Sunday, March 09, 2008

Fascinating article from the NY Times on texting and the generation gap indicating a new level of connectedness (but little sense of real presence):

Ms. Turkle recalled a vacation with her daughter in Paris, where she hoped to immerse her in the local culture and cuisine. “Part of the idea of Paris is being in Paris,” Ms. Turkle said. But during an afternoon stroll, her daughter received several calls and text messages on her cellphone from friends back in Boston. Her daughter, she said, felt compelled to return every one.

When Ms. Turkle asked why she didn’t turn off her cellphone and enjoy the city, she said her daughter replied, “I feel more comfortable talking with my friends.” But her daughter’s friends didn’t even really want to talk. “They just want to know where you are,” Ms. Turkle said. “It’s a new sensibility.”

2 comments:

Peter Carey said...

Thanks for posting this article, as a teacher and chaplain to students from age 5-19, I am working through some thinking on a theological reflection upon Web 2.0 and texting and IM-ing (and blogging and facebooking!)...

...I know your colleague in New Testament at VTS, Kathy Grieb proposed doing some theological reflection upon technology in my middler year of seminary, but then some other stuff took up most of her free time, but I think some reflection is needed upon the exponential changes in our technological use!

A colleague shared this article from the Chronical of Higher Ed, some really thoughtful and interesting insights here:

http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i27/27b00701.htm

Thanks,

Peter+

Peter Carey said...

that should be "chronicle"...sorry

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