Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together includes numerous interviews and observations that the author, engineers, and councilors conducted. This team allows people to interact with certain robots and records their responses and feelings. Turkle seemed to favor a lot of sessions she had with children. One in particular alarmed me. When Kismet, an interactive robot, does not speak to Estelle, the young girl begins binge eating. Turkle decides to invite Estelle back to MIT in order to explain to her that Kismet has limitations. Despite trying to convince the girl that the robot does not have the ability to speak, Estelle attempts to hold a conversation with it, and “when her efforts bear no fruit, [she] withdraws, sullen” (96). The author concludes that the reaction that the girl has is a result of her not having someone she can speak to. There are other similar situations. Many of the children who are studied think of the robots as someone who will give them what they aren’t receiving at home, whether it be protection from older brothers or attention.
After reading about these incidents, I started to think that perhaps one of the reasons people turn to technology is because they are being deprived of emotional and human interactions. It could even be that they are suffering from a mental illness. Based on the observations made by Turkle, these could be possibilities. As technology advances and more people have access to it, it becomes the norm to always be connected. This gives people who have issues an outlet to distract themselves. As it becomes the norm to be connected, is it possible that we are not identifying illnesses and other problems people are facing? Do you think that people are beginning to turn to technology instead of seeking help?
Emily Quezada
The part about Estelle binge eating is especially grave. It sounds like she had little or no attention while growing up. Nowhere to play, no one to talk to. I also think this could be an illness because the reaction seems to strong for something so simple. There may a lot of things that go unnoticed while growing up, and disorders aren't really noticed until the child starts interacting with other people. To answer your second question, I think that with Google around nowadays, it seems as if yes, people prefer to turn to technology instead of seeking help. They would prefer to save gas on a trip to a psychologist by simply looking on a health website.
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