Blog #6

I really enjoyed this Turkle portion. I found it very interesting that this Ted talk was uploaded 11 years ago and it is now so much more relevant to society. She talked about people hiding behind a screen and choosing to be more vulnerable online than in person. This is very relevant to me because I would say I grew up in the social media times. During elementary school, I had a MySpace account. I loved the fact that I was able to show off my best friends on my profile listed under my top friends. I also enjoyed switching my profile backgrounds and music. During middle school, I had a Facebook account. Facebook was huge for me because it was the way I would communicate with my friends after school. I also liked Facebook because of the number of games I spent hours playing. In high school, I had Twitter, Vine, and Snapchat, which I used throughout college. Twitter and Snapchat quickly replaced Facebook. I felt very intrigued by these social media platforms. I believed they were more engaging. Twitter was my public online diary and Snapchat was used to document videos of my day-to-day life. Vine was one of the most exciting social media apps that I have encountered yet. It was very amusing to see how much content could be captured in just 6 seconds. When the pandemic struck, I made a TikTok account because of the fact that I was bored and needed something new to do. TikTok reminded me of Vine so much that it was something I always go on to get that quick laugh. But through all the social media, I can completely relate to what was said in this TED talk. I have been a victim of preferring to be online than in person. I always found it much easier to express myself and be more social through texting than I was when I had to talk to a physical person.

She also talked about the Goldilocks effect. She describes a Goldilocks effect as not too close, not too far, just right. Through this, she goes over how people love to text or even email instead of actually talking. The reason for it is because as human beings we love to be able to edit and retouch the human connection that we might make mistakes through. I have always been the rather text-than-call type of person. For me, I prefer to type 30 different emails instead of having a phone call longer than five minutes. I even get anxious when it comes to ordering food inside the restaurant at a fast food place. I find too much pressure when I know people are expecting me to say something. When I order fast food, I prefer to order it online. It gives me more time to think, and more time to think again, and think again. This all correlates back to what she said. As human beings, we like to clean up human communication.

I resonated a lot with what she said when it came to the moment that people are alone, they become anxious, panic, fidget, and reach for a device. I am constantly on my phone. Yes, I said it. I am guilty. The way she explained the reason for it made a lot of sense. I tend to go on my phone whenever I do feel anything other than the feeling of happiness. I remember when I was in high school and my friends and I would always talk about how awkward it was to pass by a group of people, especially guys. The way we would combat this awkwardness was by passing by the group and pretending to be on our phones. To ask this made the situation much easier to go through. 

In the article, she talks about how the pandemic made us fully depend on technology. Yes, we were “connected” but we were more isolated than ever. We couldn’t physically see each other. And we’re forced to see our loved ones through the screen. Now to me, this was something that I have always wanted. I never liked being close to people in lines. I loved the fact that we were virtual for school. I enjoyed that people are being more aware of their cleanliness. But as much as I loved what the pandemic brought, it cost me a lot of things. I wasn’t able to cross the stage and have the graduation I most anticipated back in 2020. And in 2021 I lost my uncle due to Covid. It was very tough to know that he was in the hospital, and there was no visitation allowed. We were forced to see him through a screen. We saw how he suffered. And couldn’t physically be there for him. Yes, we were connected, but we were also so far away. This piece resonated so much with me and I could go on for days, but I will just end here.