Draft 1 400-500 words
What is conversation and how does empathy relate to it? Now for many people conversation is talking to people by any means whether that be face to face, through text, a phone call, facetime call, etc. Sherry Turkle, the author of her “Empathy Diaries” , also a professor of social studies at MIT in Boston Massachusetts. In her writing “The Empathy Diaries” she talks about how technology has had a major effect on people and their ability to have conversation. Conversation is a very important thing in our everyday lives, and some people tend to lack the ability to have conversation these days. Many people hide from it and just simply cannot have a conversation. Technology as a whole has changed the way many people view what conversation even means. It has also changed how people have conversations, they cannot even speak face to face anymore. Empathy, which means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, is also becoming a part of people that they lack in. Technology has the ability to affect how people have conversations and their ability to have empathy in many ways.
Hiding from conversation can be a very easy thing to do nowadays. People tend to avoid it because of how they have adapted to the technology these days. I have seen first hand many people find ways to not engage with talking to people whether that be hiding from it or finding ways to work around it. Sherry Turkle also has a similar opinion on that saying “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other.” (Turkle 344). Turkle believes people do find ways to hide from actually having to speak with others. I agree with that because it has become very easy for people to do that and hide behind technology. They do not understand the value of what having a conversation can do for you, being able to talk with someone gives you a great advantage over people who cannot. In our lives in this day and age technology is in our everyday lives and some people may say it is essential to be able to live now. Even though it is very easy to just be on the technology and avoid conversation and interaction with the people near you it is essential that you know how to talk to people. People always say turn your phones off and put them away when something important is going on around you or if you are just having a regular conversation with someone putting your phone away shows you are present where you are and showing the people with you that they have your focus and attention.
Draft 2 800 words
What is conversation and how does empathy relate to it? Now for many people conversation is talking to people by any means whether that be face to face, through text, a phone call, facetime call, etc. Sherry Turkle, the author of her “Empathy Diaries” , also a professor of social studies at MIT in Boston Massachusetts. In her writing “The Empathy Diaries” she talks about how technology has had a major effect on people and their ability to have conversation. Conversation is a very important thing in our everyday lives, and some people tend to lack the ability to have conversation these days. Many people hide from it and just simply cannot have a conversation. Technology as a whole has changed the way many people view what conversation even means. It has also changed how people have conversations, they cannot even speak face to face anymore. Empathy, which means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, is also becoming a part of people that they lack in. Technology has the ability to affect how people have conversations and their ability to have empathy in many ways.
Hiding from conversation can be a very easy thing to do nowadays. People tend to avoid it because of how they have adapted to the technology these days. I have seen first hand many people find ways to not engage with talking to people whether that be hiding from it or finding ways to work around it. Sherry Turkle also has a similar opinion on that saying “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other.” (Turkle 344). Turkle believes people do find ways to hide from actually having to speak with others. I agree with that because it has become very easy for people to do that and hide behind technology. They do not understand the value of what having a conversation can do for you, being able to talk with someone gives you a great advantage over people who cannot. In our lives in this day and age technology is in our everyday lives and some people may say it is essential to be able to live now. Even though it is very easy to just be on the technology and avoid conversation and interaction with the people near you it is essential that you know how to talk to people. People always say turn your phones off and put them away when something important is going on around you or if you are just having a regular conversation with someone putting your phone away shows you are present where you are and showing the people with you that they have your focus and attention. These problems have not only just affected adults, but even with young children in school there are many problems with kids not being able to talk to each other. Young children now have a different outlook on technology than any person ever had as a kid. The way technology has grown and become more and more a need in a person’s life changes the way kids live. Yes technology is a good thing to have in our lives, but people need to teach these young children the life skills they are going to need where they cannot use technology. Turkle talks about children in school not being able to talk to each other saying “It is a struggle to get children to talk to each other in class, to directly address each other. It is a struggle to get them to meet with faculty.” (Turkle 345). Children have hard times and do not seem to even be interested in talking to each other, they would rather be buried in their phones. It is a weird thing to hear, when I was a kid all we would talk to each other to points where the teacher would ask us to stop talking. Granted technology and phones were pretty new at the time when I was a kid, but we still would love to interact with each other where school became a social zone for almost everyone. Teachers now really struggle with getting the kids to talk to each other face to face. Which is a problem because when these kids grow up they are going to be missing that skill of being able to have and hold a conversation with someone. It certainly is not the teachers fault, but the fault of how everyone in the world has changed with the growth of technology. We need to learn and teach people how to be able to use technology but also be able to talk to people which is the best skill you could have. Conversation, which is a big part of your everyday life, actually talking and interacting with someone is a very important part of everyone’s life.
