I think both Turkle and Wesch could see one another's point on things. I don't think they are actually discussing the same issue regarding technology, however. Sherry Turkle tackles the notion of technology replacing conversation, and how people today would actually be comfortable seeking digital companionship over real one on one conversation. She talks about how we are giving up on human interaction, and we are willing to forgo the comfort of an understanding human ear, to instead seek out online listeners who are always ready and willing to hear what we have to say. It doesn't appear to matter if they were even robots. That would actually be something most were okay with. In the real world it seems much of the time ...Nobody is actually listening to us anyway.
Another reason for much of the texting as preferred mode of communicating would be the ability to show only as we wish to be seen, and we can avoid revealing ourselves. We can edit ourselves to be more acceptable to the world. We get the chance to reinvent ourselves.
Wesch talks about the crisis of significance in the classroom. People are getting board and lack the interest in doing work that has no significant personal value to them. What am I doing this for? Why do I need to know this stuff? If education seems irrelevant to the student's life and world, then why do it? What am I really learning if I make zero connections to it?
So the overlapping take-away here is that education needs to be focused on finding challenging relevant questions that the students can ask themselves, and set about on a journey of discovering who they are and what they are all about as learners. How can they impact the world and what can they do to take action now? They have to have meaningful face to face discussions with one another...and work together, and build relationships with peers. They need to build a learning community together and work toward applying what they learn to their real lives to make a difference.
