THE INTERNET

Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk was a very strong, outspoken presentation. Seeing that this talk was in 2012, it is shocking me to compare how far us millennial‘s have come in 2018. Her points that she makes are very valid and got me to truly think about my life and how social media and phones affect it. When she claims that social media has made us all more connected then ever before, I couldn’t agree more. And I also couldn’t agree more with her statement on how it has made us all isolated. We sit behind our laptop screens and our iPhones and androids looking at what’s going on in the world and never having a real conversation. At seven minutes in Turkel’s presentation what really stuck with me was her statment “human relationships are rich, they’re messy, and they’re demanding. And we clean them up with technology.”

I make sure and know that it is very important when I am talking to friends and family to keep my phone away from me. Also I do own an Apple Watch, so with that connected to my phone I can leave my phone farther away than usual and when I get notifications I can tell if it’s an actual emergency or if it is something that can wait.

I am not a big digital gamer, and the games I do have on my phone don’t take up much space. They are mainly a time consumer just for when I’m bored. I enjoy playing the games “Ballz”, “Color Switch”, and “Slither.io” All these games are just really entertaining, and nice when you have time to kill. 

If I had to put a number on the amount of hours I spend on social media a week it would probably be around 60 hours total. When I am not with my friends, family, working out, or working, I am most likely on my phone doing something. I do feel like I am part of a networking community because it helps keep me in touch with my friends and if they are busy, and vice versa. I think online gaming communities allow people that are really interested in gaming to have the oppurtunity to build friendships and make connections with others that have similar interests. Personally I am not one of those people, but I can see the other side on why people like it so much!