Evaluation for “the Flight from Conversation”
Time flows; things change. The development of technology enables people to both access the world and people more rapidly. We immediately know the news that happen all over the world because of the Internet; we make friends with people thousands miles away through social networks; and we can have artificial intelligence or applications like SimSimi to accompany us when we are lonely. With time, these connections can start to replace real face-to-face conversation. In comparing the two different kinds of communications --conversation and mere connection-- in her writing “Flight from Conversation,” the M.I.T psychologist and professor, Sherry Turkle reveals the trends of a plugged-in life that
In such a fast-paced life, “WE” indeed do not have time to know each other or focus on what we really want to do. The misleading idea that we can know each other well enough through social network pushes us to know more and more people. As a result, these changes could eventually form a new sense of comfort devices from artificial intelligence. One of the most haunting examples Turkle gives is a woman who lost her child got comfort by a robot. Although anomaly example does not apply to the majority people, we can somehow see the influence of advanced digital assistant in another aspect. This story reminds me of applications we have on our cell phones nowadays. Application like SimSimi and Siri on IPhone which are invented to accompany people and make hilarious comments to whatever they type into the dialogue box. Once, I saw a friend of mine posting his status on social network stating he had been talking to SimSimi for an entire day. I was so confused that I asked him why he did so, and then he responded that he did this because he has nothing to do and nobody to talk to. I cannot help wondering how this could happen. I agree with Turkle, in the present, people rely too much on the technology, and they lose the ability to communicate and listen. The more loneness they feel, the more they rush to connect. The