Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

by Sherry Turkle

Reclaiming conversation won’t be easy. We resist: It sometimes seems that we want to be taken away from the conversations that count.

You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That’s what the phones are taking away. The ability to just sit there. That’s just being a person. —LOUIS C.K., ACTOR AND COMEDIAN

Solitude doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of activity. You know you are experiencing solitude when what you are doing brings you back to yourself.

A good friend should keep you off your phone when you are together.

The best way to avoid being seen as a commodity is to offer a relationship. And that takes conversation.