7/3/23- Turkle Video and Article

How do you feel about the issues Turkle raises in her article and Ted Talk? Did the pandemic change the way you feel about yourself (personally and professionally) in relation to technology?

    Sherry Turkle discussed many "hot button" and current topics in her ted talk and in her Times article.  It was refreshing and interesting to witness the change in her opinions based on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was 11 years ago when Sherry Turkle gave her Ted Talk. She brought up some convincing points about how relying on technology is harming the formation genuine human connections. I don't know if it is just because of my generation, but I found myself disagreeing with this particular point. I know many couples who started their relationship on digital platforms. These relationships started because two consenting individuals were able to develop a connection through the use of a few exchanged messages. 

I understand that this doesn't mean people will fall in love at first message, but I do disagree with the notion that it is impossible to form such connections. 

                         

    Turkle understood the necessity of distance and technology aiding in forming connections during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were thwarted into a reality of virtual reality and relied on these forms of technology and digital messages to uphold these established connections. Turkle transitioned her stance from "alone together" to "together alone." Turkle's take on how distance not only enhanced our connections to others but also gave us the unique opportunity to take a look at the problems that lurk in our country. 

  "We are in a better position to see our country as from the outside. It's hard, of course, because we are wrapped in an American myth. It involves words like "melting pot" and images of new citizens pledging allegiance for the first time and being welcomed into an American family. It doesn't include images of riots at the Capitol. You have to step out of the Fourth of July Parade to see that."

 -Turkle, 2021

     

    The effects of the Pandemic enhanced my technological skills. SPOILER ALERT: my final project talks a lot about the effect of the reliance on technology on the structure of lessons and learner outcomes. I know in the 2020-2021 school year, I taught with a survival mindset and having to be okay with "good enough. I carried a lesson I learned from my therapist at the time (PSA: take care of your mental health!) that living in a post-pandemic world was like living on Mars. Mars is a really hard place to live, but each day you learn a little bit about Mars and it gets easier and easier.  

Mars stunk. 

    I was forced to adapt to Mars and teach myself all of the ins and outs of google slides, google platforms, jam-boards, and Zoom. I never used google classroom before, but in a summer taught myself how to assign lessons, create user friendly interfaces for second graders, and to zoom with distant learners. In a typical school day, I used my iPad as a digital whiteboard. I would open up zoom, share my iPad screen with zoom, then share my computer screen with my smart board.   This was so my in person learners could follow along with the same lessons that my virtual students had.  This would happen simultaneously. By the end of the school year I was able to do this whole set up within a minute. I continue to use my iPad as an integral part of my lesson planning and will still project use some digital resources. Except this time I don't have a smart-board, but I do have a document camera, projector, and projector screen. 

TGFA- thank goodness for Apple