Digital technology allows us to be constantly in touch with anyone at any moment. But have we “sacrificed conversation for mere connection”? What are the emotional and psychological prices we pay for living in a “technological universe”?

Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011) and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (2009), will explore the paradoxes of living in our “plugged in” world in a conversation that connects all of the divisions of the New School.

Sherry Turkle is professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. Profiles of Sherry have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Scientific American, andWired Magazine. She has been named “woman of the year” by Ms. Magazine and featured among the “forty under forty” who are changing the nation by Esquire Magazine. She is a featured media commentator on the social and psychological effects of technology for NPR, the BBC, and the other major news networks, known for her appearances on such programs as Nightline, Frontline, 20/20, and The Colbert Report, as well as for her widely viewed TED Talks.

An expert on mobile technology, social networking, and social robotics, Sherry has explored the subtle and unexpected ways in which new forms of technological connection transform our sense of who we are and the quality of our intimate relationships. A leading thinker at the nexus of psychology, new media, and culture, Sherry Turkle is uniquely qualified to unite the divisions of the NSSR in an interdisciplinary conversation on social research, design, and media in the 21st century.

Cost

Free seating available to members of the New School Community (students & faculty must present a valid ID). Advanced registration recommended. Tickets are available to the general public for $20 and to non-New School Students for $10. Seats can be reserved or purchased by clicking on “Buy tickets”.