Alone Together By Sherry Turrkle Analysis

Sherry Turkle makes the provocative statement at the onset of her novel entitled, “Alone Together”, that suggests technology to be “seductive when it what if offers meets our human vulnerabilities”. (2011:1). Technology can be perceived to have primarily been designed for problem solving purposes such as serving as a medium to improve efficiency or increase the production process, however, has since evolved into a platform that either boosts or hinders the human self-esteem. Furthermore, as suggested by Turkle, technology is not considered for the advancements offered and made, but rather for the social factors contributed in society, such as the invention of ‘emoticons’. Terms and phrases such as “selfie” or “body-shaming” serve to highlight
Former Instagram famous model, Essena O’Neill, can be used as an example to further illustrate this point. O’Neill publicly discussed the personal struggles faced with social media prior to quitting social media and declaring that ‘social media is not real life’. Furthermore, the persona portrayed on O’Neill’s Instagram account – Instagram is an online mobile application that enables users to capture pictures and videos, edit the items, as well as share, post and view the items – is characteristic of the narcissistic-self created by being a modern Goldilocks. Furthermore, Addendum D reveals a previous and deleted Instagram post of O’Neill whereby notions of a fragile ego are exposed, “[please] like this photo…so I can receive social approval from you”, (Raimonde, 2015). This narcissistic self is a by-product of the controlled interaction afforded by Instagram and other social media platforms. Ultimately, it is seen that O’Neill is perceived as a modern Goldilocks, controlling the interaction and communication between the self and users by keeping them not too far, posting daily pictures and allowing the account to be public and followed by many, and not too close, initially not revealing the personal struggles faced with when attempting to capture the appropriate Instagram picture and not forming personal or intimate relationships with the followers. Furthermore, this control is seen as destructive as it produced and manifested the human ego, which then lead to O’Neill’s decision to quit social media platforms. Conclusively, this example, in addition to the Twitter example, highlight the negative consequences of limiting or restricting the natural order