Turkle & Wesch Response

After absorbing the two pieces, I can definitively say that I believe Wesch and Turkle to be allies in the discussion of new media and technology. Turkle's case rests on the idea that technology can isolate. In her TED Talk titled "Connected but alone?" Turkle discusses her research on young people, and touches on many conversations she has had with youths over the years. She realizes that technology creates a Goldilocks Effect in people. It promotes a false sense of reality where you can always edit, delete, retouch, or clean up any presentation of yourself that are not perfect. It feeds into the idea of perfection, and therefore, facilitates a sense of control one must have over their own presentation of themselves at all times. This goes against the ability to converse with others and interact in social gatherings because those in person spaces take away the ability to control how you will be perceived. Turkle states that "those little devices [phones] are so psychologically powerful that they don't only change what we do, they change who we are." This reminded me of the Prenksy remarks where he referred to the fact that the brain wiring of youths is literally changing as a result of technology. Here Turkle is, a psychologist, saying that our beings are being changed as well. 

Wesch also touches on the theme of isolation in education in his piece titled "Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance." Though discussing mildly different age groups, both researcher's ideas can contribute to our understanding of how youths experience the world. Perhaps the deepest connection between the two that I saw came after reading this quote by Wesch: "If our students are 'not cut out for school,' perhaps we have made the mold too narrow or inflexible, or more likely, just not meaningful enough to inspire a student to fit in." Though at first glance this might seem to have nothing to do with Turkle, I find that the idea of youths and their disconnect from society, school, friends, family, runs as a theme through both pieces. Is the mold we made for what school has to be too small, and therefore, drives more youths to turn to new media to combat this narrowness? Is the way that a traditional lecture hall that Wesch describes similar to the idea Turkle comments on of being alone together?

The real issue that I believe both are discussing, though in different ways, is how can we engage youths in the world they experience day to day. How can we encourage real friendship versus solely virtual companionship? How can we stimulate learning in a classroom to "encourage students to join [me] on the quest" rather than turning to a 1:1 device every class period? 

In both there is a sense of anchoring media and technology in reality, and making reality worth learning and living for. This is where our challenge as educators really begins, and where I know I have work to do. Especially after this year it will be easy to utilize 1:1 devices in the classroom to foster so many incredible types of learning, but I need to push myself to think outside the virtual world. I need to push myself to create group work that maybe uses technology as a part of the project, but does not seem reliant on it as the main learning feature. I need to remember the change, and my beliefs about learning before I push the technology to the forefront of every lesson.

 

I am reminded again of Turkle's quote where she states "A flight from conversation can really matter because it can compromise our ability for self-reflection." One of the most important aspects of middle school is starting to figure out who you are in the world, and I do not want my seventh graders to compromise this self reflection in my classroom for the sake of technology. I want my classroom to be loud and collaborative. I want students to make mistakes in front of their peers … and learn from them. I want there to be a sense of community and love in my science lab. I know that I can do this in conjunction with new technology and media, but after listening to Turkle, and reading Wesch, I now know how specific and intentional I need to be about it for the sake of my students.