In reviewing work by Dr. Sherry Turkle, who many of you may know from other courses, Turkle’s refers to “what is a relationship” when she looks at cell phone and social media use and the constant texting that many of us and our students are living with. Thinking about this in reference to this week’s excellent work on Social Media, made me remember a conversation I had on text a while back with a colleague who had moved to another district. There was a slight misunderstanding between us, which left hurt feelings (on my part), and I tried to figure out what had happened. Then I realized, it was the tone. Our conversation was missing so many parts that a relationship needs, the nuances, the emotion, the active listening to one another. Text is fine for quick comments, but so much is lost when a conversation is needed, and a text is settled for. A phone call ensued a few days later, which put everything in place. We need to hold onto that, and reinforce the importance of conversation with our children and students.
Can we have those conversations within the context of social media is the question.