Turkle and Wesch

I believe that both Turkle and Wesch are allies in their arguments about media and technology. Both Turkle and Wesch make claims about adolescents and their inabilities to do certain things in today’s society. In Sherry Turkle’s “A Flight From Conversation,” she presents the idea that technology is taking over people’s abilities to communicate face to face. Whereas, after reading Michael Wesch’s “Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance,” he faces a similar, but different concern with today’s society. Wesch finds that student learning is being affected due to their lack of asking questions.
                                                         

Turkle claims that technology apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Email, Texting, and even Siri are taking away the value in conversations. She states, “We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t. Email, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their places — in politics, commerce, romance and friendship. But no matter how valuable, they do not substitute for conversation.” This quote really stuck out to me because it’s similar to my own beliefs. I personally feel that there is no better method of communication better than an in person conversation. You can feel/see someone's emotions, tone, and facial expressions. Whereas, in a text or email we often guess or assume someone’s tone. It’s sad that today’s technology is taking away from our social skills/interactions.

                                                         
Wesch in a similar way finds that media is influencing student’s inability to ask questions. Teachers are given this label as a “lecturer” or “instructor”, thus students have lost their ability to ask questions to further their learning. Education is now seen as a source of information, where students do the bare minimum to get by. When in fact, students need to take part in the learning experience by being engaged and asking questions. Wesch states, “It struck me that all learning begins with a good question, and if we are ultimately trying to create “active lifelong learners” with “critical thinking skills” and an ability to “think outside the box” it might be best to start by getting students to ask better questions.” (P.5) This proves that teachers need to think outside of the typical teacher “role” that we see on television. I believe that in order to get our students to begin asking questions, it begins with the classroom environment and teacher/student relationship. If a student feels a stress free environment, one of no judgements, they will be likely to engage in conversations and ask many questions to better enhance their learning. If only we could find a way to do away with the tests!