How many times a day do you check your email? When you wake up? Before bed? A dozen times in between? The technology that was supposed to simplify our lives has become the vital time-suck: the average teen spends more than seven hours a day using technological devices, plus an additional hour just text-messaging friends.
The advantage of technological devices is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we’re more lonely than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing relationship with technology. Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our comprehension of closeness and loneliness—and warns us of the danger of accepting such virtual(虚拟的) relationships in place of lasting emotional connections.
For Turkle, the biggest worry is the effect all these shallow connections have on our development. Is technology offering us the lives we want to live? “We’re texting people at a distance,” says Turkle, “We’re using lifeless objects to convince ourselves that even when we’re alone, we feel together. And then when we’re with each other, we put ourselves in situations where we are alone—constantly on our mobile devices. It’s what I call a perfect storm of confusion about what’s important in our human connections.”
What can’t be denied is that technology, whatever its faults, makes life a whole lot easier. It allows us to communicate with more people in less time and makes conversation simple. But it can also be seductive(具有诱惑性的), providing more stimulation than our natural lives. There are usually some unhealthy videos online which remove teenagers’ attention from their schoolwork. Besides, some online activities make people addicted, which occupied their daily life and affected their ability to form real-world relationships.“Technology can be more immediately satisfying than the labor of building an intimate relationship,” said one highschool student, “Every time I text, I start to have some happy feelings.”
But are any of those feelings equal to the kind we feel when engaged in real, face-to-face communication? Online, you can neglect others’ feelings. In a text message, you can avoid eye contact. A number of studies have found that this generation of teens is less sympathetic than ever. That doesn’t spell disaster, says Turkle—but，
From the first paragraph we can infer that_________.

A．email checking helps people wake up early

B．technological device production has been simplified

C．using technological devices costs teens much time

D．people communicate mainly by text-messaging now

Turkle’s new book mainly discussed________.

A．ways to draw a fascinating portrait

B．how technology influences human relationships

C．the dangers of accepting emotional connections

D．the advantages of technology

What worries Turkle most is that more and more people are_________.

A．starting to accept emotional connections in place of virtual connections

B．convincing themselves by using fewer lifeless objects in connections

C．dropping the use of technological devices for connection with each other

D．being affected by the shallow connections through the mobile devices

Which of the following is True according to the passage?

A．Others’ feelings can be ignored in online communication.

B．No stimulation is provided in natural life connections.

C．People always send text messages to avoid eye contact.

D．It may be a disaster that teens are less sympathetic than ever.

What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To instruct people how to do with emails.

B．To stress the importance of technology.

C．To promote a wider use of technological devices.

D．To lead us to consider what’s important in human connections.