
Sherry Turkle’s ‘Reclaiming Conversation’ - HSO
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/books/review/jonathan-franzen-reviews-sherry-turkle-reclaiming-conversation.html
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copsarebastards
> Matthew Crawford, in “The World Beyond Your Head,” contrasts the world of a
> “peon” airport lounge — saturated in advertising, filled with mesmerizing
> screens — with the quiet, ad-free world of a business lounge: “To engage in
> playful, inventive thinking, and possibly create wealth for oneself during
> those idle hours spent at an airport, requires silence. But other people’s
> minds, over in the peon lounge (or at the bus stop), can be ­treated as a
> resource — a standing reserve of purchasing power.”

This is a perfect example of the problem with advertising. It's not that
people don't want to know about products, it's that people need to be able to
learn about products on their own terms. When you're constantly shoving
products in people's faces, you're detracting from all kinds of other
pursuits. Advertising is possibly the greatest sink of time and energy in our
generation. And what's worse it that the people who are perpetrating this
crime on us _know_ that it's a waste of time and energy, which is why they
avoid it in their airport lounges.

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mgkimsal
I just had 4 flights over 2 days, and noticed something odd. I've noticed it
before, but it really bugged me these trips. Someone reads off 'friendly'
announcements trying to get us to sign up for credit card offers - get free
skymiles, free bag checks, etc. Sign up today! The sales pitch went on for
almost _4 minutes_ on one flight. It was a 30 minute flight, so > 10% of the
flight was advertising. What bugged me most was that this was, AFAICT, the
_CAPTAIN_ \- the person flying the plane - pitching credit cards WHILE WE ARE
FLYING. I have to take my shoes and belt off (sometimes), can't bring liquids
in, have to turn off electronic devices - all for purported safety reasons -
but someone who is FLYING A PLANE can take several minutes to pitch a credit
card. It's sickening. I do think that the first class passengers aren't
excluded from these pitches tho - they're going to hear some of it anyway,
regardless of where you sit.

I'd really like an airline which didn't constantly pitch stuff at me while I'm
flying. I guess it's called "buy your own plane and fly yourself"...

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Jtsummers
Once the plane is in the air a lot of the controls are automated. Also, even
if it was the captain of the flight, they have a co-pilot.

Still annoying, I vaguely recall something similar on my last Delta flights,
but I'm pretty sure those were by the flight crew and a follow-up to the
safety briefing.

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brianstorms
Not bad, getting famed novelist Jonathan Franzen to write your book review!
Sherry does noble work and it deserves wide recognition and readership.

I can't say I am hopeful, but I do _hope_ that society's current preoccupation
with mobile devices will start to get old, and after a few years people will
begin to realize how negatively they're affecting everyday life and
interpersonal interactions. Perhaps it will become "cool" to not have a
device, or, it will be societally uncool to use it during meals or at
restaurants, like cigarettes have become. I kind of hope that the smartphone
market splits soon into two camps, one the same old machines that
Apple/Samsung etc pump out, and another camp of slightly less smart, less
feature-rich phones, fewer apps, designed to be used occasionally not every
damn second of the day... phones that are more about infrequent checks on
status and more about making calls and occasional text conversations. Devices
that start giving your life back to you. I know, dream on. But as the
smartphone owner population gets demographically older, I suspect you will
start seeing something like this happen.

It would be interesting to design a user interface that was easy to use, but
was designed in such a way to dissuade you from constant use. Perhaps it might
reward you the less you used it.

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volaski
I doubt it will happen, if human beings were such rational creatures, we would
have all quit watching TV and playing video games (I have, but I'm sure I'm
the minority, and I think the ratio of people who end up using those vintage
phones you mention will be much lower than those who don't watch TV, because
of network effect). I have seen plenty of super addictive technologies die off
if the value it provides is pure entertainment, but I have never seen any
technology that provides clear benefit go away just because it has side
effects--people who realize the side effect and want to do something about it
will find a way to discipline themselves, but most people are not disciplined
enough to be able to do that.

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twic
> Unlike [...] Evgeny Morozov, whose perspective is Belarussian, Turkle is a
> trusted and respected insider.

Forget Turkle, what on earth is the Belrusian perspective?

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theoh
Belarus is the county Morozov apparently comes from.

