaces
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Why connection is not conversation
'A robot is my friend': Can machines care for elderly? (16.11.2013) http://bbc.in/187XVKE
Japanese 'robot with a heart' will care for the elderly and children (5.6.2014) http://ind.pn/187Y3d8
We must recognise the limitations of digital technology in the face of very real analogical, human problems and dilemmas. See this year's Reith lectures: http://bbc.in/18807lm
FROM CONNECTION TO CONVERSATION
Can we learn to talk again?
In a world where we are pressured to acquire 21st-century skills, is there any 21st-century skill more important than being able to sustain confident, coherent face-to-face conversation?
Photo by Vicente Alfonso
For more about these issues:
- Sherry Turkle: Alone Together
- Nicholas Carr: The Shallows
- Wellman & Rainey: Networked
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other.
Carr, N. G. (2010). The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W. Norton.
Wellman, B., & Rainie, Lee. (n.d.). Networked. MIT Press
Photo by nerosunero
