Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

Abstract

Sherry Turkle's landmark work documenting how digital companions and social robots reshape human expectations of intimacy and connection. Through extensive interviews and observations, she reveals a growing willingness to accept simulated relationships.

Key Findings

• Children readily form attachments to social robots and attribute emotions to them
• Adults increasingly prefer mediated communication over face-to-face interaction
• The comfort of AI companionship comes at the cost of tolerance for human complexity

Source