User:Carolineskrobak/sandbox

(mention briefly in the introductory section) As a continuation of her research in social behavior and technology, Reclaiming Conversation identifies the benefits and disadvantages of using technology for communication. Turkle delves into the current push toward digital conversations and the contradictory complaints that arise from overusing digital forms to facilitate the exchange of ideas and emotions.

(add a new section) Reclaiming Conversation is Turkle's examination of evolving interpersonal and intrapersonal communications, and The Power of Talk in A Digital Age. As a precursor to her novel, Turkle cites Henry David Thoreau's Walden in her organization of the book: "I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society." This book is thus divided into three general parts: a single chair for intrapersonal communication, two chairs concerning the importance of conversations in friendships, families and romances, and three chairs for interpersonal communication such as in school, work, and politics. Turkle gathered data from schools, companies, families, and articulates the statistical and psychoanalytic barriers that have forced users to "sacrifice conversation for mere connection" (how do i cite the back cover???). This trade-off in interwoven intimacies and apps ultimately withholds the necessary "face-to-face experiences that are needed for generating authentic connection". The capacity to interact on a personal or private basis is the cornerstone to empathy, and Turkle argues that loneliness is also essential to this. Paradoxically, Turkle presents the blossoming of technologies role in our reconciliation of lonely experiences and maintaining close social interactions. While access to mobile devices can empower connections with pre-existing relationships, it can also harm the general sense of solitude and ability to meet personal and social standards on a grander scale. The ability to connect through technology then becomes the compromise that chatting online is "better than nothing".

Turkle gave a talk for Google about her book Reclaiming Conversation.