Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle is subtitled The Power of Talk in a
Digital Age. As already noted on our
Library Blog, Sherry Turkle will be speaking on Friday,
October 9th at 7pm at Skokie School in Winnetka. For more
details, see the Family Action
Network website or their press
release.
This
week, I have been contemplating the argument she makes in Reclaiming
Conversation. Turkle relates
comments from college students about using their phones at meals and other times
and feeling drawn (addicted?) to them. I
couldn’t help but think of those comments as I watched students come into our
library, ignore others in their class, and instead send and receive text
messages. The potential loss of empathy and of concern for others troubles Turkle
and she cites many examples and quotes students at some length. Given how engaged college students were in her
research, I think that this book will challenge some of our students, too, and
could certainly be used for a non-fiction text assignment. If you missed Turkle’s recent
New York Times Op-ed piece, “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk,” do look for that. Other works by
Turkle include Alone Together and her upcoming talk will be an important,
informative one. 
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