The Quest for Connection: Turkle and Wesch

"A Vision of Students Today"Youtube video

I believe that Michael Wesch and Sherry Turkle share common ground in their discussions of new media and technology because in different ways, they are both talking about the need for connection.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?pagewanted=all

In her article, Turkle writes about devices creating a new way to be "alone together", changing what we do and even who we are.  I find this to be profoundly true.  Recently, I walked my dog through the busy Bristol Town Common and noticed that 3 out of 4 people I passed were focused on their phones.  This on a beautiful summer day, with children playing all around them, and a small carnival in full swing just yards away. My dog and my husband seemed to be the only souls present with a desire to sit, connect, and take in the beauty and activity around them.

Albert and Piper

Turkle is speaking of connection between individuals and our modern phenomenon of keeping each other at distances we can customize and control.  In her conclusion, she urges us to "look up, look at one another, and start the conversation." Michael Wesch also writes about a dire need for connection, in this case between students and the world.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0dUVXRjQzRDVPRFE/view

Wesch was not seeking to separate his students from their technology but he was desperate to help them learn to ask questions that might lead them to find meaning and significance in their education.  As Turkle found a disconnect between people, Wesch discovered a disconnect between students and the purpose of their "higher" education.  Devoid of any grand religious or national narrative, Wesch argues that students have become savvy test takers but are not inspired to be lifelong learners.

When Wesch does the hard work of studying and quantifying this disconnect (you can watch the resulting video he and his students created at the top of this blog), the results are disheartening for any teacher.  But the author/educator finds a point of connection, or at least the need for it, in the state of 'Spaceship Earth'.  He manages the learning environment and uses technology to help students discover for themselves the meaningful narrative that has been emerging during their lifetimes:  the alarming state of their planet and the need for them to connect (in the classroom and globally) in order change the trajectory.

I could have easily have taken the position that Turkle believes our devices cause us to disconnect while Wesch see their potential to bind us together in a grand new narrative.  However, I do not see them as opponents in the discussion of media and technology.  After all, they are both talking about the need for human connection, whether individual or global. As we discussed in class today, both educators are in search of the WHY.