In “Computers Change the Way We Think”, Sherry Turkle attempts to persuade her readers the human mind is being affected by computers. She also informs her readers how the mind is change by computers using cause and effect. Turkle’s tone is righteous, uneasy, and nostalgic. She wrote to an academic audience and her essay was released Jan 20, 2004 to The Chronicle of Higher Education. She references her educational background frequently to show her own credible. Turkle’s main concern is right to privacy and the influence software and online simulations have had. Turkle focuses on the effects computers have on the mind and how computers change the lives of those in her society.
With this new age of technology, Turkle explains the right to privacy has become greater issue. Young people view privacy as a privilege, not one of their right. Turkle believed inside a democracy, privacy should be a right. Turkle witnessed students giving up their private information on the internet with no precautions or second thoughts. Turkle has seen young adults have accept that they are always under electronic surveillance.
Turkle writes that avatars and online personas can provide a safe place for young people to explore their identities. Internet versions of themselves can also make it more difficult for them to develop an authentic identity. Online games or online worlds give players a resemblance of a real friendship. While online they avoid the real work needed to form a true companionship. Turkle explains relationships in games are surface level and hinder the players from revealing sincere feelings with real people. Turkle infers computer simulations have become a part of everyday life, spanning over all aspects of life.
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They provide an environment where all guidelines are clear to the users. Simulations typically put the dilemmas as good vs. evil, but the real world extensively more complicated. Players are learning how to maneuver around an obstacle in a game or simulation. Opposed to trying to understand the objective of the task. Turkle deduces that these online games change the way the human mind tackles problems and the avatars in the games impede personal growth. The online personas encumber the ability to make sustainable relationships and develop authentic characteristics for oneself.
Turkle proceeds to address software like PowerPoint and Word. PowerPoint shaped the way American culture is sharing ideas. The PowerPoint software encourages a monologue, as opposed to an open dialogue. Presentation tools teach the brain that how something looks is more crucial than the content itself. Another software Turkle is cautious of is Word.
Turkle states programs like Word can turn a capable writer into a magnificent writer, but it can also make an inferior writer even poorer. Before Word, writers took the time to compose a thought-out notion. After Word came around, contemplating concepts in advanced has become a foreign concept for many of Turkle’s students. Turkle suggests PowerPoint and Word affects the mind are detriment to society.
In the past, only a select group of engineers, programmers, and other technologists were considered “computer people”. Turkle states, immeasurable amounts knowledge being taught by computers. Society needs to decipher if that is good or bad, and when it is to their benefit. Turkle concludes, computers are being used in American culture to understand the rest of the world, and how individuals see their place on Earth. Consequently, all Americans are computer people now.
Turkle is wistful of a time before, whereas she also displays how computers could benefit society. Turkle wrote about her concerns regarding computers in relation to the human mind. She believes software and simulations are shaping identities and thought processes. Turkle concluded that all privacy is lost and all Americans have been changed by computers.