Draft 3 1000 words
Cam Kearney
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110
27 September 2024
Technology Diminishing Conversation and Empathy
What is conversation and how does empathy relate to it? Now for many people conversation is talking to people by any means whether that be face to face, through text, a phone call, facetime call, etc. Sherry Turkle, the author of her “Empathy Diaries” , also a professor of social studies at MIT in Boston Massachusetts. In her writing “The Empathy Diaries” she talks about how technology has had a major effect on people and their ability to have conversation. Conversation is a very important thing in our everyday lives, and some people tend to lack the ability to have conversation these days. Many people hide from it and just simply cannot have a conversation. Technology as a whole has changed the way many people view what conversation even means. It has also changed how people have conversations, they cannot even speak face to face anymore. Empathy, which means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, is also becoming a part of people that they lack in. Technology has the ability to affect how people have conversations and their ability to have empathy in many ways.
Hiding from conversation can be a very easy thing to do nowadays. People tend to avoid it because of how they have adapted to the technology these days. I have seen first hand many people find ways to not engage with talking to people whether that be hiding from it or finding ways to work around it. Sherry Turkle also has a similar opinion on that saying “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other.” (Turkle 344). Turkle believes people do find ways to hide from actually having to speak with others. I agree with that because it has become very easy for people to do that and hide behind technology. They do not understand the value of what having a conversation can do for you, being able to talk with someone gives you a great advantage over people who cannot. In our lives in this day and age technology is in our everyday lives and some people may say it is essential to be able to live now. Even though it is very easy to just be on the technology and avoid conversation and interaction with the people near you it is essential that you know how to talk to people. People always say turn your phones off and put them away when something important is going on around you or if you are just having a regular conversation with someone putting your phone away shows you are present where you are and showing the people with you that they have your focus and attention. These problems have not only just affected adults, but even with young children in school there are many problems with kids not being able to talk to each other. Young children now have a different outlook on technology than any person ever had as a kid. The way technology has grown and become more and more a need in a person’s life changes the way kids live. Yes technology is a good thing to have in our lives, but people need to teach these young children the life skills they are going to need where they cannot use technology. Turkle talks about children in school not being able to talk to each other saying “It is a struggle to get children to talk to each other in class, to directly address each other. It is a struggle to get them to meet with faculty.” (Turkle 345). Children have hard times and do not seem to even be interested in talking to each other, they would rather be buried in their phones. It is a weird thing to hear, when I was a kid all we would talk to each other to points where the teacher would ask us to stop talking. Granted technology and phones were pretty new at the time when I was a kid, but we still would love to interact with each other where school became a social zone for almost everyone. Teachers now really struggle with getting the kids to talk to each other face to face. Which is a problem because when these kids grow up they are going to be missing that skill of being able to have and hold a conversation with someone. It certainly is not the teachers fault, but the fault of how everyone in the world has changed with the growth of technology. We need to learn and teach people how to be able to use technology but also be able to talk to people which is the best skill you could have. Conversation, which is a big part of your everyday life, actually talking and interacting with someone is a very important part of everyone’s life.
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, has also been gradually diminishing within people with the rise of technology along with many other essential skills that have significance with empathy and effective communication. The ability to have empathy in life now is a very important thing because you never know what people are going through. We are never really taught how to understand what someone is feeling or dealing with, it just comes to us with common sense. That could be a bold statement but it is true, empathy is just common sense. I feel with the way technology has developed and advanced along with diminishing conversation it has also taken away people’s ability to understand what someone is feeling. It really shows up just like children hiding from conversation they are also lacking in empathy. I have not had a first hand experience with children not having any empathy but as Sherry Turkle says “Children at Holbrooke are not developing empathy in the way that years of teaching suggested they would.” (Turkle 345). These children now lack the basic ability to be sympathetic with someone, which is a very important ability to have in your life. It will help you be a better person and shows others that you are able to be there for them.
