I am up to the part in Alone Together where Turkle talks more about Tamagotchis. She explains the love and care that children give to their virtual pets and that there is an online graveyard where children can write on a tombstone for their dead Tama. Children write all kinds of things, Turkle says. Sharing that they will miss their friend, apologizing for perhaps not taking better care of him or her.She ends the chapter saying, "These online places of mourning do more than give children a way to express their feelings. They sanction the idea that it is appropriate to mourn the digital- indeed, that there is something "there" to mourn."
I don't know how I feel about that. I need to roll that around in my mind a little. I don't know, in all honesty, how Turkle feels about it. Is this sanctioning good? Bad? Just a fact?
I almost forgot the song!
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