Analysis of Growing Up Tethered by Sherry Turkle
“Growing up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle can be considered as the effective representation of the today’s world of technological advancement. This particular article explains the idea about the immense level of technological effect on the life of people especially it drastically change the life patterns of the teenagers’ lives. The focus of the Turkle through this article is to apprehend the role of technology concerning to the current youth. She focuses on different life examples to explain that how technology, particularly cell phones, replace the social positions in different facets of lives. Sherry Turkle presents the idea that now a day’s people are too tethered to their cell phones. Here the focus is to support the idea proposed by Turkle by giving the real-life examples.
The main idea delivered by the author through this particular article is that today people are becoming tethered to their phones which means that people are immensely attached to the technological devices named as cell phones. They immensely rely on the technology and this aspect ultimately detach them from the perspective of daily life. She argues that the excessive attachment with cell phones undoubtedly change the rules of engagement (Turkle, 172). Connectivity with other people through verbal discussions become less and less every day. This particular argument can be evident with the help of the daily routine life in which people spend most of their time on using cell phones rather communicating with other people who might sit next to them.
The author effectively raises another crucial feature of cell phone addiction in the form of the comprehensive discussion on the upbringing of the children. She indicates that immense usage of technology also change the overall structure of the fact that how children are nowadays. The particular argument of the author seems true by analyzing the daily routine and lifestyle of the children and parents. Children have access to the cell phone easily, and they can connect with their parents easily and efficiently. This particular prospect is explained by the author as today parents are text or a call away to their children. This feature can be characterized as the effective element of the usage of the cell phones which provides the sense of independence and security to the children on their own.
Sherry Turkle successfully apprehends the idea of the lifestyle of the new generation which is tethered with the facet of the technology and more importantly their cell phones. Undoubtedly, youngsters became the slave to their cell phones as they seem unable to observe the world with its realities. Teenagers consider their cell phones as their best friend as they believe that their life is just incomplete without the necessity of the cell phones. People use advancement of the technology to establish their online personas as they are alarmingly losing their actual identities of lives. This particular negative impact of the cell phone addiction can be exemplified with the help of those teenagers who considered their friendships and associations on social networks more seriously than the true paradigm of the bond with the actual people exist in their lives.
To conclude this, it is necessary to mention that technological advancement and particularly cell phones are the primary reality of the today’s generation which cannot be ignored. The critical element related to the use of the cell phone s is to consider the immense level of balance between the actual lives with the feature of the cell phone. It will be a viable approach to use technology for the sake of benefits and never become drastically addicted to the use of the cell phones.
Work Cited
Turkle, S. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. ReadHowYouWant.com, Limited, 2011, https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=hc7SYAPVlXwC.
