I am, most recently, a northern transplant: my family moved to the U.S. from Canada just over a year ago when my husband was transferred for work. As my own family (parents, cousins, uncles and aunts, and late grandparents) all live on the other side of the planet, I have long been an advocate and avid user of technology to keep in touch with my loved ones… without give my bank account a heart attack. From the time I was a college student in Massachusetts, away from home for the very first time (and racking up about $700 in phone bills the first semester!), I have ardently sought ways to stay connected with those I had left behind. Software such as BuddyPhone took advantage of VOIP technologies and allowed me to hear my mother’s voice when I was homesick, for no additional fees. Seeing the daily email from one or both parents popping up in my inbox was just about the best way to start my day. As instant messaging caught on, being able to communicate almost instantly (but with, as Ms. Turkle points out, a certain protective distance) was a thrill.
I use all these same technologies today: I use Google Voice and Skype to hold daily voice and video conversations with my parents; WhatsApp has replaced ICQ and AIM as my instant messenger of choice. I find WhatsApp especially useful, as it allows me access to intimate networks comprising my female college friends (not surprising, as I went to an all-women’s college), my female college friends who are parents, and my family abroad, including a vet (very handy when my dog fell ill in the middle of the night, the time difference working in my favor), two doctors, an accountant and various recipe repositories—no request for an ethnic recipe from my childhood goes unanswered.
I find that I use Facebook quite a bit too, but not in the way I envisioned I would. While I use it to connect with an reconnect with friends whom I’ve met in real life before “friending” them on Facebook, I tend to stick to old-fashioned phone conversations and chatty emails when I have the leisure to do so. I seem to use Facebook primarily to access networks to which I wouldn’t ordinarily have easy access: two different mothers’ groups, one of which I’ve been an active member of for the last five years, which seems to me to be quite a long run for a Facebook social group. I lean on these ladies for advice and help, especially on the local group who’ve helped me out a number of times when I was stumped by the unfamiliarity of a new locale.
On the whole, I have a positive view of connectivity, perhaps because I feel otherwise isolated. Having lived here for only a year, most of my friends and all of my family are much too far away to interact with easily other than online. I grow giddy when a visit (in either direction) approaches, but those are few and far between, and I relish the idea that I can “reach” most of my loved ones from the comfort of my own computer and other devices. I feel almost as though I were a spider in the middle of her web… though without the predatory connotations. While I understand and agree with Ms. Turkle’s cautionary statements, I can’t help but feel optimistic that my personal situation does not seem to reflect such dire circumstances as those she describes.
On the matter of convergence of traditional media, I feel that I am one of those who did benefit from the phenomenon, and very much so. I am an avid reader, and forever carried about two or three books (which one I read depended on my mood at that moment) in my purse, making for a very heavy purse as well as a clumsy gait. I was the earliest adopter in my social groups of the e-book: a 30-minute subway ride downtown during which I was often hanging off a rail was the perfect time to use one hand—and the thumb of that hand—to read a book with relative dexterity. And without the clumsy gait. I’ve been quite guilty of using my computer screen to read a recipe and watch a movie at the same time, or read the recipe while video-conferencing with my best friend. While I mourn the demise of the mom-and-pop stores of my youth, I find that the convenience that convergence has brought to me personally is a huge help for someone who never has enough hours in the day: why on earth would I spend time driving all the way to a video rental store when I can simply stream in my own living room? Why would I borrow a book from the library or buy that book when I’m quite likely to spill something on it or, even likelier, read it so many times that the binding will come apart (there was a period in my life during which I bought only hardcover books), when I can simply buy the e-book, store in on my own server and easily access it from any number of devices, including a tablet with a stand that places the device beyond the reach of my glass of wine. Oh, and I can look up an unfamiliar word right there on the tablet without getting up to page through my dictionary? The convenience is making for a very lazy person (why else do I scramble to find alternative ways of working exercise into my day?), but I personally still can’t get past those somewhat superficial conveniences I enjoy. The fact that gazing at the wall of physical books in my reading nook still fills me with profound pleasure despite the fact that I enjoy many of those same books on my electronic devices is a mystery I haven’t yet been able to solve.
References:
Baran, Stanley. Communication, Media & Society, 9th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 01/2016. VitalBook file.
Turkle, Sherry. Connected, but alone? TED Talks, 02/2016. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com.