ORIOSTE, Richmond Zedrick E.

BS DevCom 1104

The “The Flight From Conversation” was published in April 2012 under New
York Times’ opinion section written by Sherry Turkle, a professor of Social Studies of
Science and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I think that the
narrative in this context provides a lot of tangible reality for us living this generation
where people are technologically dependent as it is the all-in-one tool for survival in
our everyday living. With Turkle’s supporting evidences, it allows me to grasp the
idea of the gruesome implications that we may possibly face in the future and the
mere fact that it was written 7 years ago, technology was just born then – we are
certainly living that foretell. Today we see the infinite downside of technology but
specifying amongst those is the barrier surrounding organic conversation being
resurfaced by its virtual counterpart.

The scenarios in this narrative seem obsolete today for it has reached so far
since then. People build array of network among people they don’t personally know
and neglect those of around them. Relationship among families is being
compromised because of the farfetched implications of technology. It was mentioned
in the article about this 16-year old boy who wants to learn how to have a
conversation – organically – but perhaps now is not the right time, at least according
to him. The concept of socialization is being forgotten these days and it sets
dangerous precedent for the future of our children.

Another scenario in this article that hooks my attention is its effect in the
workplace. Colleagues do not have their conversation face-to-face but rather through
either social media or email. It somewhat affects the workplace for it sometimes
causes misunderstanding and misinterpretation that leads to professional fallout.
This is not just to make the entirety of the context more compelling but it really
happens and it may sound exaggerated for some people but it is more of
understatement for most, especially for those who have firsthandedly experience
such.

This also open my eyes how much dangerous it is to have someone online
talking without knowing whom it is you are up with. This makes me realize to choose
and be critical most of the time when dealing with people online and be imperative to
probe this people before making commitments. We can see on the news that
technology is also a medium of violence and fraud. Security is always an act of
compromise.

The last scenario that sent goosebumps and caught me off guard is the
instance where a mother who just lost her child was tranquilized with an Artificial
Intelligence (AI) baby-like in order to lessen the effect of her episode of depression.
Although it sets good objective medically, still, the dependent on technology to alter
organic humans has stepped in again.

As a conclusion it enlightens me about the crucial role of organic conversation

as the very foundation of good relationship may it be in workplace, circle of friend
and of course with family. We must never compromise our relationship for the sake
of people we just met online. Thinking rationally, critically, and vigilantly for it will
prevent dangerous situation to happen. Talk to people, go outside and build
networks face-to-face and never online. Always instill the value of organic
conversation as the cornerstone of successful network building.
Sy, Angelica L.
BSDEVC 1104
REACTION PAPER

Communication is one of the most important things in our everyday living. I

cannot imagine this world without any single word, without communicating to others.
Communication is necessary because we cannot live alone, we will always be
needing someone in order to survive. Now, how can you let someone know that you
need him if you cannot even utter a word? How can you tell someone how you feel if
there is no way to tell it to him? Even mute people have their own ways to
communicate. Communication is not just done by uttering words or having your voice
escape from your mouth, it can also be done through writing, texting, and many other
ways. Now, let us proceed to technology as mean of communication. Technology
has done so much when it comes to making our lives easier than before, we cannot
deny the fact that technology really helped a lot in terms of communication. We are
able to communicate with our loved ones that are far away from us because of
technology. Also, because of technology, we, people, especially the youth are now
able to befriends with the ones who are far from us, we are able to know them more,
and also to know their culture, values, and beliefs because we already have the
access or we already have communication with them. Even the people with different
countries, different language became friends because of social media, right? Now,
do you think social media really helps in terms of communication or it is just getting
in the way of "real" communication?

I agreed on the stands written in the "The Flight from Conversation" by

Sherry Turkle, written on April 21, 2012. Yes, today's people are too preoccupied by
technology to the point that it is like they are not living in a real world, it seems like
they are living for technology and for the happiness and satisfactions it could give.
They almost forgot that humans do exist and the most important thing is, they are
also "humans." There are instances where people choose gadgets and technologies
as their friends rather than choosing those "real" people surrounding them. Yes, it
might be easier to open up your problems, your sentiments to those A.I robots who
cannot judge you rather than people who will only just be good if you are in front
of them. Yes, it is easier to tell strangers your problems, it is easier to open up
because they do not know who you really are, but, people should know that it is
better to receive criticisms from those who truly know you rather than receiving fake
sympathy from people who only pretends to know you. In our home, gladly, we are
still using face to face communication and we are not communicating to each other
using gadgets or social media, because our father do not let us to be exposed in
social media that much. Yes, my siblings and I do have social media accounts, we
are also one of those people or youth that are befriending people from social media,
but we are not that "techies." We still practice talking to each other through face to
face, without using social media.

Hearing those cases where children are suffering from seizures because of
over using gadgets really suddens me. I guess, we have to really let people
especially the parents aware of the importance of having "real communication" Yes,
there are a lot of help technology can give us, but there are also a lot of bad things
technology could give us.