Lu 1 Runling Lu Prof. Ziff English 3000-05 November 11, 2016 Compare Contrast Views on the Impacts of Technology to Social Life Technology progression is moving at a rate that is unmatched by any other facet in the society. With the current social media, interaction between people is on a new trend. Online communication has become the go-to place for most of the younger people. Teenagers have an unstoppable crave on online activities. Consequently, social interactions in our real word have been murdered by these online interactions. There are unlimited content out on the internet. It is overwhelming and made people have no time to have actual conversation with people presented in our daily life. The two writers analyzed the effects of technology to people interactions in different environments. Claudia Wallis’s “The Multitasking Generation” talked about the impact of technology on social interactions in families. On the other hand, in “The Flight from Conversation” by Sherry Turkle, took a look at the effects in the working environments. More or less, Wallis and Turkle are telling very similar points in their essays. Without comparing the setting of the issue, where social interaction by technology is heading nowadays is a recurring issue. They pointed out that the society is suffering from people isolating themselves because of the technology. In both articles, technology elements are actually preventing people from interactions. Both authors have similar understanding of the issue (Wallis, 386). Wallis talks about the misconception of multitasking that lie humans keep telling themselves when it is clear that their brains are incapable of such a feat (Wallis, 392). This is a clear indication of the negative impacts that have been brought by the use of the technology. Lu 2 Instead of having a solid conversation with one person, technology allow us to have more conversations on a wide array of issues. This reduces the ability to have a solid and meaningful conversation. The difference between these two compositions is the different environments the authors address. In the article, Wallis focuses on the effects of technology in families. She points out that technologies have brought them the desire to reach out to people who are outside our daily social circle. She gives an example particular family in a study, the Cox’s family. This family has the father, mother and their two children. The two teenagers in this family are shutting their parents out because of the technology available in their hands. Wallis points that in many cases, the characters are attending multiple platforms. The key concern is not the use of the technology but the amount of time. A study conducted a decade ago shows that the length of media consumed by the young generation surpasses the time spent on it (Wallis, 387). Conversely, Turkle introduces the situation in a different setting which is the working environment. She mentioned that technology brought the workplace to “alone together” – the disconnectedness that human are suffering due to how much human is not attached to technological connections (Turkle, 335). Her opinion was that laptops and other devices have stopped the need of people who are working together to consult their colleagues for solutions or discussions. Workers have been sucked into bubbles, oblivious to what is going on beyond their technology-based world. Turkle addresses the issue among adults rather than children. One would think adults are mature enough to self-discipline themselves but not in this case. Adults and children are both deeply affected by the current trend of technological interaction. For adults, the situation is easier to be seen at workplace. Lu 3 The two writers have two different styles that are used in conveying the same meaning. They used figurative languages and descriptions to deliver their points. Although Wallis’ idea was about multitasking, he subconsciously touched on issues of virtual conversation versus real conversation and the way the technology has affected this aspect of our lives. This is the same theme that has been extensively covered by Turkle. She describes the way technology has brought as together yet apart in a way. We communicate constantly via the use of technology but fail to have that meaningful contact communication even when we are together. We prefer to have virtual communication to distance friends at the expense of a conversation with a person sitting next to us. The trend in our current society is about all the unlimited and overwhelming content available through technology and internet. No doubt, the amount of data out there is attractive and addicting. However, “humanity” has been greatly decreased after being processed into digital information. Face to face, skin to skin interactions contain the most and best experiences of communication. Both authors, Wallis and Turkle successful point out the issue we are facing now in different settings. Wallis describes how it affects family relationships, more so on children or teenagers. Turkle conversely suggest the situation at working environment, that people are physically together but not actually working together to create their work together. In this case, the two authors shared very similar idea in their compositions and reminded us many of us in different age and in different places are being affected by our technology. Lu 4 Works Cited Tackle Sherry, “The Flight from Conversation” Reading Critically, Writing Well. 10thEdition. Rise B. Axelrod/ Charles R. Cooper/ Alison M. Warriner. Boston / New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2014. 334-337 Wallis Claudia, “The Multitasking Generation” Reading Critically, Writing Well. 10thEdition. Rise B. Axelrod/ Charles R. Cooper/ Alison M. Warriner. Boston / New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2014. 385-396
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