digital-natives

This chapter serves as an author's note reflecting on Sherry Turkle's thirty-year research trajectory studying the evolving relationship between humans and computers, particularly focusing on the young "digital natives." It traces the shift from early one-on-one interactions with computers as evocative objects fostering self-reflection, to networked virtual lives and sociable robots, highlighting growing concerns about technology replacing intimate human relationships. Turkle situates her work within a psychoanalytic and ethnographic framework, emphasizing how technology shapes identity and social expectations.

This chapter serves as an author's note reflecting on Sherry Turkle's thirty-year research journey into the evolving relationship between humans and computers, from early home computing and AI to the rise of networked life and social robots. Turkle traces how computers have shifted from being solitary tools to evocative objects that provoke self-reflection and new forms of social connection, especially among the young, while raising concerns about intimacy, identity, and our expectations of technology versus human relationships. The chapter contextualizes her previous works and sets the stage for exploring digital culture's impact on youth and the increasing role of sociable machines.