Alone Together

Description:

Technology has become the architect of our intimacies. Online, we fall prey to the illusion of companionship, gathering thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends and confusing tweets and wall posts with authentic communication. In "Alone Together," MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It's a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for -- and sacrificing -- in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today's self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity. Based on hundreds of interviews, it describes new, unsettling relationships between friends, lovers, parents, and children, and new instabilities in how we understand privacy and community, intimacy and solitude. - Publisher.

subjects: Information technology,  Interpersonal relations,  Human-computer interaction,  Social aspects,  Attitude to Computers,  Information Dissemination,  Interpersonal Relations,  Social Networking,  Technology,  Internet,  Technologies de l'information et de la communication,  Communication,  Relations humaines,  Aspects psychologiques,  Media Studies,  Soziale Software,  Informationstechnik,  Mensch-Maschine-Kommunikation,  Informatiemaatschappij,  Informatietechnologie,  Sociale aspecten,  IT-samhället,  Mänskliga relationer,  Människa-dator-interaktion,  Technologie de l'information,  Aspect social,  Interaction personne-ordinateur,  Technologie,  SOCIAL SCIENCE