Turkle Chapter 10

 In chapter ten of "Alone Together," it discusses how email, texting, and instant messaging have become the preferred method of communicating over talking on the phone and talking in person in general. The teenagers that Turkle speaks with in this chapter all agree that they prefer texting or instant messaging over talking on the phone because written messages allow for time to think about what they want to say and how they want to portray themselves.

           

But just like it’s not just teens who are using Facebook and virtual worlds, adults are also becoming more lenient toward an avoidance of the telephone. Many claim “exhaustion and lack of time” but is it more than that?  Texting and emailing is certainly the easier way to maintain relationships. Phone conversations require more attention for a longer time.... And then there is the annoying situation of how to end a telephone conversation without offending the other person...

By removing voice from our communications with others, Turkle argues that we lose something inherently human.  The human voice conveys a variety of emotions and the way in which one speaks and says a TON about their personality, education, and background. By removing this from social interactions, it takes away a certain level of ‘realness.’ Just like letter writing is dying art form, soon  phone conversations will become a thing of the past as we expect technology to handle our busy lives and relationships more and more so that we don't have to invest much time or work into them.