Final Draft
Cam Kearney
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110
27 September 2024
Technology Diminishing Conversation and Empathy
What is conversation and how does empathy relate to it? Now for many people conversation is talking to people by any means whether that be face to face, through text, a phone call, facetime call, etc. Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts, addresses how technology impacts conversation in her work, “The Empathy Diaries”. In her writing, she talks about how technology has had a major effect on people and their ability to have conversations. Conversation is a very important thing in our everyday lives, and some people tend to lack the ability to be able to talk with people these days. Many people hide from it and just simply cannot have a conversation. Technology as a whole has changed the way many people view what conversation even means. It has also changed how people talk to each other; they cannot even speak face to face anymore. Empathy, which means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, is also becoming a part of people that they lack in. There are many people who do not have the ability to feel what someone is feeling. We see people and you feel bad for them because of the effect technology has on them. It takes away the important life skills they need. Technology has the ability to affect how people have conversations and their ability to have empathy by diminishing them in many ways.
Hiding from conversation can be a very easy thing to do nowadays. People tend to avoid it because of how they have adapted to the technology these days. I have seen this first hand as many people find ways to not engage with talking to people but would rather be hiding from conversation and find ways to avoid it. Turkle has a similar opinion on that saying “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other.” (Turkle 344). I agree with what she says about that because it has become very easy for people to do that and hide behind technology. They do not understand the value of what having a conversation can do for you; being able to talk with someone gives you a great advantage over people who cannot. In our lives in this day and age technology is in our everyday lives and some people may say it is essential to be able to live now. Even though it is very easy to just be on the technology and avoid conversation and interaction with the people near you it is essential that you know how to talk to people. People always say turn your phones off and put them away when something important is going on around you. Even if you are just having a regular conversation with someone, putting your phone away shows you are present where you are and showing the people with you that they have your focus and attention. These problems not only affect adults, but even with young children in school there are many problems with kids not being able to talk to each other. Young children now have a different outlook on technology than any person ever had as a kid. The way technology has grown and become more and more a need in a person’s life changes the way kids live. Yes, technology is a good thing to have in our lives, but people need to teach these young children the life skills they are going to need when they can’t use technology as a fallback. Turkle touches upon the fact that it is a struggle in schools saying “It is a struggle to get children to talk to each other in class, to directly address each other. It is a struggle to get them to meet with faculty.” (345). Children have a hard time and do not seem to even be interested in talking to each other, they would rather be buried in their phones. It is a weird thing to hear, as when I was a kid, we would talk to each other to the point where the teacher would ask us to stop talking. Granted technology and phones were pretty new at the time when I was a kid, but we still would love to interact with each other, school became a social zone for almost everyone. Teachers now really struggle with getting the kids to talk to each other face to face. Which is a problem because when these kids grow up they are going to be missing that skill of being able to have and hold a conversation with someone. It certainly is not the teachers fault, but the fault of how everyone in the world has changed with the growth of technology. We need to learn and teach people how to be able to use technology but also be able to talk to people which is the best skill you could have. Conversation, which is a big part of your everyday life, actually talking and interacting with someone is a very important part of everyone’s life.
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, has also been gradually diminishing within people with the rise of technology along with many other essential skills that have significance with empathy and effective communication. The ability to have empathy in life is a very important thing because you never know what people are going through. We are never really taught how to understand what someone is feeling or dealing with, it just comes to us with common sense. That could be a bold statement but it is true, empathy is just common sense. I feel with the way technology has developed and advanced along with diminishing conversation it has also taken away people’s ability to understand what someone is feeling. It really shows up just like children hiding from conversation, they are also lacking in empathy. I have not had a first hand experience with children not having any empathy, but as Sherry Turkle says “Children at Holbrooke are not developing empathy in the way that years of teaching suggested they would.” (345). These children lack the basic ability to be sympathetic with someone, which is a very important ability to have in your life. It will help you be a better person and shows others that you are able to be there for them.
Ultimately the diminishing of these problems causing conversations and the ability for people to have empathy is growing and is not good for the new generations. As Turkle talked about, and I completely agree with her on, we really need the ability to be able to hold a conversion and talk to people. We as a society need to do a better job at not allowing technology to take over our lives and take away from the skills we are meant to have and use. That in this instant is not the case, unfortunately we have to work with that and make sure we still teach kids the ways we were taught of what being in conversation is. Teach them what it is like to have empathy and feel for people so we all can become better with these problems rising. It truly is unfortunate that this is the situation everyone has been put in, but that is life now. Technology is becoming more and more a part of us. It is our job to keep the parts of humans we still need within our society.
Works Cited
Turkle, Sherry. The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir. New York, Penguin Press, 2021.
