400 WORDS

In my opinion, the two texts authored by Sherry Turkle and Sam Anderson are very similar in comparison. Both texts reflect the negative influences of technology, specifically, our smartphones. These texts ultimately suggest that we need to harness technological distractions and negative influences to better our lives socially and mentally.
The distractions that are created by such technology have seriously diminished us as human beings and our skills to be ordinary people. Turkle introduces the first of these negative impacts of technology as they summarize that we use technology as an escape route from awkward or uncomfortable situations because technology gives us an alternative way of interesting ourselves. The quote referring to this “We are forever elsewhere. At class or at church or business meetings, we pay attention to what interests us, and then when it doesn’t, we look to our devices to find something that does,” (Turkle 344). This quote exemplifies why we turn to our devices for an escape route. The sense of being disinterested or bored bothers us so much because we are so surrounded by technology that we think being alone should be solved by technology. And not only do we feel lonely, but it has obstructed our social skills. As a result of these flight from conversation habits, it diminishes our social skills towards each other because we can communicate in so many ways through our devices. Additionally, the abundance of information and the feeling of being over-consumed by technology results in attention deficiencies. These attention deficiencies route from the wealth of information and distractions caused by technology and its accessibility. Likewise, in Sam Anderson’s text, he deliberately suggests that the Internet has dumbed us down and we’ve become too saturated with its distractions. “ Adopting the Internet as the Hub of our work, play, and commerce has been the intellectual equivalent of adopting corn syrup as the center of our national diet, and we’ve become mentally obese,” (Anderson 2). Anderson’s metaphor for corn syrup being the national diet is undoubtedly accurate. It is prevalent in our society, we turn to our devices every second, even when it is disrespectful to others like at the dinner table, in person-to-person conversations, etc. If we never learn to harness technology distractions, who knows how much more technology will continue to negatively affect our lives mentally and socially?
Not only has technology diminished our abilities to engage with people socially but has altered our critical thinking and intelligence.
If we allow our addiction to technology to continue, who knows how much more it will continue to affect us or even worse? To avoid these circumstances actions need to be taken, we must find normalcy without using our technology, limit our screen time, and replace these addictions with something better and more beneficial.
The effects of technology are indisputable and have introduced unexpected challenges that demand our attention and skills to avoid its repercussions.

800 WORDS

In a generation where the digital world has intertwined with our daily lives almost completely, we continue to struggle to strike a balance with its profound influences on our lives. The works of Sherry Turkle and Sam Anderson both delve into this idea of technological influence. Both works are very similar and separable in more ways than one. They both share the common thread of the prevalent social, mental, and physical aspects technology plays in our lives but believe that it can be perceived differently. In Turkle’s essay, she argues that the distraction caused by technology in our lives is detrimental to us. Meanwhile, Anderson argues that technological exposure and distraction are good. (ADD) Overall, throughout the thick and thin of technology we must use it to enhance our lives while we avoid succumbing to its negative influences.
The distractions that are created by such technology have seriously diminished us as human beings and our skills to be ordinary people. Turkle introduces the first of these negative impacts of technology as she summarizes that we use technology as an escape route from awkward or uncomfortable situations because technology gives us an alternative way of interesting ourselves. The quote referring to this from Turkle’s writing is, “ We are forever elsewhere. At class or at church or business meetings, we pay attention to what interests us, and then when it doesn’t, we look to our devices to find something that does,” (Turkle 344). This quote exemplifies why we turn to our devices for an escape route. The sense of being disinterested or bored bothers us so much because we are so surrounded by technology that we think being alone should be solved by technology. Not only do we feel lonely, but it has obstructed our social and empathy skills towards each other because we can communicate in so many ways through our devices we no longer need to in person. Additionally, the distraction caused by the wealth of information at the touch of a few buttons has over-consumed us and resulted in attention deficiencies. In Sam Anderson’s text, he deliberately mentions the idea of overconsumption and how the Internet has dumbed us down. “ Adopting the Internet as the Hub of our work, play, and commerce has been the intellectual equivalent of adopting corn syrup as the center of our national diet, and we’ve become mentally obese,” (Anderson 2). Anderson’s metaphor for corn syrup being the national diet is undoubtedly accurate. It is prevalent in our society, we turn to our devices every second, even when it is disrespectful to others like at the dinner table, in person-to-person conversations, etc.
Not only has technology diminished our abilities to engage with people socially but has altered our critical thinking and intelligence. In Turkle’s writing, she provides an example of the teachers’ views of kids in their classroom, “ These teachers believe they see indications of harm. It is a struggle to get children to talk to each other in class, and to directly address each other. It is a struggle to get them to meet with faculty,” (Turkle 345). This quote suggests that because kids are given phones at such young ages by their parents they have been affected by its influences early and have become more susceptible to its impacts. The teachers’ fears are real, the technological presence in kids’ lives has diminished them socially and empathetically, and they have already established the “flight from conversation” that Turkle mentioned earlier in the text, so early on that they will forever be affected. Oppositely, Sam Anderson suggests the presence of technology in kids’ lives can be beneficial and increase their intelligence and develop skills that not even their elders have. The quote that represents this is, “ Kids who’ve grown up with the internet and other time-slicing technologies. There’s been lots of hand-wringing about all the skills they might lack, mainly the ability to concentrate on a complex task from beginning to end, but surely, they can already do things their elders can’t like conduct 34 conversations simultaneously across six different media, or pay attention to switching between attentional targets in a way that been considered impossible,” (Anderson 11). This quote invites the compelling advantages of early technological presence in kids’ lives. It also suggests that because kids are being introduced to a world that is more advanced than ever is it necessary to expose them earlier to give them a head start on human development because the reality is we have never seen a digital age like this before.
NOT STARTED If we allow our addiction to technology to continue, who knows how much more it will continue to affect us even worse? To avoid these circumstances actions need to be taken, we must find normalcy without using our technology, limit our screen time, and replace these addictions with something better and more beneficial. ADD QUOTES
The multifaceted nature of technology has been substituted into our lives for the worse. Yes, technology has improved our lives in countless ways but it has caused a huge distraction. Whether it’s eating at the dinner table or stopping at a stop sign we compulsively reach for our phones, it’s an embarrassment. To think that we have come so far in terms of technological advancement and betterment of our lives but we still can’t live with the idea of not being attached to our phones is almost sickening. This trend has ultimately highlighted the technological age of our generation for the worse. As technology inevitably evolves we must use this embarrassment as a reminder to ensure that while technology evolves, we use it as a tool to enhance our lives rather than cause a distraction that ultimately diminishes our values as humans.

Final Draft