They say that having face to face conversations foster some of the strongest relationships and technology can get in the way of them. I say, with the help of technology I am able to maintain extremely close relationships with people as far as on the other side of the world. People say to focus on the positive not the negative and Turkle addresses that in regards to technology. “We like to hear these positive stories because they do not discourage us in our pursuit of the new —our new comforts, our new distractions,our new forms of commerce. And we like to hear them because if these are the only stories that mat-ter, then we don’t have to attend to other feelings that persist —that we are somehow more lonely than before, that our children are less empathic than they should be for their age, and that it seems nearly impossible to have an uninterrupted conversation at a family dinner.” (Turkle 349). However, not everything is so black and white, technology evolving isn’t just positive or negative. It is the actual use of technology that makes up the gray area. The fact that two things can be true at once is what creates the in-between area in terms of technology usage.
Turkle suggests that people tend to be more vulnerable when speaking face to face. “Yet these are the conversa-tions where empathy and intimacy flourish and social action gains strength.” (Turkle 344). Although this might be the case for some people, not everyone has worked up the strength it takes to be able to have those deep and intimate conversations. Technology can be used as a way to bridge the gap between engaging and contributing to those conversations and those who are still working on getting the courage to incorporate themselves in a face to face setting.
In disagreement with Turkle, technology can be used to reach people who you can’t have a face to face conversation with. “Among family and friends, among colleagues and lovers, we turn to our phones instead of each other.” (Turkle 343). For some people they have no choice but to turn to their devices to have conversations with their family and friends. While we still turn to our phones as Turkle said, sometimes the reasoning is because that is the only communication method that is efficient and available. It is the use of technology which plays a role in whether conversation is dying out or not.
