Checking email during meetings. Shopping on your smartphone in the middle of class. Texting at funerals. These are a few of the examples that MIT professor Sherry Turkle offered during her TEDTalk on Thursday, in which she argued that “technology is taking us places we don’t want to go.” A psychologist believes that while our constant communication and social media engagement does make us more connected, it’s coming at the sacrifice of real conversation.

One major issue, she said, is that when we text, email or post to a social networking site, we’re able to project ourselves as we want to be seen. “We get to edit, we get to delete, and that means we get to retouch.”  Further, with our phones at our constant disposal, Turkle says we’re only paying attention to the things we want to pay attention to. And that leaves us increasingly disconnected from our friends, family and co-workers as we simply turn to our devices when a conversation no longer interests us. This creates a situation that Turkle said makes us, “expect more from technology and less from each other.” In the long run, she thinks technology is ultimately headed towards creating a Siri-like program that can offer “companionship without the demands of friendship.”

There’s certainly plenty of data that supports Turkle’s argument. Surveys showing that we’re increasingly texting and social networking during meal time or in the bedroom have become commonplace.
But what’s to be done about it?