A common saying in media studies, often attributed (likely erroneously) to key media theorist Marshall McLuhan, claims, “We shape our tools and, thereafter, our tools shape us.”[1] That is, our relationship with our technologies is not simply one-sided; rather, this relationship is multidimensional, with our “tools” influencing the ways in which we see ourselves, others, our interactions, and our world itself. Sherry Turkle, a prominent media and technology scholar, explores this notion of self-construction in her 2002 essay, ‘Our Split Screens.” Here, virtual (computer) worlds provide space for users to play with multiple identities, composing multidimensional selves, offering a variety of ways to explore the self that were less accessible prior to the digital era. While this is an aspect of technological society that Turkle identifies as potentially beneficial, she uses Sim games (SimLife, SimCity) to raise important critiques about the potential superficiality encouraged by a context in which one can function successfully without understanding the rationale or means behind the operating of the system. In other words, when we don’t understand how something “works” (how one event tends to lead to another) or even what something “is” (an unfamiliar form of life in a biological/evolutionary simulation), we tend to ignore that un-knowing, so long as we can still function successfully in the game. This tendency to superficiality, Turkle argues, has potentially serious ramifications in the “real world,” i.e., the world of politics, social critique, and in a world where ends are prioritized over means. Our “tools” are shaping how we see ourselves and the world.
For your final two major writing assignments for the course, you will compose a Literature Review (due November 17) and related Research Essay (due December 3). These two assignments are connected: the resources you address in your Literature Review will become the sources you engage for the Research Essay. Several guides and examples for Literature Reviews are available on Blackboard, and a Library Research Session will be held in class on November 2, to help you find suitable sources for both of these assignments.
Instructions: Research Essay
For the essay, your task is to further explore Turkle’s thought, the ways in which she engages (or is engaged by) other scholars in similar or related fields, how her theories have evolved over time, and how relevant her ideas remain today. “Our Split Screens” was written in 2002, before even the advent of Facebook or the prominence of smartphones, let alone the complex virtual and technological worlds of 2017. Yet, many of the insights in this article seem to remain valid, speaking to contemporary circumstances. In thinking through Turkle’s work, you might choose to focus on one of the following questions:
You are not limited to these questions as possible topics for your research, and you are welcome to devise a research question of your own, either independent of these questions, or branching off of some idea posed in such questions (if you choose to compose your own research question, you are welcome to run it by me to ensure it is appropriate in scope and focus).
To ensure you are engaging Turkle’s thought appropriately, your Literature Review and Research Essay must include “Our Split Screens,” and at least one additional work by Turkle published in 2012 or later, and at least one work which incorporates or responds to Turkle’s work in some way. These are included in the required 10-12 resources for the Literature Review, and should be included in your Research Essay. The Library Research Session will help you understand how to locate such sources.
Length: 5-7 pages, with a minimum of 6 scholarly sources, plus a separate Works Cited page. Formatting and citation should conform to MLA 8 standards; papers that do not meet these standards may be subject to a point deduction equal to one letter grade.
