To what extent do you agree with Sherry Turkle’s argument in “The Empathy Diaries”? On what points do you disagree? Is there another side to this she isn’t seeing? What is your counterargument to some of Turkle’s ideas?You may use your personal experience and observation with the internet and social media to address these questions.
I almost entirely disagree with Turkle’s argument. While I think she makes an interesting point on how face-to-face interactions allow us to become more aware of social cues and increase empathy, I think the fact that she is so viamently against communicating over the internet, she loses me.
I think the main idea that Turkle isn’t seeing, and a counterargument to her essay would be that when people are talking online, they are having a conversation. Although Turkle does mention empathy, her bigger point is the death of conversation; and not once does she acknowledge that people can have conversations online.
For someone who has spent a large portion of her career studying the internet, she seemed rather oblivious to some of the things that occur on the internet everyday. I also thought at times she was creating a strawman of people who disagree with her. There was one quote imparticular where one young girl said something, and although the quote was probably accurate, I think that the girl was in the minority of people. Using her specifically is misleading of the views of the more popular group who disagree with Turkle.
