ATENEO DE NAGA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES

LOUIS MARIE B. IGNAO

1BS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

MISUSE OF TECHNOLOGY: A PERSONAL DILEMMA OF

21ST CENTURY CITIZEN

Turkle’s TED Talk in 2012 titled, “Connected but Alone” talks about how technology

changed the everyday lifestyle of people and had a major impact on our social relationships.

Nowadays, she emphasizes that the world of technology is taking us together but also separates

us from reality. Moreover, she points out that while we are connected to technology we are

removing our body and disconnecting our mind from reality because we're smitten by

technology. Furthermore she discussed that we are allowing the small devices to control us to the

point that we changed who we are and how we act. Thus, I came up with the realization that

technology is redefining human connection, we are now isolated to define who we are, “Not too

close, not so far, just right”.

Sherry Turkle gives her piece on the impact of technology on communication. In her

address, she emphasizes the notion that we humans have taken advantage of the use of

technology, particularly the convenience it provides, to the point where we are losing the true

meaning of conversation and replacing it with a false sense of virtual connection. Numerous

people have become accustomed to doing everything virtually through their pocket devices,

thereby compromising their ability to engage with other people in a real-life conversation.

Moreover, she noted that due to our reliance on technology, we are blind to the fact that we are
no longer in control of our lives; rather, we are allowing technology to define who we are and

control us because of three gratifying fantasies: we can direct our attention wherever we want;

we will always be heard; and we will never be alone. Sherry Turkle, however, emphasized that

we are given the opposite because we have reached a point where we are no longer comfortable

being alone due to our constant need and desire for virtual connections. Despite the great

difference from the date this video was released to our present day, I firmly believe that Sherry

Turkle's statement has greatly described our present social setting's communication, and I agree

that we humans have been using technology for the wrong purposes. I am convinced that our

reliance on technology and its applications has caused us to lose touch with others and, most

importantly, with ourselves.

In her speech, Sherry Turkle quotes, "You only want to pay attention to the bits that

interest you," and this exact phrase resonates with my first argument, which is that we are losing

touch with the people around us. We have been so fixated on maximizing the practicality of our

time and attention that we are already jeopardizing our ability to know someone wholly and

authentically. On top of that, with virtual connections, our personalities seem to be so malleable

that we are able to modify and shape them to present our ideal selves to others. As a result, we

are able to show only the aspects of ourselves that we deem to be likable, thereby creating a

separate virtual identity, and the things that we do not include, which are also significant aspects

of who we are as a person, are hidden from the same people with whom we are establishing

connections; therefore, we cannot claim that these are real connections but rather a personality

boost. In relation to this, Turkle added, "we're using them (people) as spare parts to support our

fragile sense of self," which is another impediment in establishing genuine relationships with

others. We are no longer comfortable being alone, so we typically initiate relationships with
others and use them haphazardly to satisfy our constant need to be seen and heard. We lost

intimacy with others because we perceived and used them merely as entities to fill the void we

felt from being alone. We spend more time using our phones; we hang more on the internet

rather than spending our time with our families and friends."We’re lonely but afraid of

intimacy”. We use technology to define ourselves by sharing our thoughts and feelings. We are

seeking attention mostly on mobile phones to communicate with others. The majority of

individuals rely on their phones to interact socially but don’t usually pay attention to others. In

addition, we are losing touch with ourselves because we can no longer find peace in our own

solitudes as a result of our excessive reliance on technology to provide the illusion of a constant

companion. This resonates with me personally because I, too, have been caught up in the ideal

version of myself that I have created online to the point where, when I am alone, I feel like an

impostor when I look at the shadowed aspects of myself that I keep hidden from my virtual life. I

would often think that no one would be able to appreciate these things, so being alone with

myself makes me feel anxious, pretentious, and most of all, lonely.

In summary, technology offers numerous opportunities, but we humans chose to take

advantage of it by seeking virtual relationships with other people to fill the voids in ourselves,

thereby creating a major obstacle to establishing genuine connections with them. We do not

appreciate the people around us for who they are, but rather for their ability to satisfy our need

for companionship. Furthermore, we have created a separate self-identity from the virtual world

and use the virtual connections it provides as a means of escape from facing this aspect of

ourselves that we cannot face in solitude. If we continue to live in this manner, it is inevitable

that we will start to doubt the authenticity of every relationship we have with other people,

whether they are virtual or in real life.