Turkle and Relationships

As we have mentioned before, Turkle had a very strong outlook on how technology has changed our ways of living. She spends a good portion of the book discussing the relationships we have created through social media and how many people's definition of a relationship, marriage, frienship, etc. are being molded around social media instead of being molded around actual humna beings. In fact, our definition of many things have changed because of social media. What does the word "real" mean anymore? Has it been conformed by the way social media defines it? And how will our relationships be in the future if social media is only growing larger as we speak

Sherry Turkle talks about all kinds venues that distort our views of relationships. There's Twitter, Facebook, Game websites,[|Second Life], and all other kinds of social media sites that allow you the option of becoming another person or even making another life. One example Turkle gives is about a man named Pete.

"Historically there is nothing new in "playing at" being other. But in the past, such play was dependant on physical displacement. As a teenager I devoured novels about young men and women sent abroad on a Grand Tour to get over unhappy love affairs. In Europe, they "played at" being unscathed by heartbreak. Now, in Weston, Massachusetts, Pete, forty-six, is trying to find a life beyond his disappointing marriage. He has only to turn on his iPhone." ( A passage from the book, page 159)

She goes on to describe Pete's situation and how he uses his Avatar, or the man he made online, to help him stay in his marriage. He believes that using Second Life and World of War Craft gives him a better relationship and he feels that this is what keeps him going everyday. It almost gives him a second shot at life; which I suppose is the extreme point of Second Life. As Turkle says, "the ironies are apparent: an avatar who has never seen or spoken to him in person and to whom he appears in a body nothing like his own seems, to him, most accepting of his truest self." (page 159)thumb|300px|right|Song about an online relationship

Turkle does focus strongly on the ways relationships or ever marriages are made a mockery of through these social media venues but to completely understand them you must learn about the positive benefits. For many people, they keep their relationships going and strong because of social media. They are able to share photos, videos, pictures, and even see their loved ones overseas through all of these venues. It can be challenging to keep the personal, intimate moments in life special through social media and can question the definition of "real" and "sincere" but we have to keep in mind both sides of the coin. While Turkle was pessimistic, others are very optimistic and the future in social media could make or break our relationships permanently.