Friday Snow Day: Interruption Kept My Relationship Alive

I got my first cell phone when I was in middle school, probably around the age of thirteen. It was a Christmas gift from my parents, they hid it in the tree and made a fun game out of having me find it and guessing what it could be. Sure, I had my cell phone with me most of the time, especially in high school. I played volleyball in high school and we’d have to get to school early, stay late for games and practices, and we would even go away most weekends for tournaments. For me, having my phone was necessary it was a way to contact my parents when I couldn’t see them face-to-face. It became even more necessary when my mom got sick, then it was her turn to go away throughout the week and on the weekends. My phone became the only way I could talk to her because she went to Philadelphia for treatments, and the really wasn’t a place for a thirteen year old to be. So, we would call or text each other all the time, because that was the only thing we could do. I wouldn’t mind the interruption, more often than not I welcomed it because I knew who was on the other end of the phone.

Turkle claims that technology takes away from the intimacy of a relationship, but staying connected through technology and the interruption that happened in my situation gave me that intimacy. Without technology, like my cell phone, and interruption I may not have had the relationship that I wanted with my mom. So, for me interruption did become a new way of connection, and I don’t think I lost anything from it. I still had my independence, I could choose not to answer the phone calls or texts just like anyone else could, the same way that I wasn’t less mature than anyone else because I used my phone a lot. Overall, I think Turkle is wrong in saying that the intimacy of a relationship is getting lost because of technology because, in my case, that and interruptions was how it was being kept alive