Apr 12 2012: I also find that while digital communication helps us hide from the audible and physical side of the conversation, it reveals a different kind of confrontation. When people can see your words they can judge spelling and ability to express yourself legibly. This has a few impacts. I tend to judge people's intelligence on how well they can spell now, and while it might be inspiring to converse with somebody who can speak with beautiful flow, that doesn't always convert in text. It also has brought to the surface a huge problem with spelling that may not have been addressed on such a large scale in the past, but unfortunately when weaknesses are unearthed they are often justified and glamorized to hide them in plain sight. We are allowing these problems to grow on a large scale in the upcoming generation.
Apr 12 2012: I think digital technology has completely changed the way we communicate in both positive and negative ways. The most positive is that it allows friends to stay in touch from all corners of the globe with ease. One of the more negative ways I can think of is the often complete removal of context in a conversation. We often "fill in the blanks" with text messages and get completely different meanings out of the words. I had a friend tell me she had a friendship fall apart because of a misinterpretation of a comment.
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A comment on Conversation: Live Q&A with Sherry Turkle: How has digital technology changed the kind of communications you have with your friends, family & co-workers?
A comment on Conversation: Live Q&A with Sherry Turkle: How has digital technology changed the kind of communications you have with your friends, family & co-workers?