Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (edition 2015)

by Sherry Turkle (Author)

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dmturner's review

A thoughtful, knowledgeable, well-researched book published in 2015 that anticipates many of the issues we face when we try to multi-task, avoid uncomfortable conversation, and engage with technology as if the objects we engage with are human. The author bases the argument on many interviews and a long history of working with schools, corporations, and universities around technological issues, and finishes with a thoughtful discussion of the pitfalls of engaging with robots and simulations in preference to engaging with other human beings, as if those artificial constructs were more human than actual humans. The book is already dated in 2019, of course (Facebook turned out to be even worse than she anticipated), and she has a utopian view of the nature of family conversations that betrays a certain amount of privileged nostalgia, but it asks many important questions.

Perhaps the only gap in the book for me was a more thorough discussion of the neurological reasons why (for instance) children who are on their smart phones all the time might be less empathic, or why we might seek out multitasking even though we never get better at it and it impairs performance drastically; to me, the big problem with our embrace of technology is its incompatibility with the weird, wonderful, complex, mysterious human brain and the way it operates. (

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dmturner | Jun 29, 2020 |

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Turkle affronta il tema sulla scorta del suo approccio riconoscibile e consolidato (vedi il precedente Alone Together), arricchendo il libro di testimonianze "sul campo" e fornendo una buona panoramica basata su osservazioni di buon senso. Il discorso è tuttavia spesso ridondante e i riferimenti alla saggistica più recente suonano d'obbligo ma poco utili al libro in sé.
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d.v. | May 16, 2023 |

While I really wanted to get into this, and I'm sure it has some valuable principles for taking control of your socialization, I found the first few chapters too repetitive.
Also, there are a lot of anecdotes about the way people interact (or don't) when technology is dividing their attention, but they feel unnecessary at this point in time. Isn't it a universal experience to notice people staring at their phones in restaurants, or texting people they live in the same household with? So it feels like those moments don't need to be narrated in detail anymore... if you're at all concerned about technology's impact on your life, you're already somewhat well aware of the pitfalls.
I just wasn't up for reading more of the same.

On a similar subject but way more readable is the book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.

Alishadt | Feb 25, 2023 |

Interesting criticisms of the book here seem to maintain that, indeed, technology can help us communicate. In my experience that is a very limited communication. I see parents at the park with their children, not interacting with them or talking to them, but on the phone. I see them at dinner, each person with his or her own device, not communicating. Her most compelling arguments are regarding business and medicine. Facebook and Twitter and all the rest have simply allowed people to hide behind anonymity for their nasty little comments. These apps are not about communicating with others, but to them. I am by no means a Luddite; I have a Kindle, a "smartphone" and a tablet as well as a regular computer. Nonetheless, I find Turkel's arguments compelling and her style engaging. I would say this is required reading for the 21st century. (

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PattyLee | Dec 14, 2021 |

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dmturner | Jun 29, 2020 |

Very well written. Eye opening view of how we converse (or not) with each physically and with technology. How we have all changed and are still changing. Somewhat gloomy view of where we have gotten with our lives/technology, but knowledge is power. And this book will help you think. (

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deldevries | Apr 10, 2019 |

Although I'm generally in Turkle's camp—I had a pre-computer childhood, and I'm thankful for it—there's an unrelenting alarmist tone to "Reclaiming Conversation" that does her argument no service. This is a book made up of anecdotes, all about something that we have lost, or are in danger of losing, with only the rare rhetorical nod to the benefits that the mixed blessing of digital connection brings. A book titled "Reclaiming Conversation" should spend at least half its pages discussing the positive steps that the title hints at.

To be sure, the withering of real human connection that often accompanies our universal digital addiction is alarming. (I was especially aghast to consider how babies and toddlers whose parents' faces are turned too often to their phones instead of to their children may grow up with developmental and personality disorders due to insufficient "face time.") But sometimes Turkle doesn't give due consideration to the opposing side. That "woman in her thirties" on page 29 who talks about the advantages of arguing with her partner online has a point, I think: "We get our ideas out in a cooler way. We can fight without saying things we'll regret." I wouldn't be so quick to assume this is another example of "the move from conversation to mere connection." (

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john.cooper | Sep 26, 2018 |

A lot of really great food for thought in this book. I would recommend it for everyone who feels that there relationship with technology generally, and their phone's in particular could do with a re-balancing. (

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NicolaCT | Jan 2, 2017 |

This is a thought-provoking book. It is also sad. The path humanity is pursuing will stamp out what it means to be human. The real world and meaningful interaction are being blocked out and that diminishes our humanity. People are increasingly not relating to each other in a "here and now" "this is real life and it is sometimes messy" way.....they are presenting carefully constructed positive posts on social media. Choosing to interact primarily by texting or email erodes our ability to meaningfully relate to others, encourages us to present a false "best self," encourages us to not feel our feelings, and pins our self worth (especially those who grew up using screens from a very young age) on how many "likes" or responses each post receives. Sherry Turkle offers dozens of examples that validate her argument that we must reclaim conversation to reclaim our humanity. Turkle has spent decades studying the psychology of people's relationships with technology. I was deeply saddened to learn how adolescents experience the world through carefully editing their texts and emails and how socially isolated they are since a screen and false self is always between them and others. Who need 1984 and the thought police? The digital age is impoverishing our feelings, thinking, and imaginations. (

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jaylcee | Jun 12, 2016 |

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by MIT professor Sherry Turkle dissects the negative impacts of the digital age on life skills that face to face conversation brings. It issues a call to action to reclaim conversation. The book comes repeatedly to its main ideas from a myriad of directions and with a variety of examples. Hopefully, in the many examples, at least some will strike a chord with readers, and a conversation will begin.

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2015/09/reclaiming-conversation-power-of-talk.h...

Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley (

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njmom3 | Sep 12, 2015 |

3.5 stars