Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

The 10th anniversary edition, with a new preface by the author “A persuasive and intimate book . . . showing how, phones in hand, we turn away from our children, friends, and coworkers, even from ourselves.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post “[Turkle] presents a powerful case that a new communication revolution is degrading the quality of human relationships.” —The New York Review of Books “Neil Postman was the greatest media analyst of the late 20th century . . . I often wish that Postman was here with us today as the pace of change and concerns about harms increase rapidly. But we do have a Neil Postman, and her name is Sherry Turkle . . . Reclaiming Conversation was a landmark work of media scholarship . . . Sherry gives us the most powerful summation of how smartphones and social media, these powerful technologies of connection, have damaged close human relationships. She does it in four words: 'We are forever elsewhere.'” —Jonathan Haidt, bestselling author of The Anxious Generation A prescient bestseller a decade ago, and essential today—with new insight into the threats of generative AI. Sherry Turkle, long an enthusiast for the promise of digital technology, now investigates its troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. At the dinner table, children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. At work, we retreat to our screens and home offices, forgoing the water-cooler conversation that once made us more productive and engaged. Online, we post opinions that our friends will agree with, avoiding the real conflicts and solutions of the public square. When we turn to our devices instead of to one another, the cost is our own humanity. But there is good news: conversation cures. Face-to-face dialogue builds empathy, friendship, and creativity; it’s the cornerstone of democracy and good for the bottom line. Drawing on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle makes the paradigm-shifting case for conversation.
ASIN: 0143109790
VSKU: BVV.0143109790.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Turkle, Sherry
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.