"We want to customize our lives…," "It is as though we have all put ourselves on cable news…," "We seem willing to dispense with [other] people altogether…." All these dire, dour, disrespectful pronouncements about this undifferentiated mass called "we" from highly respected psychologist Sherry Turkle at MIT in the New York Times. Where is her acknowledgment that the way we use all the devices, … [Read more...] about So we’re all becoming cyborgs, Dr. Turkle?
social norms
Assume disinhibition’s forever, about everybody?
"Letting people remain anonymous while engaging in fundamentally public behavior encourages them to behave badly." That's according to Farhad Manjoo in "Troll, Reveal Thyself" at Slate.com. Really?! Not everyone, certainly. We know about online disinhibition (but see "Net use may be making us nicer: Studies"). And the establishment of social media's social norms is nothing if not a work in … [Read more...] about Assume disinhibition’s forever, about everybody?
We need to work out the social norms of social media: Why?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about David Brooks's column on today's version of evolution and the new survival of the fittest: survival of the most cooperative, whereby people develop moral communities and the social norms that help those communities succeed. Then I watched Brooks's TED Talk about a new humanism that's emerging which expands on that. It's not the right-leaning … [Read more...] about We need to work out the social norms of social media: Why?
Survival of the most cooperative?
Is evolution evolving? A column by David Brooks in the New York Times points to a growing number of books about a fresh take on evolution. Move over "survival of the fittest," make room for survival of the most cooperative – or maybe survival of the kindest, or the thriving of the kindest, or of the most collaborative? In one such book, The Righteous Mind, the authors "argue that natural selection … [Read more...] about Survival of the most cooperative?
Only sometimes ‘alone together’ in the same room
I get tired of clever terms like "iDistraction," as found in Sunday's New York Times, featuring a photo of a family of four lined up on a couch, each person using a different device. Let's do ourselves a favor and employ a little critical thinking when pictures and terms like these suggest families (and relationships and child development and so many other things) are going to hell. [My headline … [Read more...] about Only sometimes ‘alone together’ in the same room