The image of two chairs facing each other on the cover of Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (Penguin Press, 2015) captures the essence of her simple message: Legitimate conversation can combat the detrimental effects of communication technology on both personal and professional relationships.
Turkle, a professor of the social studies of science and technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, borrows the chair image from a line in Thoreau’s Walden: “I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society.”
The author’s extensive research and cross-generational interviews help her weave her argument. She conveys her interviewees’ attitudes toward and engagements with apps, social-media platforms, and mobile devices.
Career-service professionals at colleges and universities will find Turkle’s work especially illuminating.
How can students seeking internships or jobs be successful in interviews at which whipping out the smartphone to come up with a “right” answer isn’t an option? Judgment, accountability, and filters can be completely disregarded online, but, during interviews, all three matter, and discretion is paramount.
Successful candidates must quickly assess the scene and tailor their responses to questions by giving specific examples that highlight their capacity to perform or solve problems. The population that subscribes to the sentiment “I share, therefore, I am” may require additional assistance from career advisers to help them understand and influence the way their interviewers respond to them emotionally. Turkle’s work is a great starting point for gaining the understanding that will help advisers do that.
Ned Khatrichettri is an internship coordinator in the College of Humanities at the University of Utah.
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