Alone Together
by Sherry Turkle · first published 2011
44% recommend56% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Thoughtful look at how networked devices and robots change human relationships and empathy; often cited as a companion to media theory and a useful perspective for technologists thinking about social impact.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Technology has become the architect of our intimacies. Online, we fall prey to the illusion of companionship, gathering thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends and confusing tweets and wall posts with authentic communication. In "Alone Together," MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It's a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for -- and sacrificing -- in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today's self-described pr
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That's more or less the thesis of Sherry Turkle's recent book Alone Together, which you might find interesting. It's also interesting because Turkle was quite techo-optimist in the '80s; The Second Self (1984) was much more positive on the role of computers (and things like the…
on “Ask HN: I had more friends before Facebook. Anyone agree?” ↗…time to read non-technical (or meta-technical) books, I highly recommend "Understanding Media" by Marshall McLuhan (who coined the term surfing) to get some perspective on electric media. In addition "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle covers some of the peril of communicating in this fashion.
on “Tell HN: the best thing I did this year” ↗…on the occurrence of marriage in the US. there are however numerous more deliberate commentaries on the topic of technology and its impact on the social fabric of culture. one of my personal favs is "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle. The more interesting question in all of this is why exactly online dating functions are even viable. IMHO the fact that people, particularly in the business we are in (i'm assuming…
on “The Lie Hollywood Loves to Tell” ↗HN people might have higher, less-easily-attainable demands for home robots. If you haven't already, read (at least the first half of) Alone Together: http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Together-Expect-Technology-Other... Robots have to do surprisingly little for many people to significantly bond with them.
on “Ask HN: What 5+ things would a home robot need to do to sell?” ↗This is an amazing idea. I’ve been thinking a lot about how smart devices have changed the way we think and interact, reading books like Alone Together and other things from Sherry Turkle’s oeuvre, and remembering how I used to use my computer so differently when I didn’t have instantaneous access to low quality crap 24/7. I think making things desktop-only…
on “The mistake of yearning for the 'friendly' online world of 20 years ago” ↗Much enjoyed Sherry Turkle's Alone Together
on “Ask HN: Best books you've read in 2015” ↗…time 3 decades about 3/4s of the way through, I had thought the characters were a little weak in general up until then anyway, and then they were pretty much gone entirely at that point. = December = Alone Together - Sherry Turtle 4 The negatives of tech, robotics and the internet. Interesting and important read. Imperium - Robert Harris 5 First in the semi-fictional trilogy accounting the fall of the Roman Republic,…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…it, is to give up on that fancy abstract idea that the internet is just "flow of information", this idea appeal to programmers for obvious reasons, and it is the most silly way to look at the internet) Alone Together is very good too, the way Turkle focuses on empathy is important I guess. That all is being said, but some people on the internet deserve to be attacked, or proven wrong let's say, if I am in a good…
on “I tend to avoid reading social news comments” ↗…highly recommend William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life, then reading Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, et al. As an aside: I listened to Irvine on audiobook immediately after listening to Sherry Turkle's Alone Together. It was like reading about a disease and then the treatment. Recommend, would do again.
on “The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius” ↗…your own behavior. You: If you do. Bot: What are you doing about that? ------------------------------------------------------ Seriously, though, you are on to something here. IIRC, Sherry Terkel in Alone Together either does not or barely emphasizes the implications of giving kids chat toys which could create a permanent record. Where is the informed consent in that?
on “A robotherapist that doesn’t track you and works offline” ↗This isn't about Facebook, it's about narcissism. "Facebook is "like being in a play. You make a character," one teenager tells MIT professor Sherry Turkle in her new book on technology, Alone Together. Turkle writes about the exhaustion felt by teenagers as they constantly tweak their Facebook profiles for maximum cool. She calls this "presentation anxiety," and suggests that the site's element of…
on “Is Facebook making us sad?” ↗See also Sherry Turkle[1], Nicholas Carr[2], etc. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Together-Expect-Technology-Other... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Shallows-What-Internet-Doing-Brains/dp...
on “Google Glass” ↗Sherry Turkle's book Alone Together talks a lot about this. A recurring theme is people seeing social robots going from being "better than nothing", partially filling some human void, to being "better than anything", because the robot has…
on “Japan's Robot Dogs Get Funerals as Sony Looks Away” ↗Sherry Turkle's book, 'Alone Together', is split into two parts - the first is an investigation into how people (mostly children and the elderly) interact/bond/etc with robots of varying sophistication - starts with Tamagotchi, Furby and…
on “Sony Aibo” ↗…streaming media has become very big, thereby consuming even more of our free time. That additional time spent online has to come from somewhere. As Sherry Turkle put it, we are increasingly choosing to be "Alone Together" probably at the cost of old school forms of togetherness like church and social clubs.
on “Gallup: U.S. church membership dips below 50% for first time” ↗