When I speak or teach, I’m nearly always asked if human beings can be “over-connected.” This question is typically in reference to an obsessive use and reliance on online technologies.
Technology is a double-edged sword. On the one side, it allows us to connect with people who share our interests and with those who are not near us in a geographical sense. On the other side, technology can overwhelm us if it crowds out in-person connection.
For an interesting take on this topic, check out this Krista Tippett, host of American Public Radio’s On Being, fascinating interview of Sherry Turkle, the professor at MIT who studies the subjective side of technology i.e. how technology affects human beings. During the interview, Ms. Tippett mistakenly states the objective of Ms. Turkle’s work is exploring the “subversive” side of technology, to which Ms. Turkle responds that her work explores the “subjective” side of technology. Personally, I was delighted by Ms. Tippet’s Freudian slip, especially in light of research that shows the dark side of the online technologies. For example, consider Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo’s TED video on the “Demise of Guys.”
