Sherry Turkle and Tiffany Shlain: Empathy in the Technology Age

American life is dominated by machines: our computers, our televisions, our phones. This has been especially true over the past year as technology kept us connected—to our jobs, our friends, our families, even our doctors. But, as the country sees the light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic, what now? What has our reliance on technology done to us for not only the past year, but for the past decade (or longer)?

Two authors, Sherry Turkle and Tiffany Shlain, will use the occasion of the publications of Turkle's new book (The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir) and the paperback version of Shlain's book (24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection) to have an intimate and timely discussion on the urgent need to reclaim humanity and empathy in this technological age.

Turke's latest book illuminates our present search for authentic connection in a time of uncharted challenges. Her book ties together her coming-of-age and her pathbreaking research on technology, empathy and ethics. Growing up in postwar Brooklyn, Turkle searched for clues to her identity in a house filled with mysteries. She mastered the codes that governed her mother’s secretive life. She learned never to ask about her absent scientist father—and never to use his name, her name. Before empathy became a way to find connection, it was her strategy for survival.

Shlain's book recounts the efforts she and her family have made to gain more time, productivity, connection and presence in their lives by giving up screens for one day a week. Her book takes readers on a thought-provoking and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for flourishing in our 24/7 world. Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, she says that living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offering the accessible lessons she has learned and providing a blueprint for how to do it yourself.

Please join for this special event about the critical need to reclaim our lives from technology.