Second Self

Early Computer Cultures: Development, Identity, and Obsession

In Second Self, Turkle described the results of her ethnographic studies of computer users, examining how individual interactions with computers impacted development and identity. Written for a popular audience, the book includes anecdotes from individuals interviewed between 1976 and the early 1980s interspersed with commentary based on social theory to show how a computer was viewed as a second self or alter ego to humankind. The study included over 200 children and 200 adults, with a focus on what Turkle defined as differing computer cultures, including children, gamers, home computer owners, programmers, hackers, and experts in artificial intelligence. The individuals profiled in Second Self detailed both their interactions with digital devices and reflected on their perceptions of how those contacts made them think about themselves and others. Turkle noted that the language used to describe how computers function had begun to enter everyday conversations about human [Page 630]intelligence, including concepts like programming, memory, and information processing.

The initial focus of the book is on children, examining development and the shaping of identity through their stories about technology interactions. It begins with young children playing with digital toys of the time, such as Simon, a game in which children try to copy increasingly complex patterns of light and sound using four buttons, and Speak and Spell, a game of matching sounds or words to pictures. School-age children were interviewed while using programming to create images on a screen or move a turtle using Logo commands. Through their discourse, Turkle examined how younger children discussed what it meant to think as well as what it meant to be human, noting that they invariably examined smart machines from a perspective of intelligence, feelings, and morality with essential differences from people ultimately focused on the affective dimension.

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